Empowerly, an edtech startup specializing in college counseling and career guidance services, has raised $15 million in a recent funding round led by Conductive Ventures, the company announced today. The new funding will be used to grow the service, build AI-powered products, and develop its first mobile app, which is expected to launch in the U.S. by the end of 2024. Empowerly has raised $30 million to date.
“The past year has been a difficult year for the entire startup ecosystem, with some calling it one of the worst funding environments in the past 10 years,” said co-founder Changxiao Xie. “This Round is about everything we've created, from hiring a former Ivy League admissions officer to how we leverage data and machine learning to assess and improve student performance from high school to college and beyond. It's a testament to the platform and services we've created. We're working with more students and families than ever before, achieving great results each year, and we're excited to continue this momentum.”
The company's fundraising comes at a time when admissions season is more competitive than ever and high school counselors aren't always available to provide expert advice on college-related issues. According to the Common App Research Brief, university applications have increased significantly, with 3,353,516 applications submitted to thousands of Common App schools in the 2023-24 academic year and 2,028,507 applications submitted in the 2019-20 academic year (2,028,507 ), an increase of 65% compared to
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“Last year was one of the most competitive college admissions seasons ever,” co-founder Hanmei Wu told TechCrunch. “Some Ivy League schools, such as Yale, reported their lowest acceptance rates in decades. However, students still do not receive adequate support. The counselor-to-student ratio is 400 to 1. students are feeling as left out as I was a few years ago.”
Founded in 2018, Empowerly aims to take the pressure off students who spend 60 to 200 hours preparing for university entrance exams. After her free 30-minute consultation with a student, Empowerly designs a customized plan that includes services such as college counseling, essay editing, financial planning, admissions review, internship preparation and matching, research mentoring, and more. Students meet regularly with counselors and have the opportunity to speak with essay experts, pre-professional mentors, and former admissions representatives from top universities. Empowerly has his network of over 100 college counselors with a particular focus on areas such as academic studies, engineering, STEM, business, law, and the humanities.
Prices for each service vary, but the company shares that a “comprehensive counseling package” typically costs $5,000 or more. One Reddit user reported paying approximately $1,600 for 16 private essay sessions on Empowerly, and another user claims to have paid $9,000 for the service (although he did not specify which service he paid for). (It has not been revealed whether this was the case.) College consulting platform CollegeWise's fees range from $2,000 to $10,000, depending on what is included in a student's personalized package.
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Empowerly touts its proprietary technology, the Empowerly Score, as a key differentiator from competitors such as CollegeWise, Solomon Admission Consulting, and AcceptU. Empowerly Score evaluates students' extracurricular activities (sports, community service, clubs), accomplishments (awards and leadership roles), academics, and essays and leverages predictive machine learning models to generate a single score that highlights areas that need to be addressed. Improve it to be more competitive with other applicants.
“This is the only predictive technology that can also quantify subjective content,” said Xie. “Our tens of thousands of data points and unique internal datasets provide students and counselors with the most up-to-date information on what schools and competitive summer programs value in applicants, including standardized tests and essay strategies. What new programs will be available this year that weren't available last year, what opportunities are best suited to specific student profiles, and what scholarships students are eligible for? mosquito.”
The scoring system helps Empowerly's counselors understand where students should focus the majority of their time, such as practicing taking more standardized tests or signing up for additional extracurricular classes.
“Each of the top 200 universities in the U.S. (and more are being added) has benchmarks related to their admissions difficulty, and our platform and counselors match students’ Empowerly scores to these benchmarks. Compare and figure out which areas students are strong in or need additional work. Work,” added Xie.
The company also offers several experience-focused programs for students to strengthen their college applications. For example, Empowerly connects high school students with virtual internships at Bay Area startups. Students can also meet with Dr. Students studied in labs at prestigious schools such as Columbia University, Brown University, and MIT.
Additionally, Empowerly joined the Sequoia Marketplace in July 2023, offering its services as an employee benefit for working parents.