DigitalBeat

EduFire has raised $1.3 million in a first round of funding for it’s online education platform aimed at democratizing education.

The money came from Battery Ventures, Western Technology Investment, and Gokul Rajaram, who helped launch Google’s AdSense. Edufire went live a little more than a year ago and it has quietly gathered 30,000 users who attend online classes — some free, some paid — taught by 5,000 teachers. The topics range from language tutoring to tech skills such as learning Photoshop. Edufire takes a relatively small fee of 15 percent of the revenue that teachers make using its streaming video and audio tools. It also offers a $29 a month SuperPass that gives users unlimited access to live classes.

In contrast to other online training programs, Edufire focuses on delivering live content where students can ask questions either through video conferences or text chats, said Jon Bischke, chief executive of Edufire, in an interview. Teachers can have as many as 100 students in a class. There is no restriction on who can teach a class, but Bischke says the highest quality teachers receive the best ratings and are easier to find on the site.

The startup raised $400,000 in an angel round a year-and-a-half ago. The company has five employees. Traffic has hit about 125,000 unique visitors a month, meaning the users come back multiple times during a month.

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