Academy123
Academy123 is an online education company based in
Westlake Village,
California. It provides
multimedia homework help tutorials for math subjects taught in grades 6 to 12.
Academy123 was founded by entrepreneur
Maury Friedman in late 2003. The first prototype of the company's math homework help product was launched in early 2005.
Johannes Larcher, a former
Overture /
Yahoo! Search Marketing executive, was appointed President and CEO around that time. The company was backed by investments from
Arcturus Capital, Momentum Venture Management and other private investors. In July 2006, Academy123 was acquired by Discovery Education, a division of
Discovery Communications. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Academy123 has produced textbook aligned math homework-help tutorials for the subjects of middle-school Math, Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry. For more than 30 of the leading U.S. math textbooks in these subjects, Academy123 provides a multimedia tutorial for every math-problem contained in each book. In addition, Academy123 offers overviews of key math topics and multimedia quizzes, allowing students to assess their mastery of a subject. In total, Academy123's content library amounts to approximately 40,000 objects.
Academy123 content is produced in a distinctive
multimedia style, in which a teacher's handwriting on a digital whiteboard is combined with her verbal, step by step explanations for solving the math problem at hand.
Academy123 currently distributes its flagship product, NutshellMath, through a variety of Internet distribution partnerships. In each case, Academy123's product is sold as a subscription service, with monthly and annual plans available. Distributors include Discovery Education, where NutshellMath is available to subscribers of Cosmeo, Discovery Education's homework help portal; and Synacor, which provides distribution of NutshellMath through various cable companies in the U.S. Academy123 also powers
AOL Step-by-Step Math, which
America Online distributes since the fall of 2005 as part of its line-up of premium education products.
On July 18, 2006, Discovery Education, a division of
Discovery Communications, announced the acquisition of Academy123. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Steve Sidel, President of Discovery Education, was quoted in the press release announcing the deal: "Our new relationship with Academy123 underscores our commitment to offering innovative and engaging products and services that provide important new paths to success," said Steve Sidel, president, Discovery Education. "Academy123's smart and well-designed offerings help demystify subjects that often frustrate students and parents and we are excited to provide these offerings to homes and schools around the world."
Academy123 official website [
1]
Discovery Education official website [
2]
Discovery Education and Academy123 Join Forces (Press Release) [
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Academy123 sold to Discovery Education (Article)[
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