Startup Institute Raises $3M Series A, Offers 50% Off Fall Tuition
This article originally appeared on Tech.co. Startup Institute, a career accelerator that teaches skills to help people become successful startup employees, has closed a $3 million Series A round of financing. The funding comes as a result of a partnership with Silicon Valley Bank – the money comes from SVB Financial Group, the holding company of Silicon Valley Bank. As part of this exciting news, Startup Institute is offering 50 percent off tuition for all new applicants to its Fall 2014 core program.
“In any startup community there are a series of interconnected engines that are crucial for success—talent is perhaps the least well-understood, and the hardest to scale,” said David Cohen, founder and CEO of Techstars, in a statement. “There is magic in the [Startup Institute] program: the graduates arrive on the job with a mindset and pace that gives them an immediate positive impact.”
Founded in 2012 at Techstars Boston, Startup Institute has since expanded its programming to other cities in the U.S., as well as abroad, including New York, Chicago, Berlin, and London. The financing will help support them further expand its operations and train more people to find jobs in high-growth startups around the world.
“The response to our institutes across the startup communities has been humbling,” said Katie Rae, cofounder and executive chairman of Startup Institute. “The demand for this style of education has been incredible from both students and startup teams. Growth into new markets was inevitable, and our strategic partnership with Silicon Valley Bank means we can accelerate our development of new programs and our expansion into multiple new locations in both the US and internationally.”
Startup Institute runs various programs to help support people in achieving their startup career goals. Their core program consists of an eight-week curriculum designed to develop the necessary soft and hard skills people will need to succeed in a startup environment. This full-time program offers four different tracks: 1) product and design, 2) sales and account management, 3) technical marketing, and 4) web development. The company also recently launched RampUp, a part-time option that introduces participants to various topics, with a focus on three different tracks: 1) web design, 2) technical marketing, and 3) Ruby development. If you apply now to their Fall 2014 core program, you can get 50 percent of the tuition, which is regularly between $4,750 and $5,250.
In addition, Startup Institute has also announced a new scholarship program for 2015 that’s aimed specifically to support women and minorities – two groups that are largely underrepresented in the tech community – as well as military veterans. They are set to begin offering scholarships to full-time program applicants beginning in October.