BenchPrep is an American company that provides cloud-based study guides for

standardized test A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...

professional certification Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply ''certification'' or ''qualification'', is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Not all certifications ...

s, and K-12 classroom learning. It has partnered with educational publishers such as McGraw Hill,

John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...

, and

the Princeton Review The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...

to create interactive, digitized courses.

History

BenchPrep, formerly known as Watermelon Express, was founded in 2009 by Ashish Rangnekar and Ujjwal Gupta, after Ashish Rangnekar won the New Venture Challenge at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. Shortly thereafter, BenchPrep received $2.2 million in seed funding from

Lightbank Lightbank is a financial organization that specializes in making venture capital investments in "disruptive" technology companies in the United States including seed investments, Series A round and late-stage investments. It combines investment ...

, the executives behind

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

. In July 2012, the company announced a $6 million round of funding from

New Enterprise Associates New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With ~$25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of the w ...

and

Revolution LLC Revolution LLC is an American investment firm based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2005 by AOL co-founder Steve Case, after leaving the AOL Time Warner board. The firm seeks to fund entrepreneurs who are transforming legacy industries with inno ...

. In 2019, the company announced a $20 million round of funding from Jump Capital and Owl Ventures. *

References

{{Reflist, 2 Test preparation companies Standardized tests in the United States Educational software companies Software companies based in Illinois Virtual learning environments Software companies of the United States American companies established in 2009 2009 establishments in Illinois Software companies established in 2009 Education companies established in 2009