Kno, Inc. was a software company that worked with publishers to offer digital textbooks and other educational materials.
In November 2013, after raising nearly $100 million in venture capital, the company was acquired by
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
. The website was stopped and the service renamed to Intel Education Study later on.
History
Founded in May 2009, Kno was headed by CEO
Osman Rashid
Osman Rashid is a Pakistani American businessman in Silicon Valley, California. He has worked in enterprise software and consumer products.
He was co-founder and CEO of three companies, an online textbook rental and student hub Chegg, remaining ...
, the co-founder of
Chegg
Chegg, Inc., is an American education technology company based in Santa Clara, California. It provides homework help, digital and physical textbook rentals, textbooks, online tutoring, and other student services.
The company was launched in 200 ...
, and CTO Babur Habib, a consumer electronics veteran. The firm received funding from
Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz (also called a16z, legal name AH Capital Management, LLC) is a private American venture capital firm, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
Andreessen H ...
,
Intel Capital
Intel Capital is a division of Intel Corporation, set up to manage corporate venture capital, global investment, mergers and acquisitions. Intel Capital makes equity investments in a range of technology startups and companies offering hardware, s ...
,
Goldman Sachs,
FLOODGATE
Floodgates, also called stop gates, are adjustable gates used to control water flow in flood barriers, reservoir, river, stream, or levee systems. They may be designed to set spillway crest heights in dams, to adjust flow rates in sluices a ...
and GSV Capital, and was based in
Santa Clara, California.
The company initially announced, in June 2010, a line of tablet computers. Its goal was to offer a "digital textbook/student platform" aimed at the academic market.
The textbook tablet was available either with a single panel 14.1" touchscreen or with dual 14.1" touchscreens. The operating system was based on
Linux
Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, w ...
and
Webkit
WebKit is a browser engine developed by Apple and primarily used in its Safari web browser, as well as on the iOS and iPadOS version of any web browser. WebKit is also used by the BlackBerry Browser, PlayStation consoles beginning from the P ...
.
In April 2011, the company announced that it had licensed its hardware design to Intel and would instead focus on developing software.
Two months later, the company released an iPad application, followed by versions for the Galaxy Note 10.1, Android Jelly Bean, Windows 7 & 8, and Web platforms and devices.
In August 2012, the company expanded its catalog of titles from college textbooks to include the
K-12 market.
The company was acquired by Intel the following year.
References
External links
Official Site
Computer companies established in 2009
Educational technology companies of the United States
Educational software
Software companies based in California
Defunct software companies of the United States
2009 establishments in California
Software companies disestablished in 2013
2013 disestablishments in California
2013 mergers and acquisitions
Intel acquisitions
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