World’s leading audio learning company Knowable recently announced that it raised $4 million in a seed round of funding led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Upfront Ventures, Initialized Capital, and First Round Capital.
Besides funding, the company also revealed it launched three original audio courses, bringing more interactive and personalized ways for people to learn through audio.
Knowable brings together renowned experts and storytellers for creating immersive audio courses for people who want to get inspired, learn new things, and accomplish their goals. The courses include hours of long-form audio instruction, detailed lesson summaries, useful learning tools, a downloadable e-textbook, access to private student communities, etc. The company offers all these resources through proprietary iOS, Android, and web apps.
Speaking about the company, its mission and the launched pilot courses, Warren Shaeffer, Co-founder and CEO of Knowable, said,
“Our mission is to make education more modern and accessible for people around the world – we want to help people accelerate their path to self-actualization, regardless of their background. With today’s launch of the Knowable platform and our pilot courses, we’re taking a big step towards achieving this goal by providing our members with a premium, audio-first educational experience that allows them to learn on the go.”
Knowable is dedicated to making the world’s most engaging and effective audio courses. Its courses are designed by team of editors, producers, and journalists who have experienced working at NPR, Washington Post, and MasterClass.
The newly launched Knowable’s pilot courses include:
- Launch a Startup featuring Initialized Capital co-founder Alexis Ohanian Sr., Everyone founder and CEO Michael Pressman, Chewse CEO Tracy Lawrence, and GOAT co-founder Eddy Lu.
- Start a Podcast featuring actor Scheer, director of broadcast and media operations at American Public Media Group Rob Byers, and Vox senior audio producer Jillian Weinberger.
- Sleep Better Tonight featuring W. Christopher Winter, MD (Author of The Sleep Solution), Stanford Health Care Director of Sleep & Circadian Health Fiona Barwick, PhD, and Russell Foster of the Oxford Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute.
Highlighting the explosive growth of podcasts and the innovation it currently has, Alex Benzer, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Knowable, said,
“Despite the explosive growth of podcasts, we haven’t seen much innovation in how people listen to audio. It’s still a static, one-way experience like radio, which is over 100 years old. We’re excited about developing more interactive and personalized ways to learn through audio.”
Lauding the company and its team, Initialized Capital co-founder Alexis Ohanian also commented saying,
“The market is ready for a company like Knowable. Their timing is right and their team possesses the rare combination of product expertise and creative media experience necessary to win. That’s why I’m not just hosting Knowable’s first course, Launch a Startup, we’re also one of the earliest investors in the company.”
Meanwhile, a report by Edison Research in its The Infinite Dial 2019, the longest-running survey of digital media consumer behavior in America, says that there are about 90 million Americans who listen to podcasts monthly, up from 26% in 2018. And Statista, in its US Podcasting Industry – Statistic & Facts report, pointed out that more than 50% of Americans have listened to an audio podcast in 2019, up from 44% last year. Interestingly, the research revealed that 74% of podcast listeners cite the desire to learn new things as one of the primary reasons why they tune in.
With this potential listeners, hope the proceeds will enable Knowable to fulfil its mission to make education more accessible for people around the world.
