About Formative
Formative is an Education company based in Santa Monica (United States) founded in 2013 by Craig Jones, Daniel Cornell, and Kevin McFarland, and was acquired by Newsela in June 2023. Online platform offering real-time instruction tools for educators. Formative has raised $70 million across 3 funding rounds from investors including Newsela, Summit Partners and Emerson Collective. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Craig Jones. Its website formative.com draws about 3.7 million monthly visits. Its focus areas include EdTech, K-12 EdTech, Tech for Teachers and Student Assessment. Its competitors include Renaissance, MasteryConnect and Turnitin; 2 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Formative was founded in 2013 in Santa Monica, United States, as an online platform in the education technology sector. Assessments are created, edited, previewed, and assigned by teachers, with actionable data generated to support teaching and learning. Collaboration is facilitated among educators for sharing assessments, real-time edits, and roster synchronization. Operations focus on enhancing instructional efficiency for K-12 environments.
Apps and channels of Formative
its YouTube channel Formative has 2.84K subscribers and 3 videos.
Videos from Formative
The most watched videos on Formative's YouTube channel, Formative (2.84K subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Formative.
Funding Insights of Formative
Formative has successfully raised a total of $70M across 3 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series A round of $70 million completed in June 2021. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $70M
- Total Rounds 3
- Last Round Series A — $70M
- Investors Count 6
All 3 funding rounds of Formative with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2021 | $70M | Series A | – | Summit Partners | |
| Nov 2016 | Seed | – | – | – | |
| Nov 2013 | Seed | – | – |
7 investors in total: 7 institutional.
Investors in Formative
Formative has secured backing from 7 investors, including venture fund and institutional investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Newsela, Summit Partners and Emerson Collective.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Summit Partners is recognized as a growth equity investment firm. | summitpartners.com | Boston, United States | ||
Seed-stage tech-focused VC firm investing primarily in the US | fika.vc | Los Angeles, United States | ||
A seed-stage venture capital firm | macventurecapital.com | Los Angeles, United States | ||
Real estate, venture capital investments, and financial services are provided. | rethink-capital.com | White Plains, United States | ||
VC firm investing in geographies such as the US | ventures.ucla.edu | Los Angeles, United States | ||
| emersoncollective.com | ||||
Online platform providing learning content for educators | 2013 | newsela.com | New York, United States |
Investor details for Formative
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
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People of Formative
10 people are tracked at Formative (7 in leadership, 3 in team).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Craig Jones | Co-Founder & CEO | Leadership |
Daniel Cornell | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Kevin McFarland | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Eleanor Crofton | General Manager | Leadership |
Brian Connors | General Partner | Leadership |
Carlo Schmidt | Director Of Product Management | Leadership |
Nat Jabbawy | Director of Product Design | Leadership |
Paul Mallin | Senior Product Manager | Team |
Kylie Cavanaugh | Csr/ Quality Manager | Team |
Tiffani Latrell | Quality Testing Analyst | Team |
Complete people profiles for Formative
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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Timeline of Formative
4 dated milestones of Formative across 10 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Formative is founded.
- Funding First funding round.
- Funding Latest funding round, Series A, of $70.0M.
- Exit Acquired by Newsela.
Competitors of Formative
Formative has 3 listed competitors in our database, 2 of them funded. They include Renaissance, MasteryConnect and Turnitin.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| renaissance.com | 1986 | Wisconsin Rapids, United States | $40M | 1,361 | Cloud-based K-12 assessments in reading, math, and writing are delivered. | |
| masteryconnect.com | 2009 | Salt Lake, United States | $33.85M | 147 | Assessment and data solutions are developed for K-12 education. | |
| turnitin.com | 2000 | Oakland, United States | 55 | Plagiarism detection and assessment platforms are provided for educators. |
Detailed competitors of Formative
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
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Web traffic of Formative
The website of Formative (formative.com) receives about 3.7M visits a month and ranks #16,363 among all websites worldwide, #857 in Education.
- Monthly visits3.7M
▲ 22.2% vs previous month
- Unique visitors545.3K
per month
- Global rank#16,363
among all websites
- Category rank#857
Science and Education · Education
- Bounce rate31%
- Pages per visit6.4
- Average visit7 min 22 sec
- DevicesDesktop 94% · Mobile 6%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Formative. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
goformative.com | goformative.com | 100% | #68,994 | – | |
| edpuzzle.com | 99% | 11M | #5,721 | View details | |
gimkit.com | gimkit.com | 97% | #3,215 | – | |
| deltamath.com | 93% | 9.8M | #5,187 | View details | |
| k12.com | 91% | 30.5M | #1,662 | View details | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Formative
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Top companies in Education Technology Platforms
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Formative (Education Technology Platforms) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Developer of a platform providing gamified language learning through interactive exercises | 2011 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States | USD 183.3 M | USD 748.02 M | 900 | |
Cloud-based software for K-12 education is provided. | 1997 | Folsom, California, United States | USD 32 M | USD 47.59 M | 1,308 | |
Online platform for preschool management and parent updates is offered. | 2014 | San Francisco, California, United States | USD 88.8 M |
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Related news about Formative
Complete news archive for Formative
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Frequently Asked Questions about Formative
Formative was founded in 2013.
Formative is headquartered in Santa Monica, United States. It is registered at Santa Monica, California, United States.
Craig Jones is the CEO of Formative, as recorded in our data. They have also founded this company.
Formative is a funded company, having raised a total of $70M across 3 funding rounds to date.
Formative was founded in 2013 in Santa Monica, United States, as an online platform in the education technology sector. Assessments are created, edited, previewed, and assigned by teachers, with actionable data generated to support teaching and learning. Collaboration is facilitated among educators for sharing assessments, real-time edits, and roster synchronization. Operations focus on enhancing instructional efficiency for K-12 environments.
Formative's top competitors include Renaissance, MasteryConnect and Turnitin.
Formative has 7 investors. Key investors include Newsela, Summit Partners, Emerson Collective, Fika Ventures, and MaC Venture Capital.
Yes. Formative was acquired by Newsela in June 2023.
The website of Formative receives about 3.7 million visits a month and ranks #16,363 among all websites worldwide.