Everspring, an Evanston-based startup that helps universities build and operate online functions, closed a $16 million round last week led by Carrick Capital Partners.
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The company was founded in 2011 and offers a start-to-finish approach to technology development, integration and support at “innovative” universities. They bring tech to areas like alumni support, enrollment, course development among others.
"Everspring is a new company that partners with leading traditional universities to help them design, build and implement online degree programs," said CEO, Jeff Conlon.
Conlon is a 20-year education-industry veteran. Prior to Everspring, he was the CEO of Kaplan Higher Education, a division of The Washington Post that serviced more than 120,000 students at the higher-education level, across the nation. Notably, he worked the online arm of KHE, Kaplan University, into Pearson eCollege.
Last year, Everspring signed on four top universities to it's roster - The University of Kansas, The College of William and Mary, Auburn University and Kent State University.
Internally, the company has grown from nine employees to 30 in the past year. Conlon said Everspring is "seeking to double our staff of instructional designers, enrollment and student advisors, marketers and technologists in the next six months."
Their newest partners, Carrick Capital Partners, have a portfolio focused on BPO, transaction processing and SaaS. Another Chicago business Axiom Law is one of their current four portfolio companies.
Everspring comes from a family of companies launched by Accretive, LLC. Founded in 1999, Accretive has launched businesses like Fandango, Exult, Accelion and Accolade (which is also in Carrick Capital Partners portfolio).
