The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) announced that Catalyst portfolio company PresenceLearning, a provider of live online special education–related services for grades preK–12, has become an ASHA Corporate Partner. ASHA’s partnership with PresenceLearning will help speech-language pathologists (SLPs) access teletherapy at a time when online education tools have proven to be critical to connecting to students and clients.
Catalyst-backed PresenceLearning, the leading provider of live online special education related services for K-12 schools, partnered with the Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE). PresenceLearning will support the professional development of CASE members by providing access to its clinical experts and influential partners, as well as offering exclusive webinars, presentations, and other programming.
Catalyst portfolio company PresenceLearning, the leading provider of live online behavioral and mental health services for K-12 schools, partnered with iOpening Enterprises to develop Finding Your Power in Uncertain Times, a 6-week trauma-informed group therapy program designed to help students who are struggling with life’s current stressors including social, emotional, and economic impacts from COVID-19 and civil unrest in their communities.
CEO of Catalyst-backed PresenceLearning, Kate Eberle Walker, discusses her company’s recent $27 million Series D. The pandemic accelerated the completion of the funding round, which helps the company’s expansion of online therapy and assessment services to meet growing school needs.
PresenceLearning, the leading provider of live online special education related services for K-12 schools, received a $27 million Series D investment led by Bain Capital Double Impact. Existing investors Catalyst Investors, New Markets Venture Partners and Catamount Ventures also participated in the round. The latest funding positions the company to accelerate its expansion of online therapy and assessment services to meet growing school needs.
The idea of continuing to serve students with disabilities paralyzed many school leaders in recent weeks, and even led some to cancel school for everyone rather than tackle the challenge of providing special education online. But Kristin Martinez, the clinical director at Catalyst-backed PresenceLearning, which provides online special education services, said school leaders should take heart.
“As schools urgently seek solutions to move services online, we want to make sure that students with special education needs are prioritized,” said Kate Eberle Walker, CEO of Catalyst-backed PresenceLearning. “Over the past ten years we’ve developed a specific expertise in conducting teletherapy sessions for K-12 students and we have a purpose-built platform that is designed by and for clinicians. We realized that the best way we can help right now is to make our platform available more broadly, and to teach school-based clinicians how to approach teletherapy.”
Galvanize, a technology workforce educator, has named Harsh Patel as CEO. He is the former CEO of Hack Reactor. Galvanize’s backers include Catalyst Investors, ABS Capital Partners, University Ventures, New Markets Venture Partners and Colorado Impact Fund.
Today’s parenting landscape has evolved at a rapid pace. Compared to just a few decades ago, the makeup of the workforce is changing rapidly; the work participation rate for women with children under age 6 has grown significantly in the past 40 years, as has the percentage of families with children in which both parents work. Further, today’s parents, educators, employers, and children are living in a world that is increasingly tech-first. Parents, and especially modern millennial parents, expect tech-forward, simple, and elegant solutions across their lives, but particularly as they seek to bring up the next generation.
Catalyst-backed PresenceLearning, the leading telehealth network of live, online special education related service providers, recently launched online early childhood services to expand the ability of schools and districts to deliver early childhood interventions and services to children ages 0-5. With PresenceLearning, school systems and education organizations can access a nationwide network of hundreds of highly qualified clinicians – including speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, and behavioral and mental health professionals – to help deliver these timely services to young learners and to consult with their families and caregivers.