Memorang Raises $500K in Seed Funding and Launches Revamped Study Tool for Every Subject
From middle school to medical school, Memorang's study tool fills a void in education and test prep with new mobile games, playlists, and premium flashcards written by experts
Mar 30, 2016, 09:00 ET
SAN FRANCISCO, March 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Memorang, a gamified study and test prep tool for every subject, announced that the company has raised $500,000 in seed funding from angel investors. They include Michael Kane, an early investor in SoFi, and Tom Palecek, founding partner at Summit Trail Advisors. The team has also launched a revamped platform that features more games and all new playlists, which allow students to create and share study questions with their peers. Memorang will use the new capital to expand its technology and premium content offerings. The startup is hiring a content team that will create expert study materials for medicine, health sciences, and new subjects such as the CPA exam, CFA exam, and TOEFL English language test.
Founded in 2013, Memorang began as the passion project of Yermie Cohen, who was a medical student at UCLA. Yermie had studied mechanical engineering and biology at MIT, where most exams were open note and focused on problem-solving. Overwhelmed by the volume memorization in med school, he couldn't find any effective study tools for students in higher education and approached fellow MIT grad George Courtsunis to build their own. Using their new app, Yermie scored in the 99th percentile on his next medical board exam, and the duo decided to turn the study tool into a company.
In March 2014, Yermie and George joined MuckerLab, a top-ranked startup accelerator, launched Memorang, and became profitable immediately thereafter. By the time they graduated from MuckerLab in May 2015, one third of U.S. medical students were using Memorang to study for the MCATs, the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), and board exams.
Today, Memorang's iOS, Android, and web apps are used by students in over 100 countries, of which 60 have paying subscribers. The platform recently hit a milestone of 30 million questions answered by users. In total, students have uploaded more than 8 million of their own flash cards, and the budding content team has produced 100,000 expert flash cards and questions. Called "Flashcard Power-Ups" on Memorang, this paid content currently covers nine categories: Medical, Pre-Medical, Nursing, Physical Therapy, Physician Assistant, EMT, GRE, Pharmacy, and Accounting. Through a new licensing agreement with academic publisher Elsevier, Memorang plans to launch a suite of anatomy products for the health sciences.
Three qualities distinguish Memorang from other study tools. First, Memorang can be used to study any subject, from middle school through medical school. Besides the Flashcard Power-Ups, everything on Memorang is free. Second, Memorang is customizable, meaning students can create their own flashcards and play any game that fits their learning style. Third, Memorang adapts to the student by tracking what learners know and what they need to work on. Like a tutor, Memorang personalizes each game to focus on concepts the student has yet to master.
In version 2.0 of their platform, Memorang is introducing six new games and a new user interface that can serve all age groups. The new games include Rapid Response, where students answer questions as fast as possible to keep a "patient" alive. Correct answers slow the patient's heart rate, depicted on an EKG monitor. Incorrect answers speed the heart rate up. Students have to answer questions faster and faster to keep the patient from flat lining. In another new game, Eliminator, students fight off alien space invaders by answering multiple choice questions.
The new platform also introduces study playlists modeled on the music playlists that people create and share in applications like Spotify. Memorang playlists enable groups of students to collaboratively make flashcards and share them with their study group or classmates.
"Our mission is to make study tools that are affordable and accessible to everyone, regardless of academic or financial ability," said Yermie Cohen, CEO of Memorang. "This is a radical concept in a market where test prep classes and study materials can cost thousands of dollars."
"We rebuilt our platform using feedback from more than 10,000 customer support conversations," said George Courtsunis, CTO of Memorang. "As we roll out more games and cover new subject areas, we'll create the first study tool that serves students throughout their education. The first graders who learn multiplication on Memorang could use it to study for their board exams 20 years later. That inspires us."
About Memorang
Memorang is a web and mobile study tool for every subject. Whether you're in middle school or medical school, Memorang transforms studying into fun, customizable quizzes and games. You can create your own free flashcards, multiple choice, and matching questions, or Power-Up with Memorang's premium flash cards, written by experts. You can also build the ultimate flashcard playlist and share it with classmates. To score higher, save time, and stay motivated, visit www.memorangapp.com.
SOURCE Memorang