Monday, June 14, 2010

Latimer Education Inc. raised a $1.25 million seed round for creating an online university to serve African Americans

Back in April Maveron LLC, along with participation from several high net worth individuals and the company’s founders, announced the closing of a $1.25 million round of financing in Latimer Education, Inc. (“Latimer”), a Washington, DC-based, for-profit education company that is developing an online university for African Americans.

“Latimer’s founding management team, Scott Royster and Brian Jones, have successful track records building African American focused brands and leading education sector enterprises,” said Jason Stoffer, a Principal at Maveron. “We believe they have identified a significant market need and opportunity that fits perfectly with our broad Internet investment strategy and our specific focus in the online education market, as demonstrated by our investments in companies like Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA), Livemocha and Altius Education.”

“Maveron shares our vision and their unique combination of online education sector expertise and success in guiding the creation of enduring consumer brands, makes them the perfect choice as a financial partner,” said Scott R. Royster, Chairman and CEO of Latimer. Mr. Royster is an accomplished investor and business executive who spent nearly 12 years as the Chief Financial Officer at Radio One, Inc. (NASDAQ: ROIAK), one of the country’s largest and most diversified media companies targeting the African American community. At Radio One, Royster was instrumental in completing the company’s initial public offering, and multiple follow-on offerings, and helping lead a ten-fold increase in enterprise value during his first six years as CFO.

Latimer’s President, Brian W. Jones, is the former General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Education and the current Chairman of the Washington, DC Public Charter School Board. Additionally, he was Senior Counsel at Dow Lohnes PLLC, a Washington, DC-based law firm, where he served as a strategic and legal advisor to various for-profit education stakeholders. After leaving the Department of Education and before joining Dow Lohnes, Jones was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of College Loan Corporation, a leading student loan company with $10 billion in assets. He also currently serves on the board of directors of Apangea Learning, Inc., an online education company that provides tutoring services. “As the for-profit education sector continues growing, we believe institutions will begin focusing more attention on serving specific student segments,” said Jones. “Just as we saw the creation and growth of African American targeted businesses in the media industry, we plan to establish Latimer as the premier choice for African Americans seeking a culturally relevant, quality post-secondary online education.”

We will be reporting on this company extensively, so please stay tuned to the Urban Network blog for all thats hot in the web, and mobile 2.0 worlds!

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