Docufide raises $4.5M to digitize academia

Service helps academic institutions handle flow of transcriptions and other credentials

Docufide, a SaaS solution for helping academic institutions process transcriptions, announced Wednseday that it has raised a $4.5 million Series A round of funding led by Matthew L. Pittinsky, Blackboard's co-founder and former CEO and Executive Chairman. Also participating are the original investors in Blackboard, including early-stage education investment firm Novak Biddle Venture Partners.
 
For the unacquainted, Blackboard is an education software company that provides platforms for course management, transaction processing and more. The company was founded in 1997, went public in 2004, and just a few days ago announced its fourth quarter results: total revenue for the year was $447.3 million, an increase of 19 percent over the prior year.
 
Blackboard might seem like a pretty comprehensive service for educational institutions, but I guess its creator left out a way to process transcriptions. Enter Docufide.
 
Docufide offers a suite that includes two modules, Docufide Sender and Docufide receiver, which together allow for seamless electronic flow of education credentials between academic institutions.
 
Founded in 2003, the company says its services have been used by more than 7,000 high schools, colleges and universities to exchange millions of transcripts and other records. It has been selected by 11 states to help digitize record keeping efforts and it counts the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) among its clients.
 
"The path towards improving student outcomes and better aligning education with the needs of our economy leads straight to education credentials," explained Pittinsky, Blackboard’s former CEO. "They are the 'coin of the realm,' embodying critical data. Today these data are trapped in an archaic model of paper-based exchange and siloed management by institutions - not individuals - that adds cost and reduces value for pretty much everyone. I am convinced Docufide is uniquely positioned to change that."
 
Along with the funding news, Docufide revealed that Pittinsky will now serve as chief executive for Docufide. Former CEO John Reese now owns the title of Executive Chairman. Additionally, the company is moving its headquarters from Los Angeles, Calif. (where offices will remain) to Scottsdale, Ariz.