Wimba raises $6 million

Online education suite hopes to transform education with investment

Wimba, a provider of collaborative software for virtual education, has raised $6 million in its latest round of funding led by ABS Ventures, which is particularly known for its investments in online software that provides a service, like education or health care.

Based in New York City, Wimba wants to make virtual learning easier and more human by producing a suite of software to provide all the needs of a regular classroom in an online environment. Each program in Wimba's suite emphasizes interaction and ease-of-use.

For example, Wimba Pronto is instant messaging software with audio/video conferencing and a built-in whiteboard. Wimba Create provides a valuable time-saver for teachers, conveniently translating Word documents into functional course websites, complete with navigation and interaction.

The company’s central software, however, is Wimba Classroom 6.0, bringing together “audio, video, application sharing and content display, and MP4 capabilities” all in one program, bringing teacher and student together in a content-rich platform.

In reality, all of Wimba’s programs are intended to work in tandem in Wimba Collaboration Suite 6.0, awarded the 2009 “Best Education Solution” CODiE award by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).

In an interview published on WITI, the company’s CEO, Carol Vallone, expressed her views on the future opening up for online learning: “higher education will lose the residential feel of a physical campus and students will extend their educational experience more easily to become members of communities of interest around learning that are enriched by spanning geographies, cultures and ages.”

Believing that Wimba is right now transforming education in exactly this manner, Managing Partner at ABS Ventures Bruns Grayson says, “We are focused and committed to accelerating the development and adoption of Wimba in both higher education and K-12 learning communities.”

image source: www.wimba.com