Student management edtech Clipboard raises $3 million

Edtech platform Clipboard, which helps school manage the extracurricular activities of students, has raised $3.1 million. 

The round was led by SaaS-focused Sydney VC EVP, with support from existing backer Jelix Ventures, and Sprint Ventures.,

Clipboard is an online attendance tracking system that streamlines timely communication for staff, students and parents as students move around for extracurricular activities, such as sport, music and excursions.

Jelix previously backed the venture in 2020 in an $850,000 raise.

Ed Colyer and Sam Clarke developed the idea in 2017 while at university and coaching sport at their old school and had to deal with manual systems to track students.

The recruited co-ounder Christiaan Hind to develop Clipboard, which is now being used in 100 Australian schools.

Colyer, Clipboard’s head of product, said their pioneered a new category in edtech, dubbed “EMS” (Extracurricular Management System).

“We were a young team in the unique position of both knowing the challenges facing students and families, as well as working as basketball coaches,” he said.

“That experience provided us with the insights we needed to improve extracurricular delivery for students, parents and schools. It is simply impossible to have an exceptional experience for hundreds or thousands of participants when you’re using paper forms and Google Sheets.”

Colyer said the company is now fielding enquiries from schools overseas, but the fresh capital is for new functionality and business development hires.

“Until recently we had no sales team at all and our entire business was built off the referrals from customers that loved our product,” he said. 

EVP partner Daniel Szekely is joining Alon Greenspan from Jelix on the startup’s board. He said they love a business by students and teachers for students and teachers.

“Most of us can probably remember turning up to a field trip with an envelope full of cash and a couple of paper forms only to be told you forgot one of the forms,” he said.

“Educational organisations have always been laggards when it comes to adopting new technologies but in the case of Clipboard, the self-evident demand for efficiency and safety by parents and students is driving rapid adoption. Clipboard ultimately drives up the quality of extracurricular programs and enrolments in a virtuous cycle that leads to revenue for schools and higher quality activities for students.”