- AdmitHub is building a chatbot platform to improve student enrollment.
- It raised $16 million in a Series B funding round.
- Rethink Education led this round of fundraising.
AdmitHub is a startup based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is building a chatbot platform to improve student enrollment and graduation rates. It raised $16 million in a Rethink Education-led series B round. The company would rebrand as Mainstay. And, it plans to expand its workforce and acquire new educational clients with the funds.
Over the past 20 years, the proportion of school dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds has been declining. The overall graduation rate has also decreased in the U.S. A 60.4 percent graduation rate is average in four-year colleges. Meanwhile, a 31.6 percent graduation rate is average in two-year institutions offering associate degrees. In the fall of 2020, college enrollment fell by an estimated 400,000 students year-over-year due to the pandemic.
About AdmitHub
It brings together AI constructive nudges and a knowledge base to engage students through text, email, and webchat. It provides a dashboard for chatbot builders and trainers and analytics tailored for those without a tech experience. And it enables administrators to sort student conversations based on priority level or appropriate campaign. AdmihHub claims to have decreased “summer melt” at Georgia State University by over 30 percent. It’s a phenomenon of encouragement to attend college “melting” away during the summer following high school. Students with access to AdmitHub’s chatbot were 3.3 percent more likely to participate in a randomized controlled study, translating to a 21 percent reduction in summer melt.
The AdmitHub chatbots’ knowledge base draws on insights from over 4 million questions covering over 6,000 subjects. According to AdmitHub, chatbots answer more than 80% of all student questions using natural language processing, and they respond in less than two seconds when they are sure of a response. Questions are sent to a support team when an AdmitHub chatbot detects a “priority” subject or doesn’t know the answer. The knowledge base expands as human beings answer new questions, making the chatbot “smarter.” Instead, it links the questioner with advisors and tools.
AdmitHub is helping college students
AdmitHub says it has been used by more than 3 million students across hundreds of colleges and universities since its foundation, including state higher education systems and non-profit organizations such as the Coordinating Board of Texas Higher Education and the Common App and College Advising Corps.
“The past year has reinforced the reality that new challenges for colleges and universities will always be around the corner,” Drew Magliozzi, cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. “We are building an empathy engine for higher education in close collaboration with schools around the country that will allow institutions and their students to navigate even the biggest and most unexpected barriers.”
Matt Greenfield, the managing partner of Rethink, added: “The technology and approach of AdmitHub exemplify the thoughtful application of AI to solve the most pressing education challenges.” Artificial intelligence has played a revolutionary role in the efforts of organizations to interact rapidly and efficiently in ways that enhance access and retention on a scale, even amid the chaos of the past year. AdmitHub’s series B was also joined by ECMC Group’s Education Impact Fund and Kresge Foundation’s impact investment fund. It takes the total raised by the company to over $21 million following last January’s $7.5 million Series A boost.
