TORONTO — March 1, 2022 — Today Disco, the all-in-one platform for knowledge creators and organizations to build their live learning empires, closed a $15 million Series A funding round led by GSV Ventures.
“Disco realizes that live learning is the future and creators and organizations of all sizes need a Shopify-like platform to run their live learning business. We are excited to back this all-star team pioneering the future of live learning,” said Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner at GSV Ventures who is joining the company’s board of directors.
Disco — the Latin word for learn — offers a “mission control” and all-in-one platform to create & teach, learn & engage, market & sell, and operate and scale a live learning empire.
“We are in the flip phone stage of where live learning is headed and we are excited to be pioneering this revolution. We are mission driven entrepreneurs and excited to reimagine the future of learning: led by trusted knowledge creators we love, with community and experiential learning at the core, and accessible from anywhere. We believe knowledge creators are the entrepreneurs of the future and they deserve a platform that gives them ownership and control of their empire,” said Candice Faktor.
“Our vision for the platform is to be the operating system for learning communities, academies, bootcamps, and microschools. Disco is purpose built and brings together many tools such as live video, chat, event management, cohort management, curriculum/content, membership, all under one roof making the learner experience premium and seamless and the creator experience around scaling a live learning empire best in class,” said Disco Co-founder Chris Sukornyk.
Zapier’s Makerpad, Dribbble’s product design school, NPR’s Planet Money co-founder Adam Davidson are but a few examples of Disco’s many customers building their live learning empires.
“To run a virtual academy or microschool, especially live cohort-based courses, today is a mess. You need to use about 7-10 different tools. Disco is solving a major pain point. I had to do it myself and that’s why I invested.” says Dan Martell, SaaS Academy Founder.
Disco also offers a premium studio model that has attracted big name knowledge creators like Margaret Atwood, cultural icon and bestselling author, and Roger Martin, Thinkers50 #1 Management Thinker (2017). Martin’s live learning empire with Disco is on track to be a 7-figure revenue generator this year alone.
“I have chosen to work with Disco because I think its vision for the future of education and the role of creators in it is the most insightful and forward-thinking of any organization in the space,” says Martin.
Disco gets the importance for Web3 and the need for creators to own their own community, revenue, and brand. NFT certificates, wallet integration, and crypto payment protocols are all on the product roadmap for 2022. In Atwood’s virtual live learning experience, Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible, which was recently featured on CNN and has already garnered over 700+ applicants, participants will each receive a clean, green NFT certificate and compilation of their work minted on the Tezos blockchain.
Disco’s founders bring exceptionally complementary backgrounds to the company. Faktor helped scale Wattpad, one of the largest creative storytelling community platforms in the world (sold last year for $660M). Sukornyk, is a 6x serial tech entrepreneur who founded Chango, a performance marketing platform that sold for $120M.
Disco has seen lots of traction since they raised their seed round in early 2021. The team is fully remote and is actively hiring. Funds from this round will be used for product development, scaling go to market, and hiring an exceptional, diverse team.
About Disco
For knowledge creators and organizations, Disco offers an all-in-one SaaS platform and full service solution to create & teach, market & sell, learn & engage, operate & scale a live learning empire. Disco is the operating system for live cohort based courses, learning communities, microschools, and academies. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Candice Faktor (ex-Wattpad) and Chris Sukornyk (ex-Chango), and backed by world leading investors including GSV Ventures (who are also behind Masterclass and Coursera), Disco is pioneering this live learning revolution. Customers include top management thinker Roger Martin, cultural icon Margaret Atwood, Zapier’s Makerpad, and Dribbble’s product community who are all embracing the power of learning live together enabled by Disco.
