Content platform Newsela has secured a $50 million investment to boost its footprint in schools across the US. 

The investment is from growth equity company TCV, which also backs content platforms including Netflix and Spotify. 

The TVC investment will be used to boost Newsela’s offering, allowing districts to customise materials to match their curriculum standards. The company sources digital content from hundreds of partners, creating accessible and personalised content for students to boost the learning experience. 

More than 20 million students and 1.8 million teachers are using the platform, which is used in 90% of US. schools. 

TVC general partner Woody Marshall said: “At TCV, we focus on finding transformative ed tech companies, and Newsela has proven to be a tool that boosts learning outcomes. Our investment will help extend the platform and make it more accessible and even more valuable to students, teachers, and administrators. We are especially excited by the great engagement and feedback that Newsela already has with their users."

Newsela chief executive Matthew Gross commented that “today’s digital-savvy kids” are limited to textbooks and other “outdates, inflexible materials that aren’t engaging”.

He said: “This lack of relevant, safe, reliable and accessible materials has created a massive engagement gap in our schools. The future of education lies in closing this gap.

“With high-speed broadband now ubiquitous and one-to-one computing (a non-shared laptop available to every student) the norm in classrooms, school districts are actively seeking solutions to this problem. 

“They’re increasingly choosing Newsela to provide safe, trusted, accessible and engaging content and assessments, while giving teachers the freedom to personalise for their students’ interests and needs. With this investment from TCV, we will scale efforts to help districts turn their technology infrastructure into quantifiable results that improve learning outcomes.”