When children want to have a little fun learning their multiplication tables, and teachers want a ready-made quiz they can download for to their class--FunBrain makes them both happy. With educational games for children K-8, and tools for teachers to find, create, and grade quizzes, the site claims the title of #1 education site for kids and teachers. Even back in 2000, the site would draw 35 million page views per month and was consistently ranked one of the top 5 most popular children's sites on the web. Today it still remains one of the top 1000 most trafficked internet sites in the US (according to Alexa.com).
Although the website is still going strong, the story is a blast from the past. The site was founded in 1997 by two U of C grads, Michael Cirks and Paul Hudson, originally as a division of PMpublishing (a company developing software for banks and traders). In 1999 it was spun-off as it's own entity. 2000 was a busy year for the company, first merging with FamilyEducation Network (a venture-backed Boston company) and then later that year, the new entity was bought by Pearson for $129 million in cash.
Dimensions: TBD people x 9 years x $ NDA (division of Pearson)
Funding: Founders until merger with FamilyEducation Network
Customers: Kids K-8 and teachers
Location: Champaign, IL (Pearson offices), Boston (FunBrain offices) + www.funbrain.com
