Signal Vine, a leading enterprise text messaging platform used by higher education institutions to improve student retention and persistence, announced today it has secured $2 million in Series A funding. The round was led by New Markets Venture Partners, an early and growth stage venture capital firm that invests in and helps build transformative education, information technology, and business services companies.

More than 200 higher education institutions and college success organizations use Signal Vine's enterprise text messaging platform to text students at scale and nudge them to success. Signal Vine customers have used this approach to achieve high-impact results, including an 11 percent increase in matriculation and a 20 percent improvement in persistence. Organizations scale their texting programs across departments by integrating their data systems and leveraging unique platform features such as blended messaging, which allows organizations to send a combination of automated and manual messages in a single conversation thread. This saves staff time while still building strong relationships with students across the entire student lifecycle to improve student success.

"Communication is changing quickly and we want to help institutions keep up with these changes and reach students where they are - on their phones, texting. Texting is a very personal form of communication, so it needs to be done right to be effective at the scale that universities need. We take a unique approach by enabling blended text messaging - a combination of manual and personalized, platform-generated messages in the same message flow," said Signal Vine CEO Brian Kathman. "To ensure our customers are communicating effectively, we leverage behavioral science strategies so a few highly powerful messages can maximize results and engagement. The outcomes and ROIs our customers are experiencing with their students are amazing."

"We are thrilled to be part of Signal Vine's bright future and excited to see their growth," said Robb Doub, General Partner at New Markets Venture Partners. "Their leadership in the market and enthusiastic customer base is a recipe for success. Most importantly, Signal Vine's solution is specifically designed to reach students in a personalized, scalable manner that improves student retention and persistence, both of which are top priorities for higher education leaders."

Signal Vine's Series A follows more than three years of strong growth and adoption of its market-leading enterprise messaging platform. The funds raised will be used to accelerate product development in machine learning and platform analytics, as well as continued sales and marketing growth. For more information about Signal Vine, visit signalvine.com.

About Signal Vine

Signal Vine's enterprise text messaging platform transforms the way higher education institutions reach and engage students. Nearly 100% of students and families have access to text messaging, making it the most powerful way to communicate with any student at any time. Built on the principles of behavioral science, the Signal Vine platform combines text messaging with data analytics to deliver a highly personalized and interactive experience for students. Proactive text nudges sent through the platform are a powerful driver of positive behaviors and outcomes ranging from matriculation to enrollment to persistence. Students don't need to download anything to receive messages. The company serves more than 200 higher education organizations, including the Utah System of Higher Education, University of New Mexico, and Austin Community College. Visit signalvine.com for more information, or follow Signal Vine on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

About New Markets Venture Partners

Founded in 2003, New Markets Venture Partners is an early and growth stage venture capital firm that invests in and builds transformative education companies. One of the leading education technology-focused venture firms in the U.S., New Markets has built strong relationships with states, districts, universities and other centers of innovation that allow the firm to provide exceptional value to its portfolio companies. Current investments include: Graduation Alliance, a leading dropout out and credit recovery firm helping students with diplomas, credentials and jobs; Presence Learning, a pioneer in the application of teletherapy in K-12 schools; leading digital credential platform Credly; and Straighterline, which offers low cost college courses accepted by over 100 accredited partner colleges. Notable exits include Moodlerooms (acquired by Blackboard), Starfish (acquired by Hobsons) and Questar Assessment (acquired by ETS).