According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Acrobatiq has received an endorsement to the tune of $9 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and several other backers.

The South Side-based adaptive learning and analytics software company received a $9.75 million Series A round of funding from Seattle-based Gates Foundation, Downtown-based Draper Triangle Ventures and New York-based Hearst Ventures. The funding will go toward expanding the adaptive learning platform and curricula to classrooms across the nation. Today the platform is in use at Western Governor's University, Rio Salado College, Arizona State University and the University System of Georgia.

'A lot of activity in higher education has centered on how we can build an online classroom for one million students. We think that's the wrong problem to solve. We are focused on building a million classrooms, each for one student,' said Acrobatiq CEO Eric Frank.

'We will only actualize the potential of the Internet to drive down costs and increase access to education when we can guarantee the quality of the online experience. That's what we are trying to do in partnership with committed faculty and universities, and this round of funding with such great investment partners will help us do it better and faster.'