Piedmont RIA (http://www.piedmontRIA.com), through its affiliate Militello Capital, is pleased to announce it made a venture capital investment in Hallway, Inc.

Hallway is a social learning network that makes student-student collaboration simple, social, and global. Created by 6 High School students from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, VA, Hallway allows its users to share educational content, post notes from class, and ask about assignments all while saving and organizing the notes that are shared. In addition to the six students from Thomas Jefferson, Evan Burfield (T.J. alum) has joined the company as Chairman. Evan is a serial entrepreneur and also serves as Chairman of Startup DC. Hallway's streamlined world sharing feature makes it easier for students to get help from anyone, anywhere. The Hallway platform includes key features such as content sharing, ranking content, storing content, personalizing and recommending content, and ranking members based on behavior. Everything on Hallway is gamified, using an algorithm to provide students with an assessment mechanism that more accurately assesses how valuable of a contribution a student is making than a GPA or SAT scores ever could.

According to Matt Brady, Piedmont's Managing Director, "We are always excited to fund innovative entrepreneurs. The team at Hallway has a tremendous opportunity to reshape and transform how students learn."

"Piedmont has a strong track record of supporting startups with big ideas through long-term, strategic capital," according to Burfield. "We are honored to be joining their portfolio and working with them to make learning global and collaborative."

Hallway is completely free and uses smart economic models that drive revenue without affecting user experience. Unlike its competitors, Hallway has developed a model that combines all of the educational features a student wants since it was designed by students for student use.

Piedmont RIA
Piedmont RIA, also known as Piedmont Investment Advisors, LLC, located in Lansdowne (Leesburg) Virginia, is a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. When Bill Militello, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, founded Piedmont Investment Advisors in 2003, he set out to create not just another financial advisor or boutique investment firm, but rather to create a new "category" in financial services.