CEI Ventures, Maine Venture Fund, Maine Angels and LearnLaunch fund online class registration platform

Orono, Maine – CourseStorm, an online class registration and enrollment management platform, today announced it has completed a $1.15 million early series round of financing. CEI Ventures co-invested along with Maine Venture Fund, Maine Angels and LearnLaunch of Boston. The investment will enable the high growth company to keep up its momentum and make learning accessible to more people.

CourseStorm is used by small and medium-sized local programs to register students and process payments for classes across industries, ranging from community education to health and wellness classes to workforce development, after-school programs, and corporate training. The platform saves precious time for its clients, helping them to grow by reaching and registering more students for their programming.  CourseStorm currently has clients in 44 states, ranging from a small township in Maine and a network of swim camps in Ohio, to a seven-hospital healthcare system and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. To date, the company has registered more than 225,000 students for classes.

“Increasingly people are getting education and enrichment outside of school. We are thrilled to receive this investment to help us with our ultimate mission and contribute to helping people become well-rounded citizens of the 21^st century,” said CourseStorm co-founder and CEO Brian Rahill. “People are living longer and changing jobs and are seeking new skills to stay in the workforce. Local education programs, job retraining, and certificate programs are filling a gap, often with a small staff and paper-based forms. Our platform gives them greater capacity and streamlines access to learning for everyone.”

CourseStorm was just presented with the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce Entrepreneurship Award and plans to create 20 new positions over the next 36 months in this rural region.

“CourseStorm’s growth shows that innovation and hard work is happening in rural Maine,” said Chandler Jones, Principal of CEI Ventures. “Their promise aligns with our mission, to find investments in companies that benefit the community, in this case providing greater access to continuing education and other enrichment programs. Those are fundamentals toward strengthening communities and ultimately building an economy that works for everyone.”

About CourseStorm

CourseStorm is an impossibly simple online registration and class marketing platform located in Orono, ME. CourseStorm’s robust software suite for small to medium sized education providers has helped streamline access and grow enrollments for thousands of local classes at schools, libraries, hospitals, and museums in 44 states across the country.  For more information, visit http://www.coursestorm.com.

About CEI and CVI

Coastal Enterprises (CEI) and CEI Ventures Inc. (CVI) integrate financing, business and industry expertise, and policy solutions to increase good jobs, advance environmentally sustainable enterprises, and grow more broadly shared prosperity in Maine and other rural regions.  CVI is the venture capital subsidiary of CEI and manages socially responsible venture capital funds. CEI and CVI are committed to building an economy that works for everyone, particularly people with low incomes, women, minorities and people of color. Learn more at www.ceimaine.org and www.ceiventures.com.