George KirklandCo Founder

United States - Durham, North Carolina

George co-founded RaiseMe in 2012, an ed-tech company that re-invented college financial aid. Over 3 million high school students have used the RaiseMe platform to earn over $10Bn in micro-scholarships from colleges across the US. RaiseMe was acquired by Campus Logic in July of 2020.

- Won over $150,000 in grants and awards to initially fund RaiseMe, including the College Knowledge Challenge and the 2013 Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition
- Raised $32MM in funding from Redpoint, First Round Capital, Salesforce Ventures, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Owl Ventures, Teamworthy Ventures, GSV Ventures, and others.
- Led all aspects of the business through mid 2018 including Sales, Partner Success, Business Operations, Business Development, and Finance.
- Grew ARR from $0 to $5 million-plus in 4 years, at a CAGR of 106%
- Increased average contract value from $3,500 $17,800
- Achieved average net revenue retention of 123%, with a revenue churn rate of less than 7% and logo churn rate of less than 10% annually
- Captured 26% market share by partnering with over 330 paying college partners

As SVP of Business Development at RaiseMe (beginning in mid-2018)
- Led development of new RaiseMe product offerings including the Transfer Student Platform and Student Success Platform
- Added over $1MM in ARR through the Student Success Platform at a 5x higher contract value compared to the core product