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- Top Hat
Top Hat Valuation, Funding & Investors
Top Hat is valued at $500M as of February 2021.
Last Top Hat valuation
$500M
Series E · Feb 2021
Last Top Hat funding round
$130M
Series E · Feb 2021
Cumulative funding Top Hat raised
$226M
across 6 funding rounds
Key investors in Top Hat
Georgian
Inovia Capital
Emergence Capital
Felicis
Union Square Ventures
Uncork Capital
About Top Hat
Top Hat is a Toronto-headquartered edtech platform that delivers interactive learning tools to over 4 million students across more than 1,000 North American universities. Founded in 2009, the company equips professors with mobile-first quizzes, polls, attendance tracking, discussions, and multimedia-enhanced textbooks compatible with existing course management systems like Canvas and Blackboard. Top Hat supports diverse teaching formats including flipped classrooms and group activities through real-time engagement features on students' devices. The platform integrates with publishers such as Pearson and Wiley, serving institutions like the University of Toronto and Stanford University. With a focus on higher education, Top Hat processes millions of interactions per semester to boost retention and comprehension.
Founded
2009
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Valuation
$500M (Feb 2021)
Top Hat Valuation
Top Hat is currently valued at $500M, based on its Series E in February 2021.
The $130M round was led by Georgian, with participation from Employee Stock Option Fund.
Top Hat valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Feb 2021 | Series E | $500M |
Top Hat Funding History
Top Hat has raised a total of $226M across 6 funding rounds.
Top Hat's first fundraising round was a $1M seed round in January 2013. The most recent completed round was a $130M Series E in February 2021.
Top Hat funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2021 | Series E | Georgian (lead); Employee Stock Option Fund | $130M | $500M | Top Hat is a digital courseware and active learning platform serving the higher education market, combining interactive textbooks, lecture slides, quizzes, and assignments to improve student outcomes. The company's platform helps educators create engaging course experiences while addressing rising textbook costs and the shift from print to digital interactive content in the $10 billion North American higher education courseware industry. In February 2021, Top Hat raised $130 million in a Series E funding round led by Georgian Partners, an existing investor making its fourth investment in the company. The round valued Top Hat at approximately $500 million post-money, bringing total venture capital raised to $235 million. Of the $130 million Series E, $50 million was primary capital with the remaining $80 million directed toward secondary purchases by earlier investors. The round also coincided with a CEO transition, as founder Mike Silagadze stepped down in favor of former Bazaarvoice CRO Joe Rohrlich, who took over in March 2021. At the time of the Series E, Top Hat disclosed revenue in the eight figures ($10 million to $100 million range) with 40 percent growth in 2020, though exact figures were not released publicly. The Series E funding was designated to accelerate acquisition of publisher content and partnerships with traditional publishing companies seeking to adapt to the digital learning shift. Other investors in the company included Inovia Capital, Union Square Ventures, Emergence Capital, Leaders Fund, and Golden Venture Partners. |
| Feb 2020 | Series D | Georgian (lead); Inovia Capital (lead); Leaders Fund; Innovation Banking Group; Union Square Ventures; Emergence Capital; BMO’s Technology | $55M | - | Top Hat, a Toronto-based edtech company providing an active learning platform for higher education, raised $55 million in Series D funding on February 4, 2020, co-led by Georgian Partners and Inovia Capital, with participation from existing investors Union Square Ventures, Emergence Capital, and Leaders Fund, plus debt from BMO Technology and Innovation Banking Group. The round brought total funding to over $104 million, aimed at expanding digital textbooks, course materials, and partnerships with publishers like Fountainhead Press and Bluedoor Publishing to disrupt traditional textbook industry and reduce costs for students. At the time, Top Hat had grown to 400 employees, with 2.7 million students enrolled in courses using its platform at 750 of the top 1,000 North American higher education institutions. The funding supported Top Hat's shift from in-class quiz tools to a comprehensive platform bundling teaching tools, digital content, and open educational resources (OER), positioning it against major textbook publishers amid rising demand for affordable alternatives. Investors highlighted the company's strong growth and adoption in higher ed, with Georgian Partners noting its tech-first approach and Inovia Capital emphasizing its role in collaborative digital learning that improves outcomes and cuts costs similar to music industry disruptions. |
| Jun 2017 | Series C | Leaders Fund (lead) | $8M | - | Top Hat is a Toronto-based educational technology company that provides a classroom response system and content marketplace for higher education. Founded around 2012, the company had achieved significant adoption by mid-2017, with teachers and students at over 750 of the top 1,000 colleges and universities using its platform. In June 2017, Top Hat announced a $22.5 million Series C funding round, followed by a $7.5 million follow-on investment from Toronto-based Leaders Fund, bringing the Series C to $40 million total. The company had expanded beyond its original response system to launch a content marketplace designed to challenge traditional textbook publishers by enabling educators to create and publish interactive online textbooks and supplementary materials at lower costs than conventional offerings. |
| Feb 2017 | Series C | Union Square Ventures (lead); Georgian; Emergence Capital; Inovia Capital; Uncork Capital; Version One Ventures; Golden Ventures | $23M | - | Top Hat, an edtech company providing interactive classroom tools for higher education, closed a $22.5M USD Series C funding round on February 15, 2017, led by Union Square Ventures with participation from existing investors including Version One Ventures, Georgian, Golden Ventures, Inovia Capital, and others. Union Square Ventures' Albert Wenger joined the board. The round occurred amid a weak 2016 for edtech funding, highlighting Top Hat's resilience in a challenging vertical where direct student charging is difficult and institutional sales cycles are long. The company launched in 2009 with an early focus on revenue generation and has operated profitably since inception, reducing pressure to raise capital frequently. Top Hat succeeded through innovative distribution to bring tools into classrooms and subsequent platform expansion. Later rounds included a Series C-II in June 2017, Series D with $55M in 2020 co-led by Georgian Partners and Inovia Capital, and a $130M Series E in February 2021 from Georgian, bringing total funding to nearly $235M by 2022 with a $500M valuation in a Series F. Top Hat grew to serve 2.7 million students at 750 of the top 1,000 North American colleges, expanding into digital textbooks and publisher partnerships to transform the $10B higher ed courseware market. |
| May 2014 | Series B | Georgian (lead); Felicis; Emergence Capital; MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund; Inovia Capital; Uncork Capital; Version One Ventures; Golden Ventures | $10M | - | Top Hat is a mobile and web-based classroom response and engagement platform that enables professors to present lectures, annotate slides, share notes, ask questions, facilitate discussions, and grade students. The company raised a $10 million Series B round on May 6, 2014, led by Georgian Partners, with participation from Emergence Capital Partners, iNovia Capital, SoftTech VC, Version One Ventures, Golden Ventures, and Felicis Ventures. This round brought Top Hat's total funding to $20 million following an $8 million Series A in 2012. At the time of the round, Top Hat's products were in use by approximately 300,000 students at more than 400 universities, with offices in Toronto, San Francisco, and Chicago. The funding was intended to accelerate adoption of the teaching platform, extend product leadership, launch an enterprise product for university administrators offering sentiment polls and early warning systems for student performance, and expand into corporate training while growing its staff of about 90 employees. |
| Jan 2013 | Seed | Felicis (lead) | $1M | - | - |
Who has invested in Top Hat?
13 investors have backed Top Hat across its funding rounds, including Georgian, Inovia Capital, Emergence Capital, Felicis, Union Square Ventures and Uncork Capital.
Lead investors include Georgian, Inovia Capital, Leaders Fund, Union Square Ventures and Felicis.
Top Hat Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Lead | May 2014 | ||
| 3 | Participant | May 2014 | ||
| 3 | Lead | May 2014 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Jun 2017 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Feb 2017 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Jan 2013 | ||
| 2 | Participant | May 2014 | ||
| 2 | Participant | May 2014 | ||
| 2 | Participant | May 2014 | ||
| -- | 1 | Participant | Feb 2020 | |
| 1 | Participant | May 2014 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 13 Top Hat investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Top Hat
Top Hat has acquired 4 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Top Hat was on December 5th 2022. Top Hat acquired Aktiv Learning for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Top Hat
| Description | Aktiv Learning is a Boston-based edtech company offering interactive STEM learning platforms for K-12 and higher education. Its web-based tools enable students to simulate physics experiments, dissect virtual frogs, and explore 3D molecular structures in biology and chemistry courses. Adopted by over 200 school districts in the US and Canada, the platform integrates with Google Classroom and Canvas LMS, providing teachers with real-time analytics on student progress. | Morton Publishing Company is a Englewood, Colorado-based publisher of customized laboratory course materials for higher education. The company produces print and digital resources in biology, anatomy, physiology, microbiology, and environmental science, tailored to instructor specifications. It distributes through college bookstores and online, offering active learning tools like lab manuals and kits used in over 1,000 institutions. | Fountainhead Press is a Southlake-based publisher focused on customizable English composition textbooks and communication resources for higher education. It produces modular texts like Rhetoric of Wonder and They Say, I Blog, incorporating multimedia QR codes and low-cost print-on-demand formats. The company collaborates with instructors at over 300 U.S. colleges to develop course-specific materials aligned with MLA and APA standards. Fountainhead Press maintains eco-friendly digital-first distribution through platforms like VitalSource, reducing paper usage by 90 percent compared to traditional publishers. | - |
| HQ Country | ||||
| HQ City | New York City, NY | Denver, CO | Dallas, TX | Minneapolis, MN |
| Deal Date | 5 Dec 2022 | 26 Aug 2021 | 13 Jan 2021 | 25 Aug 2020 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | ||||
| EV/EBITDA | ||||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Top Hat acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | ||||
Top Hat Competitors
Top Hat competitors include listed companies like Docebo and D2L, and private ones like Teachmint, MagicSchool AI, Podotree and Classplus.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | - | - | $500M | - | ||
| Private | $10M | - | $431M | 43.1x | ||
| Private | - | - | $428M | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $243M | $26M | $594M | 2.4x | ||
| Private | $28M | - | $600M | 21.4x | ||
| Publicly listed | $217M | $17M | $375M | 1.2x |
Top Hat Public Comps
Top Hat is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Shenzhen Fangzhi Science, Docebo, D2L, NIIT Learning Systems, Qibu, Tribal Group, I-Scream Media, RM plc, ReadyTech and Vitec Software.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $14M | $3M | 28.2x | - | 118.5x | - | |||
| $243M | $26M | 2.6x | 2.4x | 24.8x | 12.3x | |||
| $217M | $17M | 1.3x | 1.2x | 16.7x | 8.3x | |||
| $204M | $42M | 1.3x | 1.2x | 6.1x | 6.0x | |||
| $24M | ($16M) | 15.3x | - | (23.0x) | - | |||
| $124M | $22M | 1.9x | 1.8x | 10.4x | 10.1x | |||
| $143M | $48M | 0.6x | 0.7x | 1.6x | - | |||
| $218M | $17M | 1.1x | 1.1x | 14.4x | 10.1x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Top Hat competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about Top Hat
| When was Top Hat founded? | Top Hat was founded in 2009. |
| Where is Top Hat headquartered? | Top Hat is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. |
| Is Top Hat publicly listed? | No, Top Hat is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Top Hat's valuation? | Top Hat was last valued at $500M in its Series E in February 2021. |
| How much funding has Top Hat raised? | Top Hat has raised $226M across 6 funding rounds. |
| What was Top Hat's last funding round? | Top Hat's last funding round was a $130M Series E in February 2021, led by Georgian. |
| Who are Top Hat's investors? | Top Hat's investors include Georgian, Emergence Capital, Inovia Capital, Leaders Fund, Union Square Ventures, Felicis, Uncork Capital, Version One Ventures, Golden Ventures, Innovation Banking Group and 3 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to Top Hat? | Companies comparable to Top Hat include Teachmint, MagicSchool AI, Podotree, Docebo, Classplus and D2L. |
| How many companies has Top Hat acquired? | Top Hat has acquired 4 companies, including Aktiv Learning, Morton Publishing Company, Fountainhead Press and bluedoor publishing. |
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