Exclusive – Unigo.com, a website that provides information for finding, getting in and paying for college, has raised its first round of institutional funding. The startup has raised $1.6 million in financing, led by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Unigo says it will use the capital to expand to include graduate schools and accredited universities outside the United States, and broaden its reach through alliances with publishers.
The Unigo.com network is powered by college counselors and a community of enrolled college students, acting as an online resource of information to get in and finance college.
Unigo.com hosts more than 200,000 multimedia reviews by students on 6,500 campuses across the country, free of charge. Game mechanics incentivize counselors and students to compete as they contribute more, leading to a 400 percent increase in content over the past year, according to the fledgling company.
US News & World Report has recently selected Unigo to provide student reviews for its rankings and directories, including its college rankings.
Unigo boasts an impressive advisory board, including people like Fotolog and Sixdegrees.com founder Adam Seifer, TiVo president and CEO Tom Rogers and Bob Chase, former President of the National Education Association.