With more people harboring hopes of building the next hot Web or mobile start-up â€" and perhaps reaping a big payday â€" General Assembly, a school of sorts for budding entrepreneurs, is growing as well.
On Friday, the three-year-old General Assembly said that it had raised more than $35 million in a new round led by Institutional Venture Partners, which will gain a seat on its board. Other investors included GSV Capital and Western Technology Investment, the latter of which provided debt financing that could help lower the company’s cost of capital over time.
Since opening its doors in early 2011, the company has grown to more than 100,000 students, about 6,000 of whom have finished from coursework taught at eight locations. The new round of financing, General Assembly’s third, is meant to support the company as it continues to expand into an academy for coders, designers and marketers, according to Jake Schwartz, a co-founder and chief executive of the start-up.
“We’ve always had a big vision of General Assembly,†he said in a telephone interview. “We’ll hopefully be around for the next 50 to 75 years, if not longer.â€
Among the moves that the company plans to make are building more campuses and creating new teaching initiatives. And the company wants to build its offerings for other companies, including big corporations like NYSE Euronext and American Express.
“What we really focus on is being a full-service provider,†Mr. Schwartz said.
