Niche (company)
Private | |
Founded | August 9, 2002 |
---|---|
Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Luke Skurman, Founder and CEO |
Number of employees | 325 |
Website | www |
Niche.com, formerly known as College Prowler,
History
Niche, Inc. was founded as College Prowler in August 2002 by Luke Skurman and Joey Rahimi. Then students at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business, they spun the company out of a project in their entrepreneurship class.[3]
In 2004, the small company obtained an investment of US$500,000 (equivalent to $806,554 in 2023) from
In 2013, College Prowler changed its name to Niche and started to cover K-12 school districts using federal data, state data, and user-generated reviews. Within months of launching the K-12 product, Niche had collected 500,000 user reviews on half of all high schools in the US.[7] After transitioning to the new business model, the bulk of revenue then came from partners who helped schools market and advertised to potential students.[8]
In 2018, Niche raised a $6.6 million (equivalent to about $8M in 2023) Series B funding round led by
In 2020, Niche raised a $35 million Series C round of funding led by Radian Capital, with Radian Capital partner and co-founder Weston Gaddy, and
Product
Niche, as College Prowler, provided rankings, report cards (with attributed grades) and reviews of colleges in the US.[12] During its rebranding process, Niche expanded its coverage to include K-12 schools as well as neighborhoods under their "places to live" category.[1][13] In addition to its comprehensive profiles, Niche also lists scholarships from the company and third parties.[14] Niche functions as a two-sided platform with free access for prospective students and over 15,000 school clients who pay for services to help them market to these users, including placing advertising and promotional material on the site. Niche also offers access to its data for a cost to other parties such as real estate companies, which has raised concerns that this linkage might reinforce neighborhood disparities based on ethnicity and income. [15]
Controversies
In a 2008 scandal known as "Facebookgate",[16][17] hundreds of spurious "Class of 2013" groups were created on Facebook for the purpose of promoting College Prowler.[18][19] Such groups would normally be created by actual students or colleges themselves. According to the CEO, "The original purpose was to use these groups as a way to inform students that they can access a free guide about their new college on our site."[20] College Prowler later removed all administrative access from the 125 groups, admitting, "It was clearly over the line."[21]
References
- ^ CNN. Archivedfrom the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ a b Spencer, Malia (October 11, 2013), "College Prowler becomes Niche and wants to help you make big decisions", Pittsburgh Business Times, archived from the original on May 16, 2014, retrieved April 22, 2014
- ^ a b c Fenn, Donna (October 1, 2009), "Case Study: Finding the Right Price for a Hot Product", Inc. Magazine, retrieved April 22, 2014
- ^ Todd, Deborah (October 4, 2014). "Review, rankings site College Prowler joins Niche group". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved October 17, 2018.
- Fast Company. March 1, 2005. Archivedfrom the original on September 29, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ Spencer, Malia (August 12, 2011). "College Prowler soars after making switch to business model". Pittsburgh Business Times. Archived from the original on May 16, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ "College Prowler becomes Niche and wants to help you make big decisions". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ Spencer, Malia (August 12, 2011). "College Prowler soars after making switch to business model". Pittsburgh Business News. The Business Journals. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ "Niche Announces $35M Series C Funding To Reimagine And Simplify The School And College Search Experience". AP NEWS. April 29, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ Vellucci, Justin (April 30, 2020), "Niche got $35 million to change how Gen Z applies to college", NEXTPittsburgh News, retrieved November 5, 2022
- ^ "Niche Announces $35M Series C Funding To Reimagine And Simplify The School And College Search Experience". AP NEWS. April 29, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2021.
- ^ Todd, Deborah (October 4, 2013). "Review, Rankings Site College Prowler Becomes Niche". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
- ^ Dill, Kathryn (April 14, 2014), "Best cities and neighborhoods for millennials", Forbes, archived from the original on April 22, 2014, retrieved April 22, 2014
- ^ Tretina, Kat (December 2, 2020). "How To Read Your Student Aid Report". Forbes Advisor. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
- ^ Millward, Wade Tyler (April 29, 2020), "Niche Raises $35 Million to Rival School Directory Review Sites", EdSurge News, retrieved November 5, 2022
- ^ "Campus Overload - Facebookgate, the 2010 edition". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
- ^ "Episode 14: Facebookgate & Three Years of Facebook Forgery | Higher ed Live". Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014. Facebookgate: Three Years of Facebook Forgery
- ^ "XpertTip No. 89: Facebookgate: Summary of a scandal – TargetX | CRM for Higher Education TargetX | CRM for Higher Education". Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014. Facebookgate: Summary of a Scandal
- ^ "Facebookgate". December 19, 2008. Archived from the original on April 29, 2014. Retrieved April 29, 2014. Facebookgate - Higher Ed Marketing
- ^ Windish, Joe (December 21, 2008). "Facebookgate: Companies "Colonize" Facebook for Marketing Exploits". The Moderate Voice. Joe Gandelman. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
- ^ "Company Created Official-Looking 'Class of 2013' Facebook Groups for Hundreds of Colleges". Chronicle.com. December 19, 2008. Archived from the original on January 10, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.