Gamified solution helps schools and students combat disengagement, lack of motivation, absenteeism, and lower academic performance.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, UNITED STATES, April 3, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ — The Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC) today announced that Team Excel, Inc. has been awarded a Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) grant for $100,000. VIPC’s CCF programs have distributed more than $55 million to Virginia-based startups, entrepreneurs, and university-based inventors since 2012 in support of critical early technology testing and market validation efforts.

Team Excel is on a mission to become the easiest way to create team-based competitions that build a sense of belonging, increase motivation, and improve outcomes in school, work, and life. The Richmond, Va.-based startup offers a tool that enhances schools’ existing programs and initiatives addressing academic achievement, attendance, and behavior. Already a cause for concern before COVID-19, these critical areas have been exacerbated by the pandemic and students are increasingly paying the price. With Team Excel’s approach, students are placed on teams and compete based on metrics such as grades, attendance, behavior, or any other custom category. The gamification platform allows students, teachers, and administrators to track and manage the teams and competitions while a web portal provides a public view where schools can highlight student successes. By combining peer-to-peer accountability with healthy competition and meaningful incentives, schools can improve success metrics in a variety of areas.

“I started Team Excel because I wanted to find a way to motivate students to do better in school and reach their full potential. This platform gives these students a reason to show up, be accountable, and just be good people, not only for themselves, but for their classmates and teammates who are counting on them, “ said Johnathan Mayo, Founder of Team Excel.

CCF funding will be used to further validate the product-market fit with Team Excel’s expanding customer base and build a foundation to increase adoption and scaling capabilities with new customers, such as national youth development and sports organizations, colleges and universities, companies, and resell partners. By developing a white-label platform and web portal, the company can increase opportunities for larger contracts and attract a more diverse audience beyond K-12 school systems. This project accelerates momentum of an earlier CCF grant to develop key technology functions.

“Team Excel offers a framework to help organizations and individuals foster a team culture where people support, motivate, and hold one another accountable. In the school systems that have already deployed their solution, there is a marked increase in students’ grades, attendance, and motivation,” said Jeanette Townsend, VIPC’s Director of Private Sector Grants. “With this most recent CCF grant, the company will be positioned on a steady and self-sustaining growth path, ready to scale nationally and truly make a difference in student success and happiness.”

About Team Excel
Team Excel is an education technology company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company’s primary technology leverages the power of teams to help schools, organizations, and corporations build a team culture where people support, motivate, and hold each other accountable. To learn more, visit www.teamexcel.com.

About Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
Connecting innovators with opportunities. As the nonprofit operations arm of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority (VIPA), VIPC is the commercialization and seed stage economic development driver in the Commonwealth that leads funding, infrastructure, and policy initiatives to support Virginia’s innovators, entrepreneurs, startups, and market development strategies. VIPC also collaborates with local, regional, state, and federal partners to support the expansion and diversification of Virginia’s economy. 
 
Programs include: Virginia Venture Partners (VVP) | VVP Fund of Funds (SSBCI) | Virginia Founders Fund (VFF) | Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) | Petersburg Founders Fund (PFF) | Smart Communities | The Virginia Smart Community Testbed | The Virginia Unmanned Systems Center | Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Alliance (VAAMA) | The Public Safety Innovation Center (PSIC)| Entrepreneurial Ecosystems | Regional Innovation Fund (RIF) | Federal Funding Assistance Program (FFAP) for SBIR & STTR | University Partnerships | Startup Company Mentoring & Engagement. 

For more information, please visit www.VirginiaIPC.org. Explore the latest news from VIPC and images from VIPC-supported stakeholder events. Follow VIPC on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn.

About the Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF)
VIPC’s Commonwealth Commercialization Fund (CCF) accepts applications and awards funding on a rolling basis to Virginia’s small businesses and university-based innovators. For Virginia’s private sector community, the competitive grant program seeks high-potential Virginia-based for-profit technology companies at the early stage of commercialization. The grants support early technology and market validation efforts such as the development of prototypes or minimum viable products (MVPs), customer pilots, and intellectual property protection. For more information on funding opportunities and eligibility requirements, or to apply, visit the CCF pages from www.VirginiaIPC.org.

Angela Costello, Vice President of Communications
Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation (VIPC)
[email protected]
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