I love it when a plan comes together.  The plan in question is the Edmodo Platform. When we invested in Edmodo in the fall of 2010, the company was just beginning to really grow its network of students and teachers.  One frequently asked question was how Edmodo would be able to keep offering its features for free.  I remember going to the ISTE conference in 2011 and having several teachers come up to me concerned that they would have to stop using Edmodo once it would start to charge.  I assured them that Edmodo would always stay free and that the company would find other ways to make money.

Well, the team has done an amazing job both building out the network, which now has over 6 million members, and also laying the groundwork for the Edmodo Platform.  That involved a ton of development work on the APIs which allow third-party applications to connect to Edmodo’s features and education social graph.  It also required building out partnerships with third party developers.  The current soft launch of the platform includes over 35 partners that have built applications.  Some of these apps will be free and others paid and that will be how Edmodo can maintain the network.

Nic Borg, Edmodo’s co-founder and CEO, announced the platform at SXSWedu where Edmodo hosted the closing BBQ.  You can find coverage of the Edmodo Platform at Forbes, Fastcompany and Mashable.  I am super excited about this as it will allow developers to reach the classroom directly without the need to sell to schools or districts or states.