Amira Learning, the first-of-its-kind A.I.-based reading tutor for children aged 5-10 and creator of the Amira and the StoryCraft app, has appointed veteran marketing and business leader Courtney Wachs as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager of their B2C business.
In her role at Amira Learning, Wachs will be responsible for the brand growth, acquisition, and engagement strategy for the at-home app, as well as the oversight and management of Amira's B2C business in order to support their mission: to give every child the opportunity to become a motivated and masterful reader.
“We're thrilled to welcome someone with Courtney's proven track record of success to Amira Learning as we strengthen our technology and brand,” said Amira Learning CEO and Co-founder Mark Angel. “As we stay focused on helping to close America's literacy gap, Courtney will be immensely helpful in ensuring more families know that they have access to a resource like Amira to help their child to become a more confident and successful reader.”
Wachs's background includes 20 years of brand and lifecycle marketing experience, with leadership positions held at prominent entertainment and consumer product companies, including The Walt Disney Company, Twentieth Century Fox, and the movie app, Movies Anywhere. Wachs helped launch one of Disney's first film streaming services, Disney Movies Anywhere, and while at Twentieth Century Fox, she developed global in-home campaigns for DreamWorks animated titles, including Trolls, which became the highest-converting family film of the time across all physical and digital formats.
“I'm delighted to be joining Amira at such an exciting time in its newest phase of growth. The technology that powers Amira is incredible, and it's so rewarding to see children's reading and confidence improve in just a matter of days,” said Wachs. “We want all families to know that reading growth is within reach, and I'm proud to support and grow a brand that has the potential to have such a powerful impact on these children's lives.”
Earlier this month, Amira Learning announced an updated version of its at-home app, Amira and the StoryCraft, that encourages and educates readers through hundreds of exciting and interactive stories and games. The at-home app provides real-time reading assistance, catching mispronunciations and skipped words, and has been proven to double the pace of reading growth in children at just 10 minutes of use a day. Parents can spend upwards of $200 per month on certified in-person reading tutors for their children. The Amira and the StoryCraft app, which performs on par or better than a certified in-person tutor, puts reading mastery within financial reach of all families at less than 8% of standard tutoring costs. Using hundreds of stories from beloved publishers like Highlights Magazine and Rebel Girls, readers are rewarded by earning “Word Power,” which encourages them to keep progressing. Parents are also included in every step of their child's journey with access to custom reports documenting their child's progress and achievements.
In a round led by Authentic Ventures II, LP, with participation from Vertical Ventures, Owl Ventures, and Rethink Education, Amira Learning announced $11.3M in Series B funding in April to grow Amira's at-home and district-wide learning platforms. Through its partnership with leading education company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Amira is already being used by 300+ school districts across the U.S.
To learn more about the Amira and the StoryCraft app, go to www.readwithamira.com or visit the App Store.
About Amira Learning
Founded by a team of former engineers and executives from Pearson, IBM, ACT, and Renaissance, and built from a foundation of 20 years of research from Carnegie Mellon, Amira Learning is on a mission to help close the 32 million person literacy gap in America by creating personalized and engaging reading experiences for children.
Headquartered in San Francisco, the company is currently being used by over 300 school districts in 49 states and 6 countries globally, and has raised over $20M in venture capital with previous investments from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Google Assistant Fund, Amazon Alexa Fund, GSV AcceleraTE, Rethink Education, Owl Ventures, Authentic Ventures, as others. To learn more about Amira, visit amiralearning.com.
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