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§ Private Profile · New York City, NY, USA
Thinkful is a technology company.
Thinkful has raised $20.3M across 4 funding rounds.
Key people at Thinkful.
Thinkful has raised $20.3M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Thinkful is an online educational platform delivering intensive coding bootcamps and skills training. The company provides structured curricula in high-demand technical areas such as web development, data science, cybersecurity, and UX/UI design. Its core product equips individuals with practical, job-ready capabilities for the modern workforce through online courses.
Thinkful was established in February 2012 by co-founders Roshan Choxi and Dave Paola. They met at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 2008, identifying a need for accessible, hands-on technical education. This insight propelled them to tutor students remotely, evolving into their comprehensive online learning platform.
The platform primarily serves adult learners transitioning into technology roles or advancing careers, and assists businesses with skill gaps. Thinkful’s vision centers on offering effective alternative pathways to professional development beyond traditional higher education, fostering a skilled talent pool prepared for industry demands.
Key people at Thinkful.
Thinkful has raised $20.3M in total across 4 funding rounds.
Thinkful's investors include Owl Ventures, Acrew Capital, Angelic Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Catapult Capital, First Round Capital, Floodgate, Great Oaks Venture Capital, MassMutual Ventures, Oak HC/FT, Relay Ventures, RRE Ventures.
Thinkful has raised $20.3M across 4 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Series A in January 2018.
Thinkful was an edtech company offering self-paced, online coding bootcamps and skills training in web development, data science, cybersecurity, UX/UI design, and mobile app development, delivered through 1-on-1 mentorship with software engineers.[1][2] It targeted career changers—often fully employed professionals—and businesses facing talent shortages, solving the skills gap in tech roles by providing project-driven courses, job guarantees, flexible payments, and employer networks to accelerate career transitions.[1][2][3] Founded in 2012, it raised $14.85M before being acquired by Chegg in 2019 (rebranded as Chegg Skills in 2023), earning recognition as the top U.S. bootcamp by Forbes Advisor in 2023.[1][2]
Thinkful was founded in February 2012 by Roshan Choxi and Dave Paola, who met at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008 and later moved to San Francisco.[2] The idea emerged from their tutoring students over Skype, leading to a formal platform launch at San Francisco's Launch Festival that year; early traction included $250K seed funding in May 2012, $2M in 2013, and $6M Series A in 2014 from investors like RRE Ventures, Tribeca Venture Partners, Owl Ventures, and Peter Thiel.[1][2] Pivotal moments included headquarters relocation to New York and expansion under Chegg's 2019 acquisition, which boosted offerings for thousands of learners entering tech roles.[1][2]
Thinkful rode the edtech bootcamp boom amid exploding demand for tech skills, as "all jobs became tech jobs" post-2010s digital shift, outpacing traditional education in speed and relevance.[3] Timing aligned with remote learning surges (pre- and post-COVID) and corporate upskilling needs, amplified by its 2019 Chegg acquisition for scaled resources.[1][2] It influenced the ecosystem by bridging supply-demand gaps—training thousands for roles at Big Tech and startups—while validating online mentorship as a scalable alternative to degrees, paving the way for platforms like Chegg Skills.[2][3]
As Chegg Skills post-2023 rebrand, Thinkful's legacy endures in AI-era upskilling, with next steps likely expanding into emerging fields like AI ethics, machine learning, and hybrid cybersecurity amid persistent talent shortages.[2][3] Trends like lifelong learning and corporate reskilling will propel growth, evolving its influence from individual bootcamps to enterprise platforms shaping the "next workforce."[3] This positions it centrally in tech's human capital race, fulfilling its founding promise to arm career changers with indispensable skills.[1]
