Industry Online tutoring Founder Naguib S. Sawiris Area served United States of America | Website www.yup.com Founded 2014 Type of business Privately held company | |
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Key people Naguib S. Sawiris (CEO) Headquarters San Francisco, California, United States | ||
Yup (formerly known as MathCrunch) is a San Francisco-based educational technology company that provides on-demand tutoring services on various topics of mathematics, chemistry, and physics. The service is provided via a mobile app, which connects tutors with students in real-time. The company was founded in 2014 in San Francisco by Naguib S. Sawiris, who also acts as the CEO. The company has been featured in publications such as Forbes, Fox, VentureBeat, and TechCrunch.
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History
Yup (formerly known as MathCrunch) was founded in 2014 in San Francisco by entrepreneur and angel investor Naguib S. Sawiris. The initial idea for the creation of Yup came as Sawiris observed that students were texting friends and family to help them solve homework problems they could not; Sawiris saw an opportunity for both a business and to have a positive social impact in the development of such a service. In May 2015 Yup received $3.5 million in seed funding from venture capital firms Floodgate Fund, Formation 8, Index Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, and Slow Ventures, with the funding intended for expanding the company's reach in students. A few months later, the company announced further funding from Stanford University's StartX Fund, a fund established to provide assistance to Stanford University alumni. That funding was expected to help the company develop its platform's features, and recruit more tutors. In April 2016, MathCrunch rebranded as Yup, offering homework help in chemistry, physics, and math. Yup also announced that they raised another $4 million that will be used to fuel growth.
Services
Yup has developed a mobile app that connects students with live professional tutors, to help them solve homework problems on-demand. The app operates in a chat-like environment - the students snap a picture of the problem with their mobile devices or write out their questions and select the subject category. Yup matches the problem with available tutors and the selected tutor proceeds to guide the student to solve the problem leveraging chat and pictures to communicate.
Yup tutors are familiar with, and can thoroughly explain, every math concept covered by the Common Core up to AP Calculus Level AB including questions in Algebra, Basic Calculus, Geometry, Pre-algebra, and Trigonometry. Yup also offers support in Physics up to the AP Physics level 1 and 2 specifically: Kinematics, Force and Mechanics, Gravitation and Circular Motion, Work, Energy and Momentum, Torque and Rotational Mechanics, Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Kinetic Theory, Waves and Optics, and Electromagnetism. Additionally, Yup tutors can help students with Chemistry up to AP Chemistry. These topics include: Structure of Matter, Bonding and Intermolecular Forces, Chemical Reactions and Stoichiometry, Kinetics and Reaction Rates, and Chemical Equilibrium. Additionally, Yup offers homework resources on its website. These resources offer definitions of important topics, sample problems and explanations and videos.
The tutors working with Yup range from college students, to high school teachers, to college professors and are scheduled to provide 24/7 coverage. Downloading the app is free of charge. There are several subscription options depending on price point and number of tutoring minutes needed. The iOS app has twice reached the second position for most downloaded educational app in the United States. Yup was also featured on the Apple Store.from April 7-April 21, 2016 Yup's tutoring services are provided to elementary school students to college students. Up to May, 2016 there were over 400,000 registered students, and more than 200,000 tutoring sessions completed via the Yup platform.