Edsby

Edsby is an educational technology company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. It is the developer and publisher of the Edsby platform, a web-based K-12 learning management system (LMS) and analytics platform, and Unison, an educational data aggregation product.

Edsby

Type of business	Private
Type of site	Learning management system, analytics, social networking, data aggregation
Founded	April 2010
Headquarters	Toronto, Canada
No. of locations	3
Created by	Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, Scott Welch, John Myers
Key people	Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, Scott Welch, John Myers
Industry	K-12 education
Products	Edsby, Unison
URL	www.edsby.com
Registration	Required
Users	Undisclosed
Current status	Active

Edsby is partnered with Microsoft and provides its services on the Microsoft Azure cloud service worldwide. The company was named Microsoft’s Education Partner of the Year in 2019.^[1]

History

Edsby was founded in April 2010 by Steve Asbury, Jon Asbury, and Scott Welch, the three founders and architects of the software application FirstClass,^[2] and co-worker John Myers.^[3] After it gained popularity in the 1990s, millions of students and teachers used this software tool with messaging and collaboration features, and it is recognized as one of the earliest learning management systems.^[4][5]

Edsby is privately held, and in 2014, the company acknowledged a funding round of around two million dollars.^[6] In 2020, it received a $5.3 million Series A investment. In conjunction with the raise, investor Chris Besse, former CEO of educational technology company FreshGrade and former managing director of K-12 at education publisher Nelson Education, joined the company as Chief Commercial Officer.^[7]

Products

Edsby platform

The Edsby platform is developed for K-12 school districts, private schools, and governments. It provides online social learning tools connected to their existing systems, including grade books, attendance-taking, parent-teacher communication features, classroom management, content management, and social classroom interaction.^[8] Mobile applications are available for iOS and Android. ^{[citation needed]}

In September 2013, Hillsborough County Public Schools deployed Edsby to its students and teachers at the district's schools.^[9] In 2015, other district-wide deployments included 3,450 staff and 34,000 students at Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board. In 2016, it was adopted by 35,000 students and staff at Greater Essex County District School Board.^[10] In 2017, it deployed at York Region District School Board, a 125,000-student district.^[11]

Unison

In March 2019, the New Zealand Ministry of Education contracted with Edsby to develop a national student information-sharing exchange called Te Rito. Edsby’s technology, spun out in 2022 as a separate product called Unison, synchronizes the country’s thousands of student information systems, “securely storing and sharing information in a transparent and trusted way” for New Zealand learners, their families, and communities.^[12][13]

Awards

• 2022 LMS Platform of the Year, EdTech Breakthrough Awards^[14]
• 2021 Remote & Blended Learning Tool for Primary (K-6) and Secondary (6-12), Tech and Learning^[15]
• 2020 EdTech Startup of the Year, MindShare Learning^[16]
• 2019 Innovator of the Year, City of Richmond Hill^[17]
• 2017 SIIA CODiE Award, Best Education Data Solution, SIIA^[18]
• 2016 SIIA CODiE Award, Best Classroom Management Solution, SIIA^[19]