GlobalScholar.com Announces $27 Million in New Funding and the Acquisition of Excelsior Software

As a Company That Helps Students and Educators Cost Effectively Harness the Full Potential of Education, GlobalScholar.com is Poised to Significantly Impact Student Achievement

BELLEVUE, Washington - January 31, 2008 – GlobalScholar.com, a provider of innovative technology in the education market, today announced that it has secured $27 million in round B funding and is acquiring Excelsior Software, a leading provider of assessment management solutions for K-12 education. The funding includes additional investments from Knowledge Universe Education, a leading global education company; Ignition Partners, a premier venture capital firm; and an added investment from Peter Neupert, an existing board member. The new funding and acquisition of Excelsior Software, which has long-standing relationships in the education community, will enable GlobalScholar.com to greatly expand its reach in the education market and accelerate its U.S. and international growth.

"We are passionate about using technology to enhance the education experience for students and teachers everywhere," said Kal Raman, CEO of GlobalScholar.com. "The additional funding, the wealth of education experience the Excelsior Software team brings and the integration of our products, will allow us to provide the tools students, parents and educators need to confidently improve student outcomes."

GlobalScholar.com currently offers three education-related services. The first, the GlobalScholar platform, enables educators to more efficiently and effectively create, manage and align content, assessments, curriculum, standards and supplemental learning to drive educational performance. The second is a unique online tutoring website, where parents and students can safely connect with trusted educators who provide one-to-one tutoring, instant homework help and self-paced learning. The third is a set of search websites, CollegeFinder (http://www.globalscholar.com/collegefinder) and SchoolFinder (http://www.globalscholar.com/schoolfinder) which are being developed to help students and parents learn about, compare and make informed decisions about schools to attend.

GlobalScholar.com made the strategic decision to acquire Excelsior Software to expand the solutions it offers school districts and in order to offer Excelsior’s many loyal customers an even broader collection of educational services. Excelsior Software, which has built many deep relationships during its 21-year tenure in the education industry, counts nearly 1,000 school districts as customers, including some of the largest in the U.S., such as Miami-Dade County Public Schools, FL (3rd), Broward County Public Schools, FL (6th), and Montgomery County Public Schools, MD (14th). As an innovative leader in education technology and a veteran in the education industry, Excelsior’s assessment management solutions and its products are a key part of the GlobalScholar.com product vision for the future.

"We continue to be impressed with the intense commitment and energy that GlobalScholar.com has for enhancing the education experience for students and devoted educators," said Brad Silverberg, founding partner of Ignition Partners. "Improving the education system is a worthy challenge with significant implications for both the U.S. and global economies. GlobalScholar.com is unique in that it has a comprehensive, cost-effective approach that allows the resources of education – parents, educators and administrators – to work together in addressing these issues."

"For more than 20 years, we've been dedicated to education innovation, and along the way have helped millions of students, parents, teachers and administrators collect, analyze and act on the information they need to improve student performance," said William Zaggle, president and CEO of Excelsior Software. "Our integration with GlobalScholar.com will take our effort to a whole new level. Now, as part of the GlobalScholar.com team, and a member of the Knowledge Universe family, we have access to the resources that will allow us to have an even greater impact on raising student achievement."

About Excelsior Software

Excelsior Software, with company headquarters in Greeley, Colo., is committed to raising student achievement by providing immediate access to performance information, increasing teacher productivity, and improving communication. As the pioneer of the electronic gradebook concept in 1986, Excelsior's experience in assessment management supports educators by delivering the technical innovations that meet the needs of today’s evolving data-driven educational system. The company's Pinnacle Plus software solution automatically tracks and reports student progress and attendance data to educators and parents at the individual, group, class, school, and district levels. Currently, Excelsior works with educators in nearly 1,000 districts nationwide, and its Pinnacle Plus solution is the sole student assessment software product recommended by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). For more information, please visit Excelsior Software Inc. or phone 800-473-4572.

About GlobalScholar.com

Headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., GlobalScholar.com is committed to providing students of all ages the confidence and control they need to make informed decisions about their education. The company develops products that effectively integrate and align the resources of education – people, technology and content – to improve efficiency and performance. These products include CollegeFinder, SchoolFinder, and GlobalScholar.com where students can select and interact with highly qualified online tutors or take self-paced courses. GlobalScholar.com is backed by Ignition Partners and Knowledge Universe Education. For more information, please visit www.globalscholar.com or phone 877-824-4040.

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For more information, media only:

Jody Peake, OnPR, w: 503-802-4410; m: 503-997-3907; e: jodyp@onpr.com
Gaby Adam, OnPR, w: 425-454-6843, m: 206-931-5942, e: gabya@onpr.com
Eileen Demers, Excelsior Software, w: 970-353-8311 m: 970-397-7503, e: edemers@excelsiorsoftware.com