Kno
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Kno was a Santa Clara-based educational software company founded in May 2009 by CEO Osman Rashid (a co-founder of Chegg) and CTO Babur Habib. It worked with publishers to offer digital textbooks and educational materials. It began with a line of textbook tablets (single- and dual-screen 14.1-inch touchscreens) announced in June 2010, licensed its hardware designs to Intel in April 2011, and shifted to software - releasing eTextbook apps for iPad, Android, Windows and the web. Backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital, Goldman Sachs, FLOODGATE and GSV Capital.
02 / Kno FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The Kno tablet flopped as Apple took over the education tablet market; the pivot to app-based textbook platforms never built a sustainable business, with publisher deals limiting Kno's take to 15% of gross revenue; and Intel acquired the company for about $15 million - pennies on the dollar against the roughly $73.4 million in venture capital and debt raised, including $20 million from Intel Capital.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Acquisition
Intel acquired Kno for ~$15M described as pennies on the dollar vs ~$73.4M raised; article calls it a failed edtech startup after tablet flop and software traction failure. Corroborated by Om Malik/GigaOM (sources: ~$15M).
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In November 2013 Intel acquired Kno for about $15 million, primarily for its hardware-related intellectual property and employees, and to expand its global digital library beyond 225,000 K-12 and higher-ed titles.
- 02
The kno.com website was later shut down and the service renamed Intel Education Study.
- 03
CEO Osman Rashid left the company; the rest of the team joined Intel. No audited loss figure was disclosed.