Watermelon Express, a startup developer of interactive apps for iPhone and other mobile devices focused on test preparation for K-12, college and professional training, has signed content deals with McGraw-Hill Professional and Cengage Learning. Originally launched by an MBA student, WMX has received funding from Lightbank, the investment fund behind the daily discount venture Groupon.
Founded in Chicago by Ashish Rangneka and Ujjwal Gupta, Watermelon Express develops apps that bring interactivity, social media and “data analysis” to test preparation content. Since the firm’s launch in 2009, more than 75,000 users have downloaded and accessed WMX apps focused on preparing students for a wide range of graduate and professional tests from the GRE and SAT to GMAT and more. WMX apps support mobile devices and desktop computers and pricing ranges from $9.99 for mobile devices to $14.99 for the iPad, up to $50 for desktop applications.
The new deal with McGraw-Hill and Cengage will give the company deals with seven publishers with content focused across 20 subjects. In a phone interview, Rangneka said the company is also looking beyond test prep to “expand into professional certification, vocational training, medical and healthcare training and continuing ed,” with new apps covering algebra, chemistry, economics and more.
Rangneka said he got the notion to start the company while he was studying for the GMAT test for business school. “There was amazing content but it was delivered only in PDF or print and the texts were not engaging even as e-books,” he said, noting that the iPhone had just been released at the time. “We thought how great it would be if this content was available for mobile devices.” WMX released its first app—focused on the GMAT test for business school—for iPhone and “got phenomenal results. It was the bestselling test prep app on iTunes for months and I realized it wasn’t just me that was bored by the content,” he said, focusing on the importance of interactivity.
“We work with publishers to wrap their content in data analysis, interactivity and social media. Our works starts where the publishers stop,” Rangneka said. MWX apps are designed to provide students with quizzes and instant feedback; app quizzes also allow users to compare their scores instantly with others app users, “so users can see where they stand.” Students can also use apps to send out messages to local users, to set up meetings or create study groups.
Currently WMX offers separate apps for each test prep title but Rangneka said the company was working on a consolidated app that will offer their complete line of text prep content. Last year the company won the top cast prize from the University of Chicago’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, before snagging an undisclosed amount of funding from the Chicago-based investment fund, Lightbank. “The founders of Groupon liked our ideas on mobile devices, social media and education and invested in us last July,” Rangneka said.
Rangneka said that while the new deal with Cengage and McGraw-Hill is for a limited number of titles, he expects it to become, “an on-going relationship,” with more titles in the coming months. “We can cut across education verticals and since with work with publishers who already have the content, it’s easy to scale up. We expect our relationship to grow and to add more content.”
