The Wall Street Journal reports:

“UniversityNow Inc. (a.k.a. UNow), a San Francisco start-up that wants to make college education and degrees as affordable as a mobile phone bill, raised $17 million in a new venture capital round, VentureWire has learned.

University Ventures Fund and Bertelsmann AG led the Series B investment along with the company’s earlier institutional investors, Kapor Capital, Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Greylock Partners. In total, UNow has raised $21.5 million. Additionally, it raised $300,000 in grant funding this week from Next Generation Learning Challenges, which is backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.”

UNow aims to have a positive social impact while turning a profit. Let’s hope they succeed, at least at the former.