After being founded just last year, online education startup Coursera turned heads this summer when it raised a $43 million Series B round.
在線教育創(chuàng)業(yè)公司Coursera 7月宣布融到了4300萬美元的B輪融資，這家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司是去年剛成立的，而如今它已經(jīng)備受矚目。

Coursera's current business model is selling verified certificates that students have completed its classes.
Coursera目前的經(jīng)營模式是為學生出售各種在線課程，完成課程的學生可以獲得相關資格證明。

Turns out the final amount of the round was actually $63 million.
事實證明，其B輪融資最終金額是6300萬美元。

The company created by two Stanford professors told AllThingsD it had added $20 million more,? much of the money was coming from three university partners.
這家公司是由兩位斯坦福大學教授共同創(chuàng)立的。其發(fā)言人對AllThingsD網(wǎng)站記者稱，該公司的B輪融資已經(jīng)擴增了2000萬美元，大部分資金來自三個高校合作伙伴。

Coursera isn’t naming the three university backers, but said the round also included additional money from existing investors GSV Capital and Learn Capital.
Coursera公司沒有指出這三個高校合作伙伴的校名，但同時也稱現(xiàn)有投資方GSV Capital 和Learn Capital 也參與了這輪融資。

While she also declined to disclose Coursera’s total valuation, co-CEO Daphne Koller bragged of the funding, “We didn’t sell a huge part of the company for it.”
Coursera 也拒絕透露公布其總資產(chǎn)數(shù)額，不過公司共同首席執(zhí)行官達芙妮·科勒在談到公司的資金是也甚為驕傲，表示這次融資“并沒有把公司的大半部分賣出去”。

Coursera, with 5.5 million students taking classes from 100 universities and institutions, is one of the largest companies in a crop of ed-tech startups. Learn Capital partner Rob Hutter observed that at least 60 technology startups in the education space were venture funded in 2012, coming from a drought just a couple years earlier.
Coursera目前擁有100所院校機構提供的在線課程和550萬學生，是教育科技行業(yè)的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司中規(guī)模最大的公司之一。據(jù)Learn Capital 執(zhí)行合伙人羅伯特·哈特稱，2012年全年教育行業(yè)至少有60家技術創(chuàng)業(yè)公司獲得了融資，緩解了這一領域數(shù)年前融資寥寥無幾的荒原境況。

But Hutter thinks there’s lots of open territory; globally the market for education is $4.6 trillion, and the total market capitalization of companies in the space is just $50 billion.
同時哈特認為，這一領域仍有很多待開發(fā)。整個全球教育市場是4.6萬億美元，而這些公司目前吃掉的差不多只有500億美元。只能算是冰山一角。

Coursera is also on top of the buzziest trend in edtech: MOOCs — or massive open online courses — which aim to democratize education by making lectures from quality professors widely available.
在教育科技領域聲勢浩大的大規(guī)模開放在線課堂浪潮中，Coursera公司也是首屈一指的弄潮兒。大規(guī)模開放在線課堂的宗旨是，擴大高級課程的受眾面，從而促進教育的民主化進程。

In some ways, Coursera is the last big MOOC standing. Udacity, which was also founded by a Stanford professor — Sebastian Thrun — has refocused on classes that help prepare people for jobs in the technology industry. And edX, the nonprofit version of Coursera that originated at Harvard and MIT, now seems somewhat more focused on open-source MOOC tools. (EdX started with $60 million from its founding universities, while Udacity has raised $20 million from venture capitalists.)
某種意義上，Coursera是碩果僅存的大規(guī)模開放在線課堂大型平臺。另一所由斯坦福大學教授創(chuàng)立的在線教育公司、Udacity已經(jīng)轉移到了科技行業(yè)領域，為有志從事科技行業(yè)相關職業(yè)的人提供培訓課程。由哈佛大學、麻省理工大學兩校教授創(chuàng)立的edX可謂是非盈利版的Coursera，目前似乎更多的關注開放源碼的在線課程平臺。（EdX公司是以創(chuàng)立者所在學校提供的6000萬美元資金起步的，Udacity公司籌集到了2000萬美元的風險基金。）

“Solving the education problem is a significant challenge and one that requires concerted effort,” Koller said of the competition. “I think we have made a big dent in the problem, and we’re on a trajectory that we consider to be promising. If Udacity [and edX] want to go in another direction, I think it’s useful that people are exploring different areas.”
關于這三大巨頭的相互競爭，科勒說，“解決教育領域面臨的問題是一件十分有意義的事，但也是一個嚴峻的挑戰(zhàn)，需要通力合作、共同完成。我覺得在解決這一問題的過程中，我們已經(jīng)獲得了重大進展，這一事業(yè)已經(jīng)步入軌道，前景十分樂觀。如果說Udacity（和edX）兩家公司計劃走往不同的方向，我認為，各家公司各自探索不同的領域，這是十分有益的?！?/div>

Coursera now has a staff of about 70 people, and it is making some money by selling verified certificates that students can use to show they’ve completed a MOOC.
Coursera目前擁有約70名員工，而且已經(jīng)通過出售課程獲得了一定利潤。學生們通過購買課程、學習后獲得資格證明，可以證明他們完成了一門大規(guī)模開放在線課程。

The new funding will be used to “really focus on improvements to the product to make it a much better experience for students and instructors,” Koller said.
科勒說，此次新融到的資金將被用于“切實改進課程平臺上推出的產(chǎn)品，為學生和講師提供更好的教育體驗。”