Almost two years ago, 2U acquired Harvard and MIT backed non-profit edX for $800 million in cash. As part of the deal, 2U would acquire “substantially all of edX assets,” and edX would cease to be a nonprofit and convert into a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).

In addition, a new non-profit organization, led by Harvard and MIT, was established to “explore the next generation of online education,” with the $800 million in proceeds from the sale being transferred to this new entity. However, the open-source platform powering edX, called Open edX, was not part of the acquisition and remained with the new non-profit.

Later in December 2021, we learned that the interim name “The Center for Reimagining Learning” would be used for the nonprofit organization formerly known as edX Inc until a new permanent name was found.

Last week, we finally learned the name of this nonprofit and its CEO.

Axim Collaborative

Axim Collaborative was introduced during the Open edX 2023 conference at the MIT Campus, with Stephanie Khurana being named as its CEO. During the town hall-style meeting that concluded the conference, Khurana was introduced to members of the Open edX community.

Previously, Khurana served as the Managing Partner and COO of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, a venture philanthropy firm.

While details about Axim Collaborative are still scarce, the press release stated that the organization’s mission is to make learning more accessible, relevant, and effective for a diverse group of learners. According to EdSurge, Axim Collaborative plans to treat the $800 million acquisition as an endowment, operating on an annual budget of approximately $25 to $30 million.

It’s my understanding that nonprofits in the US aren’t subject the 5% payout rule, but it’s interesting to note that Axim’s annual budget will be in that ballpark.

It’s also interesting that technology buzzwords, including Artificial Intelligence, are not seen anywhere in the announcements. This is surprising because they were mentioned during the original acquisition announcement:

Backed by these substantial resources, the nonprofit will focus on overcoming persistent inequities in online learning, in part through exploring how to apply artificial intelligence to enable personalized learning that responds and adapts to the style and needs of the individual learner.

With the advent of ChatGPT and GPT-4, there has been a lot of buzz around the impact of AI in education as well as the launch of personalized AI-powered tutors from Khan Academy and Duolingo (with definitely more on the way).

Since the acquisition of edX, things haven’t gone well for 2U. Its stock price has cratered and its market cap is currently at ~$550 million, well below the edX acquisition price. Last year, it went through substantial layoffs to reduce its payroll costs by 20%. In 2022, its annual revenue grew by 2% to $963.1 million, and it’s forecasting a 3% growth for 2023.

Degree enrollments have been dropping in the last three quarters of 2022. However, it has been able to reduce its marketing and sales expense year-over-year from 45% to 34% of revenue.