Tele-Learning: Urban Planet Mobile joins ATDC
Tele-Learning: Urban Planet Mobile joins ATDC
by Summer Teal Simpson for The Creative Coast Alliance:
You’ve heard of tele-working, but have you heard of tele-learning? The wonders of technology now allow for remote education and companies like Savannah-based Urban Planet Mobile are redefining the way people learn. Their landmark product, Urban English, is a series of 4500 audio English language lessons available for 11 languages, all delivered via the mobile platform. That means you can learn English via cellphone!
Since each lesson is about the size of a ringtone file, even the most basic mobile phone can receive Urban English products, making this English lesson accessible across the globe. (Did you know that more people in third world countries have access to cellular technology than landlines? That’s because the infrastructure for cell phones is cheaper and easier to install. And thanks to sustainability programs, like the one run by Georgia-based CollectiveGood, cell phone recycling often translates into refurbished phones provided to people in the third world. So Urban English really IS more accessible than an English class.) In this way, the more than 1.4 billion people worldwide actively learning English can affordably access quality audio English lessons anytime, anywhere with Urban Planet Mobile.
But Urban Planet Mobile is more than just a company with fresh ideas, they’re now the newest addition to Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC). Helping technology entrepreneurs to succeed, the ATDC was started in 1979 when then-Governor George Busbee commissioned a study of the state’s science, engineering and technology programs. Within a year, the General Assembly responded with the funds for a facility to promote university-business synergy. ATDC admitted its first member company in 1981 and began graduating companies in 1983. They boast two locations in Atlanta and one, opened in 2002, in Savannah. In collaboration with the Georgia Tech Regional Engineering Program, Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute, the Georgia Department of Economic Development, Savannah Economic Development Authority, Coastal BETA (now merged with The Creative Coast Initiative to become The Creative Coast Alliance) and other local organizations, ATDC program in Savannah assists new ventures arising from the area’s diverse technology community that includes the Savannah College of Art and Design and a growing community of startups.
Urban Planet Mobile was chosen to join ATDC based on the attractiveness of its business model. With distribution agreements in place to deliver short audio English lessons to the United Arab Emirates through T.A. Telecom, Urban Planet Mobile is poised for exponential growth. The Urban English business line is also in development for Bangladesh, India, Mexico, Chile and Brazil.
Member companies of ATDC have attracted more than $1 billion in venture capital since 1999, while more than 70 percent of the 122 firms that have graduated from the incubator are currently operating or have been acquired. Urban Planet Mobile is closing out a second round of investment at the end of August 2009.
“In a world in economic turmoil, Urban Planet Mobile’s business model is of particular interest as the content they offer is in high demand and their delivery allows for unlimited scalability at an incredibly low cost, which in turn enables them to sell affordable subscriptions,” said Orjan Isacon, a venture catalyst with Savannah ATDC.
Congratulations to Urban Planet Mobile for their progressive product aimed at global education, aka worldwide tele-learning. And congrats to ATDC for picking up what is sure to be another winning technology entrepreneur!