What Empowerly does

Empowerly Inc. is a San Francisco-based education technology company founded in 2017 by Hanmei Wu (UC Berkeley) and Changxiao Xie (Princeton), both first-generation US college students. The company provides personalized college admissions counseling and career guidance to middle and high school students, families, and graduate school applicants across the US, Canada, and the UK, delivered entirely online.

The core platform combines human counseling with a proprietary data-driven tool, the Empowerly Score®, which uses acceptance data from thousands of students to generate competitive applicant profiles across academics, standardized tests, extracurriculars, and essays. The product suite spans comprehensive one-on-one counseling, Admissions Committee Review by former admissions officers, essay advising, ACT/SAT and subject tutoring, and experiential programs including AI Scholar, Research Scholar (with 400+ PhD mentors), Startup Internship, and Passion Project offerings. Specialized tracks address BS/MD pre-med, business school, computer science/engineering, graduate, transfer, middle school, gap year, and neurodiverse students (GOALS Program). A student dashboard with roadmaps, task tracking, college list builder, and parent portal supports the workflow.

Empowerly generates revenue through customized, subscription-style counseling packages with multi-year contracts and flexible payment plans, priced individually based on student needs and discussed during a free 30-minute virtual consultation. The go-to-market is sales-led with inside-sales enrollment specialists, supplemented by content marketing (166+ page blog, SEO, weekly newsletter), webinars, earned media (Forbes, CNBC, TechCrunch, NYT, Washington Post), and a referral program. The company has served over 5,000 students since inception, reports a 98% success rate placing students into top-100 US colleges, and has raised $25M+ across multiple rounds including a $15M Series A led by Conductive Ventures in February 2024.

Name

Empowerly

Legal name

Empowerly Inc.

Website

https://empowerly.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Empowerly is a San Francisco-based Edtech company providing personalized college admissions counseling and career guidance to students and families, combining one-on-one expert counseling with the proprietary Empowerly Score® data-driven assessment platform to serve over 5,000 students across multiple specialized admissions tracks.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

College Admissions Counseling

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171), Educational Services (611)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

College Application, Admissions & Essay Coaching (EDAMAKAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Personal Statement / Essay / Supplemental Writing Support (EDANAEAF), Standardized Testing Strategy for Admissions (SAT/ACT/AP/IB/TOEFL/IELTS) (EDANAEAK), Waitlist, Deferral & Appeal Strategy Support (EDANAEAO)

Keywords

• College admissions counseling
• College application guidance
• Test preparation services
• Educational consulting
• College prep programs

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. College Admissions Counseling Services: One-on-one counseling services with dedicated counselors providing personalized guidance throughout the college application process. Services include comprehensive college counseling, essay editing, admissions committee review, test prep, and specialized programs. Pricing varies based on student needs, goals, and selected program packages. Payment plans and flexible options are available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

Empowerly provides personalized one-on-one college admissions counseling and career guidance for middle and high school students, delivered through a proprietary AI/ML-powered platform. Services include comprehensive admissions counseling, Admissions Committee Reviews by former admissions officers, essay advising, test prep (ACT/SAT), subject tutoring, and specialized programs such as AI Scholar, Research Scholar, Startup Internship, and Passion Project. The Empowerly Score® proprietary tool uses thousands of acceptance data points to assess applicant competitiveness and match students to ideal college fits.

Product overview

Empowerly is an education technology company offering a comprehensive college and career guidance platform with a proprietary Empowerly Score® as its core data-driven tool. The platform combines personalized 1-on-1 counseling with specialized programs including Admissions Committee Review, Essay Advising, and Test Prep, complemented by experiential programs like AI Scholar, Research Scholar, Startup Internship, and Passion Project programs. The company provides targeted admissions services for specific tracks including BS/MD, Business School, CS/Engineering, Graduate School, Transfer, Middle School, and Gap Year students, all supported by technology-driven roadmapping, task tracking, and college list management tools.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Empowerly Score® A proprietary data-driven calculator using acceptance data from thousands of students to create competitive applicant profiles, assess college application readiness, and match students to ideal college fits. Developed by former admissions officers using real acceptance data to provide holistic evaluation of application strength across academics, standardized tests, extracurriculars, and essays.
• Comprehensive College Counseling One-on-one expert counseling sessions guiding students through the entire college admissions process including course selection, extracurriculars, essays, applications, and strategic school list building. Targeted at students from middle school through 12th grade.
• Admissions Committee Review (AdCom) Mock admissions evaluation where former admissions officers from top universities review complete applications including essays, activities, academics, and awards, providing actionable feedback within 10 days based on a rubric adapted from Ivy League admissions offices.
• Essay Advising and Review

Quantifiable outcome

• 98% of Empowerly students admitted to top 100 US colleges for the past five years
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• NASA (OceanWATERS Software Team)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmpowerly student Milan gained internship with NASA's OceanWATERS (Autonomy Testbed for Exploration Research and Simulation) software team, working with engineers on simulations for autonomous landers on Mars and agricultural robots.
• WACAC (Western Association for College Admission Counseling)minorOthersEmpowerly is a member organization of WACAC, a professional association supporting college admission counseling professionals in the western United States.
• NACAC (National Association for College Admission Counseling)minorOthersEmpowerly is a member organization of NACAC, the national professional association for college admission counseling.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Crimson Education: Global premium college admissions and mentorship platform serving high school students targeting top US/UK universities. Directly comparable to Empowerly in customer profile, counselor-led model, and data-driven admissions strategy.
• CollegeVine: Data-driven college admissions platform offering AI-powered chancing tools, application guidance, and 1-on-1 counseling. Closely matches Empowerly's tech-augmented counseling approach and target demographic.
• IvyWise: Premium college admissions consultancy staffed by former admissions officers, offering counseling, test prep, and tutoring. Highly comparable to Empowerly in service mix, talent profile, and premium positioning.
• InGenius Prep: College admissions consulting firm employing former admissions officers to deliver 1-on-1 application support. Overlaps directly with Empowerly on counselor-driven model and Ivy League-focused clientele.
• College Coach (by Stratus): Admissions counseling service providing 1-on-1 guidance with former admissions professionals. Comparable to Empowerly in service breadth, counselor team composition, and B2C premium model.
• PrepScholar: Test prep and college admissions platform combining adaptive learning software with counseling. Comparable to Empowerly on standardized test prep add-ons and data-driven personalization.
• Compass Education Group: Boutique admissions counseling firm with former admissions officers providing individualized guidance. Direct comparable to Empowerly's premium tier and AO-led delivery.
• Aralia Education: Online tutoring and admissions counseling provider offering subject tutoring, test prep, and college guidance. Comparable to Empowerly on academic tutoring + admissions combination and online delivery model.

Broad incumbents

• The Princeton Review: Established test prep, tutoring, and admissions services provider with broad consumer brand. Overlaps with Empowerly on SAT/ACT prep and admissions counseling but at a much larger, more diversified scale.
• Kaplan: Major education and test prep provider offering SAT/ACT prep, admissions consulting, and tutoring. Comparable to Empowerly on test prep and admissions but operates across a broader educational portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/empowerly
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/empowerly
• Instagraminstagram.com/empowerlyinc
• Xx.com/empowerlyinc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors11 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Empowerly