Zinch

What Zinch does

Zinch was founded in 2007 as an education technology platform headquartered in Orem, Utah, that connected prospective college students with university admissions offices by allowing students to create searchable profiles that college recruiters could browse for admissions and recruitment purposes. The company operated with 51-100 employees and raised approximately $5.5 million in total disclosed funding across a 2007 seed round ($1M), an April 2009 bridge round ($486,842), and an October 2009 Series A ($4M) led by Felicis and Pritzker Group Venture Capital. Leadership included a VP of Sales, a VP of College Relations, and a Business Development Director, reflecting a college-recruitment go-to-market.

Zinch was subsequently acquired by Chegg Inc., and the zinch.com domain now redirects to Chegg's broader student learning platform rather than serving as an independent product. The platform the Zinch domain currently serves combines a library of over 100 million curated step-by-step solutions across 50+ subjects with AI-powered study tools, writing assistance (citation generator, grammar checker, plagiarism checker, expert proofreading), an AI math solver, and career resources distributed through the Chegg Network of brands (Busuu, Citation Machine, EasyBib, Mathway, Internships.com, Chegg Skills). Pre-acquisition, Zinch's underlying business model was B2B2C, monetizing relationships with college admissions offices while offering free profile creation to students; the current operating status is 'acquired,' with no independent revenue stream attributable to Zinch.

For Zinch as a standalone entity, revenue was not disclosed in available source material. The company's strategic role post-acquisition appears to be domain and audience consolidation into Chegg's ecosystem rather than continued independent operation, and any revenue contribution is now subsumed within Chegg's consolidated subscription, textbook, and affiliate streams rather than reported separately.

Name

Zinch

Website

https://zinch.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Zinch was a 2007-founded education platform connecting prospective college students with universities via browsable student profiles. It was acquired by Chegg Inc. and its domain now redirects to Chegg's learning platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Orem

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription services (Chegg Study / Chegg Study Pack): Monthly or annual subscription plans providing access to step-by-step homework help, expert proofreading, and other study tools. Subscribers also receive perks from partner offers.
2. Textbook sales and rentals: Rent/buy/sell textbooks and read e-textbooks through the Chegg Books platform.
3. Affiliate program: Commission-based revenue through an affiliate program for referring customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Zinch operated an online platform where students created profiles that could be searched and browsed by colleges and universities looking to recruit prospective enrollees. The platform functioned as a matchmaking service between prospective students seeking admission opportunities and institutions seeking to identify candidates. The company was founded in 2007, headquartered in Orem, Utah, and was acquired by Chegg Inc.

Product overview

Chegg operates as a unified student learning platform combining core homework help services with integrated writing tools and career resources. The primary offering is Chegg Study Help, which provides access to a library of 100M+ step-by-step solutions across 50+ subjects, supported by AI-powered tools. Additional modules include writing assistance tools (Citation Generator, Grammar Checker, Plagiarism Checker, Expert Proofreading), math problem solving (Math Solver), and career development (Chegg Skills). Chegg Study Pack bundles multiple services together. The platform is differentiated by AI-powered personalization and 24/7 availability across web and mobile.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Student Profile Platform Online platform where prospective students created profiles that could be searched and browsed by colleges and universities looking to recruit candidates. Served both students seeking visibility and institutions seeking qualified prospects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Study support across 50+ subjects including statistics, calculus, macroeconomics, biochemistry, and more
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• BusuuminorOthersBusuu is listed as part of the Chegg Network, a collection of education-focused brands operated by Chegg. Busuu is a language learning platform that complements Chegg's study support offerings.
• MathwayminorOthersMathway is listed as part of the Chegg Network, offering AI-powered math problem solving tools integrated into Chegg's study support platform.
• Citation MachineminorOthersCitation Machine is part of the Chegg Network, providing citation generation tools that support Chegg's writing and academic integrity features.
• EasyBibminorOthersEasyBib is listed as part of the Chegg Network, offering bibliography and citation tools for academic writing support.
• InternshipsminorOthersInternships.com is part of the Chegg Network, providing career discovery and internship placement services for students using Chegg's platform.
• Chegg SkillsminorOthersChegg Skills is an internal brand of Chegg focused on career development and professional skills training, part of the broader Chegg Network ecosystem.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Common App: Common App is a non-profit college admissions platform used by most U.S. colleges to receive applications; it directly overlaps Zinch's original college-student matching concept and serves the same prospective student audience.
• Niche.com: Niche provides college search, reviews, and rankings that allow students to compare and evaluate schools—closely comparable to Zinch's profile-browsing model and target customer (prospective students).
• Cappex: Cappex matches prospective students with colleges based on academic profile and interests—essentially a category twin to Zinch's original service.
• Naviance (PowerSchool): Naviance is the dominant K-12 college and career readiness platform used by high schools for college matching, applications, and reporting—a major incumbent in Zinch's original target market.
• College Confidential: College Confidential operates a community-driven college admissions platform with profile tools and search; comparable to Zinch's profile-based student discovery model.
• Unigo: Unigo offers college search, reviews, and scholarships discovery aimed at prospective students—overlapping with Zinch's original mission of helping students find and evaluate colleges.

Broad incumbents

• Chegg: Chegg is Zinch's parent company; the broader Chegg platform is most analogous as it now controls the Zinch.com domain and serves overlapping student-support use cases (homework help, study tools, writing tools).
• Quizlet: Quizlet is a broader study-tools platform; while not a college-matching service, it competes for the same student persona that the current Zinch.com (Chegg) landing page tries to attract.
• Course Hero: Course Hero is a study-help and homework-help subscription platform directly competitive with Chegg Study—the product now anchoring the Zinch.com page.
• Brainly: Brainly is a global homework-help community for students; comparable to the study-support use case that the current Zinch.com funnel directs users toward (Chegg Study).

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Zinch
• Facebookfacebook.com/zinch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 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 Zinch