CAPITAL A PARTNERS INVESTS IN EDUCATION VIA THE IRON YARD, A CODE SCHOOL FOR SOFTWARE PROGRAMMING
Cap A’s co-investment in the code school will create jobs and growth in the region
CHARLESTON, SC: February 5, 2014 – Capital A Partners joins The Upstate Carolina Angel Network (UCAN) and several strategic individual investors in the Series A funding of The Iron Yard Academy, a Greenville, SC based code school focused on serving secondary and underserved markets.
“The code school concept is not new, but The Iron Yard Academy is bringing it to more underserved markets,” stated David Mendez, General Partner at Capital A Partners. “The school’s early success in Greenville, and its expansion plans throughout the United States, will not only create jobs, but also provide much needed talent to the entrepreneur ecosystems on those markets.”
“Growing knowledge-based and technology jobs in the region is key to our mission,” noted Peter Barth, founder of The Iron Yard Academy. “The extension into education was natural for The Iron Yard accelerator,” added Barth. The school plans to open two locations in March, including Charleston and Atlanta, with plans for continual expansion without boundaries in the next several years. The three-month intensive program guarantees placement to students into regional employers, and requires no prerequisites for admission. “Finding talent in the field of software development in secondary markets has been an ongoing problem,” added Barth, “not to mention to loss of job growth in the areas we serve, many times to overseas resources or larger metropolitan areas.”
Mendez, who is very involved in academia, believes that the code school concept is complimentary to a university degree and in many cases can provide college graduates with employment opportunities that are otherwise unavailable to them.
-About Capital A Partners-
Launched in 2013, Capital A Partners was the first venture and private equity fund introduced in South Carolina in over a decade. The fund invests in post-revenue early stage ventures as well as small operating companies seeking growth capital. General partners are David Mendez, based in Charleston, and Tanya Marvin-Horowitz, based between New York City and Stockholm. For more information, go to www.capitalapartners.com
Contact for The Iron Yard Academy: Peter Barth, peter@theironyard.com
For more information on The Iron Yard Academy, go to http://www.theironyard.com/academy/