2U

Chip Paucek and Jeremy Johnson founded 2U in 2008 with a simple pitch to universities: we'll build your online degree program, handle the marketing, provide the technology platform, and manage student support. You provide the brand and faculty.

We split the tuition 50/50. The first partner was USC's School of Social Work.

It worked. Students enrolled.

The university made money without investing in technology. 2U scaled to dozens of university partnerships.

Revenue share model. 2U partnered with universities to create and operate online degree programs.

Revenue was split roughly 50/50 — 2U got half of all tuition for handling technology, marketing, enrollment, and student services. Later, 2U acquired edX (the MOOC platform founded by Harvard and MIT) for $800 million in 2021 and added short courses and boot camps.

Online Degree Programs — full master's degrees from top universities delivered online. edX — the MOOC platform (acquired 2021) offering courses from Harvard, MIT, and others.

Boot Camps — intensive short programs in coding, data science, and cybersecurity. Executive Education — short professional development courses.

University brand arbitrage. 2U marketed top university brands (Georgetown, UNC, Syracuse) to students who wanted the credential but couldn't attend in person.

Google advertising for terms like "online MBA Georgetown" drove enrollment. Each new prestigious university partner increased legitimacy.

The 50% revenue share became unsustainable. Universities realized they were giving away half their tuition for services they could build internally.

Competition from Coursera, Noom, and direct university online programs grew. The $800M edX acquisition in 2021 loaded the company with debt just as the market corrected.

2U filed for bankruptcy in July 2024.

Went public on NASDAQ in 2014. Pre-IPO investors included Novak Biddle, Redpoint Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The edX acquisition was funded with debt. The company peaked at a $6B market cap before collapsing.