Campus, a Black-owned community college startup, has acquired Sizzle AI, an AI learning platform founded by former Meta AI chief Jerome Pesenti, who will join as Chief Technology Officer.
“Acquiring Sizzle accelerates our engineering roadmap by 2-3 years,” said Tade Oyerinde, founder and Chancellor of Campus, in a press release. “They’ve built the best AI team in education and their infrastructure is so far ahead of anyone else – it’s super exciting.”
Rethinking the Community College Model
In American higher education, community colleges serve as gateways for students aiming to transfer to four-year universities. However, only 16% of these students achieve a bachelor’s degree within six years.
Campus is reportedly the first fully accredited, nationally focused community college built around a network of adjunct professors from prestigious universities. By paying professors $8,000 per course (well above the national average), Campus attracts top-tier academic talent while keeping tuition accessible. Federal Pell Grants fully cover the annual tuition of $7,200 for eligible students, enabling about 40% of enrollees to attend for free.
Campus has already raised more than $100 million from tech investors, including Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Bloomberg Beta, OpenAI founder Sam Altman, Discord founder Jason Citron, Figma founder Dylan Field, Shaquille O’Neal, and serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale.
Sizzle AI’s Role in the Future of Campus
Sizzle AI’s technology allows students to learn any subject through interactive, AI-generated content. Campus plans to integrate this system to enhance its online learning platform and improve student engagement.
“Big Tech has spent years building AI to keep people scrolling. But we’re harnessing the potential of the very same technology to cultivate thought, encourage inquiry, and deepen human relationships,” said Pesenti. “At Campus, we’re going to be asking the big questions about letting students learn more effectively, while empowering great teachers to do what they do best.”
Pesenti and his team of machine learning scientists from MIT, Harvard, and IBM Watson will lead engineering for the startup, bringing deep technical expertise to Campus’s growing education platform.
Image: Vaughn Ridley
Source: People of Color in Tech
