companies

Packback

AI-moderated online discussion platform that coaches college students to ask better questions and gives instructors a curiosity-scoring dashboard instead of manual grading.

Packback was founded in 2012 by four Illinois State University students — Mike Shannon, Kasey Gandham, Nick Currier, and Jessica Tenuta — initially as a textbook marketplace before pivoting toward its current product. The company relaunched in 2016 as Packback Questions, an AI-supported discussion platform, and received an early investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank in 2014. Packback has raised roughly $14 million to date and took a strategic growth investment from PSG Equity in March 2024; Kelsey Behringer now serves as CEO, with co-founder Jessica Tenuta as Chief Product Officer. Packback's platform flips the traditional class-discussion-board model: instead of instructors posting prompts for students to respond to, students post their own open-ended questions, and an AI 'curiosity coach' scores each post on complexity, use of outside sources, and engagement, while also auto-moderating for plagiarism and inappropriate content. The company, based in Chicago, reports its platform has been used by more than 600,000 students across 2,000-plus instructors, generating millions of student-authored questions and responses.

Founded

2012

Headquarters

Chicago, United States

Sector

applications