Stephen Curry invests in Guild Education

Stephen Curry, along with SC 30, Inc. President Bryant Barr, just announced an investment in Guild Education, which helps Fortune 1000 companies, like Disney and Loews, offer debt-free degrees to their employees.

“We pioneered what we call education as a benefit,” Guild Education co-founder and CEO Rachel Carlson told TechCrunch. “We’re the tech platform and network of non-profit and public universities. We built those things together so that every employee at those companies has access to go back to school with the support of their employer.”

Guild Education aligns with Curry’s recently announced non-profit organization Eat. Learn. Play Foundation, Curry told TechCrunch.

“The timing was crazy because of our Eat. Learn. Play Foundation that launched last July,” Curry said. “This is an opportunity to really target that learn piece and explore how important it is in terms of college education and college completion. And we’re trying to attack that from elementary school and on.”

Guild Education’s mission also aligns with Curry’s personal goals to finish college. Curry didn’t have a chance to complete his degree in sociology from Davidson before getting drafted to the NBA in 2009.

“There’s a parallel there,” Curry said. “It’s a process I’ll have to go through very, very soon.”

Unfortunately, Davidson College’s process for accepting credits does not align with Guild Education. The college, Barr told TechCrunch, has a strict requirement for what transfers in as credits.

Although Curry will not be completing his degree via Guild Education, the company is available to more than three million Americans.

“Our students are the most underrated of the American workforce,” Carlson said. “There are 64 million Americans who have not gone to college. We both shared the belief that we have to offer pathways for underrated, talented people who haven’t had the opportunities they deserve. We can expand that opportunity through education.”