Tampa entrepreneur Ed Buckley creates new company

Serial entrepreneur Ed Buckley, the CEO of digital exercise company FitOn Health (formerly Peerfit), is entering the education space with the launch of a new tech company. 

The new startup, Scholar, will focus on improving education by using next-gen technology content and artificial intelligence to drive as much personalization as possible in the learning experience.  

“We want to seamlessly integrate next-gen technology to deliver transparent reporting of the learning experience in the classroom and keeping parents involved,” Buckley said. “We are trying to modernize the entire process.” 

Buckley, who will continue serving as the CEO of FitOn Health, has long pondered the idea of leveraging tech in schools to better connect parents, teachers and students. 

His desire to take action intensified during the pandemic as his friends shared their frustrations about the state of education, and transparency issues. Buckley said the need to have more transparency is especially greater now as Gov. Ron DeSantis recently signed into law one of the largest private school voucher expansions in the nation, allowing all students in the state to be eligible to receive taxpayer-backed vouchers.

Buckley will initially focus on partnering with schools within Florida. Later this month, Buckley will be announcing details on a pilot program with a local school. 

Buckley was unable to disclose further details about how the Scholar’s platform will function and its offerings. 

However, over the past several months, Buckley has started assembling a team and is working with Tampa-based Diamond View Studios and Vū to help create immersive content, and Sourcetoad, a custom software engineering company, on developing the technology. 

Buckley will be making additional announcements about the key employees at Scholar.

“Just like how Peerfit [now FitOn Health] was able to build a remote culture before other companies adopted the remote workforce model, Scholar will be using the same playbook – operating remotely to drive the quickest outcomes,” Buckley said. “For Scholar, I knew I would need to hire an amazing team to run the day-to-day and use my network and resources.” 

Buckley, who previously raised more than $60 million in venture funding, will also soon reveal details about closing a funding round for Scholar. 

“I think this project serves as an example of Tampa Bay’s evolution. When we started Peerfit, there was a lack of startup success stories [at the time]. We created this company with talent and the funding we brought in,” Buckley recalled. “This, the launch of a new company, symbolizes the next phase in the startup scene of how mature the market is becoming.” 

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