The higher education payment company Transact is “exploring” methods for colleges to use its technologies to fight food insecurity on campus, officials announced Monday. The company will explore “product and solution integration to facilitate the distribution of meal funds to students experiencing food insecurity across Transact’s client campuses,” as part of a partnership with the nonprofit Swipe Out Hunger, a news release read. Transact provides the technology behind payment solutions like mobile student ID cards, which can also be used as on-campus payment cards, and software to simplify online tuition payments. Emily Bamforth has the details.

A Message From AWS Educate

With over 1,500 institutions and hundreds of thousands of students who use AWS Educate, we wanted to take you on a trip around the world and highlight how students are learning and innovating with the cloud. Learn more.

Verbit eyes IPO

Verbit, a transcription technology company, will look to go public after announcing its most recent round of $157 million in funding on Tuesday, according to a news release. The company, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, reached a valuation of $1 billion in four years, making it a so-called unicorn, tech-industry vernacular for a privately held company that achieves that milestone. Verbit’s latest round of funding will support research and development and add 200 positions, as well as “help prepare Verbit for a public offering,” the company said. Emily has it.

Zoom-competitor raises $6 million

InSpace, a startup seeking to build a better breakout room experience for virtual meetings, announced Tuesday $6 million in two rounds of seed funding. The company marked the new funding to support educators using the system, which is designed to incorporate physical elements of a classroom into an online space. That means offering direct support to educators, but also creating a network for users to share resources, according to a press release. More than 100 universities and K-12 schools use the software, including instructors at the University of Vermont and Colorado State University. Check out the full story on Edscoop.