Local educational technology firm acquired by Silicon Valley company

Mimir Corp., a five-year-old Indianapolis-based educational technology company, announced Tuesday it has been acquired by Silicon Valley-based HackerRank.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Mimir, which makes a cloud-based platform for computer science courses, has eight employees. All eight, including CEO and co-founder Prahasith Veluvolu, will join HackerRank.

HackerRank, which produces software that helps businesses evaluate software developers’ skill levels, said it plans to grow the local office under its own name while offering the Mimir Classroom online platform.

“Indianapolis has become a thriving tech center in the Midwest,” Veluvolu told IBJ. “HackerRank’s CEO, Vivek Ravishankar, realizes that and understands the opportunity for the company to keep the office in Indianapolis open and to even expand it.”

The Mimir operations will become the fourth global office for HackerRank. The 10-year-old company is expected to begin hiring additional workers in Indianapolis soon, Veluvolu said.

Michigan State University, Illinois Institute of Technology and Finger Lakes Community College are among those that use Mimir’s software to scale their computer science programs.

Mimir was founded in 2014 by Veluvolu, Jacobi Petrocciani and Colton Voege, all Purdue University students. They were fed up with the quality of the feedback they were getting on computer science assignment submissions, so they set out to make software that automated the grading process for professors.

“Every time we turned in one of our programming assignments, it usually took over a month to get it back,” Veluvolu said. “And when we did get it back, it was usually just a number on an online portal. We barely got any feedback.”

The software they developed, called the Mimir Classroom, grades submissions within seconds, checking for plagiarism and showing professors analytics that, for instance, indicate which students still need help.

Mimir’s software is a good fit for HackerRank, company officials said.

“Our mission is to connect every developer to the right job. To do that effectively, we must equip all developers with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace,” Ravisankar said in written comments. “Acquiring Mimir allows us to reach developers far earlier in their education while supporting their professors, ensuring they receive the training they need to be successful in their careers.”

Veluvolu said his company’s goal is to increase the number of skilled developers in the world.

“HackerRank and Mimir’s combined offering allows students to obtain both formal academic education as well as practical skills assessments, which can help build a strong and successful career,” he said.