4 ms·
I'm super psyched about this but, as a former ed tech entrepreneur, also a bit concerned. The concern lies here. The blog post references a record $509 million
by jonbischke 12y ago
I'm super psyched about this but, as a former ed tech entrepreneur, also a bit concerned.
The concern lies here. The blog post references a record $509 million in ed tech financing in 2014. However, in the last 10 years I believe we have only seen two companies go public (2U and Chegg). Both trade at modest multiples to invested capital and neither is focused on the K-12 space. And those are the success stories. Other than those two, I can't think of a nine figure acquisition other Wireless Generation.
My concern is that, unless we start seeing large exits soon, we'll have a lot of investors fleeing the space similar to what happened to the "e-learning" companies in the wake of the dot com crash.
I sincerely hope that I'm wrong though. I'm a big fan of ImagineK12 and many of the companies referenced in the blog post. I'd love to see a number of IPOs and big exits which will drive more capital towards innovation in this sector.
- c4mden 12y agoThere've been a few nine-figure acquisitions of companies that help traditional colleges expand online, with John Wiley buying deltak.edu for $220mm, and Pearson buying EmbanetCompass for $650mm, both in 2012.
- jonbischke 12y agoSorry, should have clarified. Of the new wave of ed tech companies, there haven't been any big acquisitions. Both Embanet and deltak were founded in the 90s.
- nl 12y agoBlackboard (hmmm!) has been a fairly active acquirer of companies.