Pearson tops the list of education companies acquiring and investing in the Ed Tech space followed by private equity-owned Blackboard and then the Macmillan Group.
With $1.1B in Ed Tech venture capital financing in 2012, we wanted to take a closer look at which of the larger education companies, both private and public, have been most active in both acquiring and investing in emerging, privately-held Ed Tech companies.
Based on M&A and financing data since 2010, London-based publisher Pearson tops the list with 15 acquisitions or investments in Ed Tech companies and is followed by Providence Equity Partners-owned education software provider Blackboard. The top 3 was rounded out by the Macmillan Group which acquires and invests in Ed Tech companies through two separate arms – Macmillan New Ventures and Macmillan Digital Education. Six of the top 10 are publicly traded education companies as can be seen below:
Data Integrity Note: This list contains only education companies involved in acquisitions and investments and does not include private equity firms and others who may be invested in or acquiring in Ed Tech.