Education Acquisitions in 2016

PowerSchool has acquired Chalkable to integrate Chalkable's Positive Reinforcement System and behavior-tracking tools into PowerSchool's Unified Classroom platform. The acquisition adds student behavior management, real-time recognition and rewards capabilities to PowerSchool's K-12 suite to help districts meet PBIS requirements and improve classroom culture.

The Colibri Group has closed an investment in Securities Training Corporation (STC), the market leader in securities exam and regulatory training. STC will remain led by CEO Paul Weisman and its existing management team; Colibri — a Redwood City, California-based learning solutions provider backed by Quad‑C Management — plans to leverage its technology and product capabilities to expand STC's offerings.

Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA) has acquired DevMountain, a coding school with locations in Provo (headquarters), Salt Lake City and Dallas. The acquisition provides Capella a complementary platform to expand its job-ready skills and technical training offerings.

Inverness Graham, a private investment firm based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, has acquired Kalkomey Enterprises, Inc. and its complementary online hunter-education business, Outdoor Roadmap LLC. Kalkomey — a Dallas-based provider of online recreational safety education and state certification management SaaS — is the first platform investment from Inverness Graham III; Twin Brook Capital provided debt financing and terms were not disclosed.

Capella Education Company (NASDAQ: CPLA) acquired Hackbright Academy, a San Francisco-based non-degree software engineering school for women, in an all-cash transaction that closed on April 22, 2016 for $18 million. Hackbright will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary and retain its San Francisco headquarters and management team as Capella expands its non-degree, workforce-focused learning offerings to help close the gender gap in software engineering.

Excelligence Learning Corporation, backed by Brentwood Associates, has acquired Really Good Stuff, a multi-channel marketer of K-8 classroom products headquartered in Connecticut. The deal expands Excelligence's product portfolio from pre-K into the broader K-8 market and is expected to generate revenue synergies by leveraging Excelligence's distribution, fulfillment and sales capabilities.

Leeds Equity Partners made a control equity investment in Educate 360 Holdings, LLC (Project Management Academy) on December 21, 2015; terms were not disclosed. The investment will provide capital and resources to accelerate growth, expand the company’s professional training offerings, and support organic growth and acquisitions while partnering with founder and CEO John Smith.