Education Acquisitions in Georgia

Summit Professional Education, an Avathon Capital portfolio company, has acquired The Knowledge Tree to expand its continuing education offerings into behavioral health, certification programs, and exam preparation. The Knowledge Tree's founder, Dr. Becky Beaton-York, will remain with Summit to lead mental health training and help integrate The Knowledge Tree's interactive virtual learning capabilities across Summit's catalog.

Amazing Life Foundation has merged with Orange, bringing the Christian curriculum provider into Amazing Life’s portfolio to strengthen technology, operational support, and resources for churches and families. Orange will continue operating from its Cumming, Georgia headquarters under the leadership of Chris Heaslip, with the combined organizations aiming to expand curriculum offerings, events, and digital capabilities.

TouchMath, a portfolio company of Leeds Equity Partners, has acquired Curriculum Advantage, Inc. (doing business as Classworks), a K-12 special education and tiered intervention platform. The deal expands TouchMath's digital capabilities by integrating Classworks' academic screeners, progress monitoring, interventions and data analytics to broaden special education and tiered intervention offerings.

StraighterLine has acquired ProSolutions Training (PST), the professional development division of Care Solutions, Inc., adding PST as a subsidiary alongside ChildCare Education Institute to expand StraighterLine's early childhood education training and certification offerings. The deal increases StraighterLine's portfolio of online, self-paced courses and strengthens its capability to upskill early childhood educators and provide career pathways.

Level Education Group, parent of CE4Less, NurseCE4Less and CCM4Less, has acquired CEU Creations, a provider of live-stream webinars, on-demand, and in-person continuing education for social workers, nurses, case managers and other helping professionals. The acquisition expands LEG’s portfolio by adding livestream and interactive training capabilities to its existing read-only CE offerings; CEU Creations will remain based near Atlanta and continue servicing its customers.

Leeds Equity Partners has acquired Big Blue Marble Academy, a leading early childhood education and childcare provider operating 67 schools across eight U.S. states. The seller was Avathon Capital, which invested in BBMA in 2018 and helped grow the business to serve over 10,000 students with more than 2,000 staff; terms were not disclosed.

Cadence Education, a leading U.S. early childhood education provider based in Scottsdale, Arizona, has acquired The Suzuki School and the Montessori Teacher Education Institute (MTEI) of Atlanta. The deals add three Montessori campuses in Atlanta (Buckhead, Northside Drive, Ponce City Market) and bring an accredited Montessori teacher training institute into Cadence’s platform to support Montessori program growth and staff development in the Southeast.

Axcel, the Alpine Investors‑backed professional education platform, has acquired Accelebrate, an Atlanta‑based IT training company, and will integrate it with its IT training business Web Age Solutions. Accelebrate founder Steve Heckler will remain involved as an advisor while Accelebrate works with Tim Toomey, CEO of Web Age, to scale instructor‑led on‑site and online training for financial services, government, and technology clients.

BARBRI Global, a Francisco Partners-backed legal education company, has acquired Strafford, a provider of CLE and CPE webinars for attorneys, accountants and other professionals. The acquisition brings Strafford's library into BARBRI's professional education offerings to expand its continuing education capabilities and reach.

O2B Kids, a portfolio company of Spire Capital Partners, has acquired Cedars Preschool, a multi-site early education operator in the greater Atlanta, Georgia region. The add-on expands O2B's footprint in Georgia to ten schools and brings Cedars' eight locations and staff into O2B's platform to enhance curriculum and resources for families.

Gauge Capital has made a strategic growth investment and recapitalization in 7 Mindsets, a provider of social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum and professional development for K-12 schools. Gauge will partner with the company's owners and management, joining the board, while eighty2i acted as exclusive financial advisor and will serve as interim CFO following close.

Atlanta-based private equity firm Eagle Merchant Partners completed its acquisition of Code Ninjas, the world’s largest kids’ coding franchise. Eagle had made a prior minority investment and will now support accelerated unit growth and international expansion of Code Ninjas’ franchise network (345 locations across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom).

Creative Learning Corporation (operator of Bricks 4 Kidz) signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bricks4Schoolz, an online STEM/Math learning platform that combines custom software with physical LEGO projects. The acquisition is intended to accelerate Creative Learning's STEM/STEAM offering by integrating Bricks4Schoolz's e-learning platform into its Bricks 4 Kidz franchise and STEM Lab solutions for public and private schools.

Millpond Equity Partners, a Boca Raton-based private equity firm, has made an investment in Financial Aid Services LLC (FAS), an Atlanta-headquartered provider of outsourced financial aid and bursar office services to not-for-profit colleges and universities. The transaction will support FAS’s capacity and capability expansion while founders David and Gay Gray continue to lead the company; financing was provided by First Merchants Bank and Oxer Capital.

Axonify, the Waterloo, Ontario-based frontline employee training platform, has acquired Atlanta-based MLevel, a data-driven digital learning platform. The deal brings MLevel's adaptive learning and reinforcement capabilities into Axonify to expand its product capabilities and better serve industries such as food service, contact centers, insurance, retail and financial services.

CeriFi, a portfolio company of Leeds Equity Partners, has acquired Bionic Turtle LLC, a leading provider of FRM (Financial Risk Management) exam prep courses and study materials. The acquisition expands CeriFi’s suite of financial education and certification offerings and represents the seventh add-on for the CeriFi platform; terms were not disclosed.

Endeavor Schools has acquired two former Kids ‘R’ Kids franchise locations in East Roswell and East Cobb, Georgia, rebranding both as Parker‑Chase Preschools. The schools will continue operating with existing staff and remain NAEYC‑accredited as Endeavor expands its Atlanta footprint to nine schools and pursues further growth in the region.

Atlanta-based private equity firm Eagle Merchant Partners (EMP) has acquired a minority equity stake in Code Ninjas, the world’s largest kids coding franchise. The investment gives EMP a board seat and a call option to acquire a majority stake later; it will support Code Ninjas’ continued franchise expansion and operational capability improvements across its ~240 centers.

Wardle Educational Services, Inc., doing business as Peach State Tutoring and Test Prep, was sold by owners Kathy and Don Wardle to Cornerstone Holdings International, LLC. The transaction, advised by Walden Businesses, Inc., supports the founders’ retirement and transfers the tutoring and test-prep business to Cornerstone for continued operation and growth.

O2B Kids, a Spire Capital portfolio company, has acquired Brookside Academy, adding two early-education centers in Alpharetta and Johns Creek, Georgia. The deal expands O2B Kids' presence into the Atlanta market and increases its facility count from twelve to fourteen, with planned capital investments for facility upgrades.

Penn Foster, a workforce-focused online education provider, announced the acquisition of Ashworth College, an accredited online institution based in Norcross, Georgia. The deal creates a continuum for middle-skill training and expands Penn Foster's employer-aligned program offerings while maintaining existing courses for current students.

Serent Capital has acquired USATestprep, Inc., a K-12 edtech provider of standards-aligned curriculum resources and test-prep solutions based in Kennesaw, Georgia. The platform serves nearly 2 million students annually and Serent — a lower‑middle market private equity firm — will back the company's next phase of growth.