Education Acquisitions in Illinois

TZP Group completed a strategic investment in True Lacrosse to launch True Sports Group, a national youth sports platform headquartered in Illinois. The investment will support True Sports' expansion of youth travel teams, tournaments, camps and clinics and enable organic growth and add-on acquisitions while partnering with co-founders Jake Deane and Mike Gabel.

VitalSource has acquired RedShelf, the Chicago-based course materials distributor, to expand its network of institutional and publisher partners and to accelerate digital course materials delivery. The acquisition brings additional scale, talent, and product development capabilities to VitalSource’s learning delivery network to better serve higher education stakeholders.

H.I.G. Capital and Thoma Bravo signed a definitive agreement to acquire the brand and IT certification and training business and products of the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA). Following closing (expected in early 2025), the CompTIA training and certification business will operate as a for-profit company under H.I.G. and Thoma Bravo while the membership-based 501(c)(6) nonprofit association will be separated and continue its mission.

Aceable has acquired Real Estate Institute, an Illinois-based provider of professional licensing education, from majority shareholder Greybull Stewardship. The deal expands Aceable's AceableAgent footprint into Illinois and supports the company’s planned expansion into insurance and mortgage education; Real Estate Institute was founded in 1992 and has served over 195,000 alumni.

Private equity firm Sterling Partners will acquire the outstanding shares of Keypath Education for AUD$187 million (approximately $186.8 million), taking the company private at A$0.87 per share. Sterling, already the majority shareholder, will make Keypath a wholly owned subsidiary to provide liquidity to public shareholders and support the company’s strategic pivot toward healthcare-focused online higher education in the US and APAC.

PSG Equity has made a strategic growth investment in Packback, an AI-powered student engagement and academic platform headquartered in Chicago. The investment will support Packback's expansion of its instructional AI platform across K-12 and higher education, accelerating product adoption and go-to-market efforts.

Spartan Education Group, a Chicago-based aviation education operator, acquired Illinois Aviation Academy (IAA), a Part 141 flight school located at DuPage County Airport in West Chicago, Illinois. The deal expands Spartan's flight-training offerings and capacity (IAA operates a 30,000 sq. ft. facility and a fleet of 25+ aircraft) as part of efforts to address the U.S. pilot shortage.

ONCAP, the mid‑market private equity platform of Onex, acquired a majority stake in Right At School from Prairie Capital VI. Prairie Capital and Right At School management — including founding CEO Mark Rothschild — will retain minority ownership; Prairie engaged BMO Capital Markets and Reed Smith as advisors during the transaction. The deal positions ONCAP to scale the national provider of before‑ and after‑school programs and break camps across K‑12 school districts.

Specialized Education Services, Inc. (SESI), a division of FullBloom, has acquired NewHope Academy, a special education day school in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The acquisition expands SESI's network of specialized K–12 programs in Illinois and allows SESI to leverage its resources to enhance educational and therapeutic services at NewHope Academy.

7 Mindsets, a portfolio company of Gauge Capital, has acquired xSEL Labs, an Evanston, Illinois-based creator of scalable K-12 social and emotional learning (SEL) assessments. The bolt-on expands 7 Mindsets' assessment capabilities and complements its recent acquisitions (BASE Education and Better Together) to offer a more comprehensive SEL instruction, intervention and assessment suite.

Cordance has completed the acquisition of Hāpara, a Chicago-based provider of classroom management and K‑12 education software. The deal will combine Cordance's go-to-market and operational capabilities with Hāpara's education product expertise to accelerate growth and expand the company's reach in school districts and remote learning environments.

3STEP Sports has acquired MOD Volleyball Club, a Chicago-area youth volleyball organization founded in 2020 that operates four facilities, fields 80 full-season teams and runs camp programs with more than 1,000 participants. The acquisition expands 3STEP's volleyball vertical and local presence in the Chicago suburbs as part of its strategy to grow club and event operations nationally.

School Specialty, a leading provider of learning environments and K‑12 supplies, has acquired Chicago-area SchoolKidz, a provider of school-supply kitting and wellness kits. The purchase brings SchoolKidz’s Teacher Tailored and Kits for Kidz programs into the School Specialty platform to expand its bundled supply and nonprofit support capabilities nationwide; the seller was PE firm Skyview Capital.

Ariel Group, a U.S. leadership development provider backed by Renovus Capital Partners, has acquired Executive Coaching Connections (ECC), a Chicago-based leadership and organizational advisory firm. The deal — finalized in early October 2022 — expands Ariel's Leadership Development portfolio by adding individualized executive coaching, C-suite mentoring, and organizational effectiveness capabilities.

Nerdy Inc., the owner of the Varsity Tutors platform, has acquired Codeverse, an online coding education platform for children. The deal brings Codeverse's coding studio and classes into Varsity Tutors' Learning Membership and school offerings to expand Nerdy's computer science and coding education capabilities.

Snap! Mobile, Inc. has acquired CNXT Digital’s software services—8to18 and SchoolCNXT—to integrate athletics management and multi-language family engagement tools into its Snap! Mobile platform. The deal expands Snap! Mobile’s K‑12 product suite, enabling a single, integrated administrative support platform for high school administrators, athletic directors, coaches and group leaders.

Millpond Equity Partners and Wasena Capital Management have acquired Paxton/Patterson LLC, an Alsip, Illinois-based provider of career and technical education curriculum, equipment, lab design and educator training. Terms were not disclosed; Prairie Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial advisor to Paxton/Patterson and its shareholders. The deal positions Paxton/Patterson for growth as the buyers aim to expand capabilities and scale the company's CTE offerings nationwide.

Entrepreneur Steve Rangel, president of TheJumperStore.com, Inc., has acquired the Safe Inflatable Operators Training Organization (SIOTO), a leading provider of moonwalk and inflatable safety training. TheJumperStore said it will enhance and expand SIOTO’s training programs — including plans for global expansion — to better serve party rental operators and Family Entertainment Centers.

Linewize, a division of ASX-listed Family Zone (FZO), has acquired Cipafilter by purchasing 100% of the shares in Cipafilter's holding company DerbyTech, Inc. The consideration includes A$4.5 million in Family Zone shares (13,116,316 shares based on the 30‑day VWAP) plus an estimated $3.0 million in cash; the deal expands Linewize's K‑12 web filtering, firewall and reporting capabilities and adds Cipafilter's ~400,000‑student customer footprint to Linewize's global reach of more than 10 million students.

Literati, a book subscription and curation company, has acquired Follett Book Fairs from Follett to expand its business into the PK-8 school book fair market. The deal transfers Follett Book Fairs' inventory, distribution centers, and key sales and operations staff to Literati, enabling immediate bookings in several U.S. regions and broadening Literati's product and service offerings for schools and librarians.

Texthelp, a PE-backed literacy and accessibility technology company, has acquired the Education Technology Division of Don Johnston Inc., bringing products such as Snap&Read, Co:Writer, Word Bank, Quizbot and uPAR into the Texthelp product suite. The deal expands Texthelp's assistive-technology capabilities for classrooms and workplaces and will see Don Johnston's curriculum division spun out as a new company, Building Wings; terms were not disclosed.

Quad Partners, a private equity firm focused on education, has invested $25 million in eSpark Learning to accelerate growth of the company's personalized K–5 reading and math program. The capital will be used to expand the product, grow the team, and bring eSpark’s student-centric curriculum to more schools across the United States.

Leeds Equity Partners made a significant growth investment in 95 Percent Group, a provider of evidence-based literacy curriculum, assessments, and professional development for K–12 districts. The capital will support product and digital development while founders and existing management remain involved as the company scales its curriculum, intervention products, and implementation services across thousands of U.S. schools.

American Safety Council (a portfolio company of Ridgemont Equity Partners) has acquired TPC Training from Frontenac. The combination brings together ASC's content and direct-to-professional marketing with TPC's EHS software, LMS and industrial safety training capabilities to form a broader safety training and compliance platform; terms were not disclosed.

L Squared Capital Partners led a recapitalization of Literacy Resources, LLC d/b/a Heggerty, with Longview Asset Management, existing investor Pondera Holdings and Heggerty’s executive team rolling equity. Debt financing was provided by BMO Sponsor Finance and New Canaan Funding, with William Blair advising L Squared and Macquarie Capital advising Heggerty. The transaction will fund product development, digital offerings, professional development, and sales & marketing to expand Heggerty’s literacy impact.

Francisco Partners has acquired Follett School Solutions (FSS), the K-12 software and content division of Follett Corporation. FSS — based in McHenry, Illinois and provider of the Follett Destiny library management system — will join Francisco Partners' portfolio of K-12 education technology businesses; terms were not disclosed.

CeriFi, a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company, has acquired CPMI Professional Development, a provider of insurance pre-licensing and continuing education courses for insurance agents across the United States. The add-on deal (terms not disclosed) expands CeriFi's product offering into insurance licensing and continuing education, combining CPMI's insurance content with CeriFi's learning platform.

Marco Learning, a provider of teacher professional development and AP exam preparation, has acquired Chicago-based education technology company The Graide Network. The deal combines The Graide Network’s scalable human grading and feedback model with Marco Learning’s digital content and live instruction to expand services for schools, teachers, and AP students.

IXL Learning has agreed to acquire Wyzant, the Chicago-based online tutoring marketplace, in a deal expected to close in Q1 2021. The acquisition brings Wyzant’s network of tens of thousands of tutors into IXL’s K–12 personalized learning platform to expand one-on-one mentoring and broader learning capabilities; Lazard served as exclusive financial advisor to Wyzant.

Frontline Education has acquired Forecast5 Analytics from growth equity firm Riverwood Capital; terms were not disclosed. The acquisition adds Forecast5's K-12 decision-support and data analytics suite to Frontline's school administration portfolio (Frontline is backed by Thoma Bravo).

UWorld, a provider of online test-preparation tools, has acquired Themis Bar Review to expand into legal education and strengthen its bar exam offerings. Themis, a leading fully online bar review provider known for its AI-driven study tools and published pass rates, will continue operating under the UWorld umbrella with access to UWorld's product and technology enhancements.

Riverside Insights, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, has acquired ESGI, a SaaS provider of teacher-led early childhood assessment, reporting and analytics tools. The add-on expands Riverside's assessment technology suite and aims to accelerate ESGI product adoption across school districts through Riverside’s distribution and research-driven assessment capabilities.