Education Acquisitions in North Carolina

Cordance has acquired AppsAnywhere, a provider of application delivery and IT management software for higher education, to deepen its education technology portfolio and align the product with existing Cordance holdings. The deal pairs AppsAnywhere’s student-centric application delivery platform with LabStats’ analytics to expand capabilities for universities and improve IT efficiency and student experiences.

Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI), an employee-owned online college based in Tempe, Arizona, has acquired CL Driving School, LLC, a CDL/truck-driving vocational school headquartered in Indian Trail, North Carolina. The transaction closed on July 23, 2025 and will expand SDI's vocational program offerings and physical footprint with CL Driving School's campuses in Indian Trail and Charlotte.

BARBRI has acquired Quimbee, a digital learning platform offering subscription-based law school study aids, case briefs, video lessons and practice questions. The acquisition strengthens BARBRI's law school and legal education offerings by integrating Quimbee's subscription products and learning resources into BARBRI's global curriculum.

Carnegie has acquired Credo, a national higher education consulting firm known for presidential strategy, institutional planning, and student success programs. The acquisition expands Carnegie's service offering by integrating Credo's advisory capabilities and performance-based student success programs with Carnegie's branding, enrollment, and digital marketing solutions.

Emerald Publishing Limited has acquired Information Age Publishing (IAP), adding more than 2,600 books and six peer-reviewed journals to Emerald’s academic portfolio. The acquisition expands Emerald’s strengths in Education, Management and Psychology and significantly enhances its author footprint in North America.

IXL Learning has acquired Carson Dellosa Education, the market-leading publisher of K–8 supplemental educational products, workbooks, and classroom resources. The purchase, from Guardian Capital Partners, expands IXL's print product portfolio and complements its digital K–12 learning platforms to offer a broader mix of physical and digital resources for teachers, students, and families.

MPS North America LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MPS Limited, has completed the acquisition of AJE LLC (American Journal Experts) and its Beijing subsidiary American Journal Online. The deal brings AJE's Curie AI writing assistant and author services into MPS's portfolio to boost AI capabilities and to expand into the B2C market and China.

Element451, the AI-powered student engagement platform, has acquired Enrollify, a media and content brand focused on higher education marketing and enrollment. The acquisition brings Enrollify's research, podcasts, and educational content into Element451's Engage content brand to expand thought leadership, content production, and AI-focused training for higher education marketers.

Hidden River Strategic Capital and Taurus Capital Partners partnered to form Somersault Holdings, LLC and acquired seven existing The Little Gym franchise locations across North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee from long-time franchisees the Moore Family and Connie Tator. Hidden River's investment is its first from its inaugural fund and Taurus' Griffin Gordon will play an active operational role as Somersault looks to expand further through acquisitions and development of new locations.

95 Percent Group, a portfolio company of Leeds Equity Partners, acquired the Hill Reading Achievement Program (HillRAP) from Durham-based nonprofit Hill Learning Center. The acquisition adds a technology-based Tier 3 literacy intervention to 95 Percent Group’s product ecosystem, expanding its digital capabilities to support students with learning differences and enabling further product development and school district adoption.

Meazure Learning has acquired Scantron Corporation's Certification and Licensure business, including its global test center network, assessment software, exam development, psychometric, and client services teams. The acquisition expands Meazure's delivery footprint (increasing its network from ~300 test centers in Canada to over 1,600 global sites) and strengthens its exam development and psychometric capabilities to support higher-education and professional credentialing programs.

Unleashed Brands, a franchised brand operator focused on kids' enrichment, has acquired youth esports franchise XP League. The deal adds XP League to Unleashed's portfolio of family-focused brands and expands the platform into youth esports programming; financial terms were not disclosed.

An affiliate of Clearlake Capital Group agreed to acquire a majority stake in Discovery Education from Francisco Partners, with Francisco Partners retaining a minority equity interest. The deal will leave Discovery Education’s CEO Scott Kinney and management team in place and is intended to accelerate platform growth, deepen distribution, and support strategic add-on M&A to expand the company’s digital K–12 curriculum offerings.

LINQ, a Wilmington, North Carolina–based K-12 operations technology provider, received a strategic growth investment from Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS). WCAS joins existing backer Banneker Partners to accelerate LINQ’s growth and further develop its K-12 software platform covering cafeteria/nutrition, ERP, grant management, HR, payments, registration and parent communications.

MetaMetrics, the developer of the Lexile and Quantile frameworks, has acquired Elemeno, an early-literacy edtech startup founded by Neena Saha. The acquisition brings Elemeno's early-reading tools and research-to-practice expertise into MetaMetrics to expand its focus and product offerings in the science of reading and early literacy.

Francisco Partners has signed a definitive agreement to acquire VitalSource Technologies LLC from Ingram Content Group. VitalSource is an education technology company (Bookshelf learning platform) serving millions of learners and partnering with publishers and institutions; the deal is expected to close in summer pending regulatory approval and is intended to accelerate VitalSource's product and market growth.

Colibri Group, a St. Louis-based provider of licensing and continuing education for professionals (and backed by Gridiron Capital), has acquired BrightPath Education Services, a North Carolina provider of qualifying and continuing education for appraisal and real estate professionals. The acquisition expands Colibri's presence and market leadership in appraisal and real estate education in North Carolina and will integrate BrightPath's live and online course offerings into Colibri's national portfolio.

Skillsoft (through its business combination with Churchill Capital Corp II) completed the acquisition of Global Knowledge Training LLC in a transaction announced in 2020 and closed June 11, 2021. The deal was reported at approximately $233 million and combines Global Knowledge’s IT and technology training capabilities with Skillsoft’s digital learning platform to expand enterprise learning content and modalities.

HelioCampus, a technology-enabled decision-support firm for higher education, has acquired ABC Insights, a higher education benchmarking consortium. The acquisition expands HelioCampus' benchmarking, data analytics and decision-support capabilities and brings ABC Insights' leadership into HelioCampus' management team.

The Apax Digital Fund, advised by Apax Partners, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire MetaMetrics, the developer of the Lexile and Quantile frameworks, from Pamlico Capital. Apax said it will support new product development and accelerate MetaMetrics' international expansion to extend the company's measurement and analytics capabilities for education; financial terms were not disclosed.

Wall Family Enterprise, Inc. (parent of DEMCO, Inc.) announced the acquisition of Hatch, Inc., a Winston‑Salem supplier of technology and classroom materials for the early childhood market. The deal expands WFE/DEMCO's education product offering while keeping Hatch's operations and employees in Winston‑Salem.