Education Acquisitions in Virginia

Volaris Group, an operating group of Constellation Software Inc., has acquired Symplicity Corporation, a leading higher-education career services and student support platform. Symplicity will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and the acquisition is intended to provide long-term backing to evolve the platform and explore emerging technologies such as AI to better serve universities and employers globally.

Trivest Partners and Lunchline Partners have launched Lunchline Youth Brands, a new platform to scale early childhood education and youth enrichment franchisors, and announced a strategic growth investment in LeafSpring Schools. LeafSpring, founded in 1989 and headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia, is a franchisor of early education programs and summer camps across the Southeastern United States and will join the new platform to support accelerated growth and franchise expansion.

Big Blue Marble Academy (BBMA) has acquired The Cedarhouse School in Midlothian, Virginia, marking BBMA’s first school in the Commonwealth and the organization’s 92nd school nationwide. The confidential transaction, brokered by HINGE Early Education Advisors, transfers ownership from founder Elizabeth Bale to BBMA, supporting the operator’s geographic expansion and continued delivery of its early childhood curriculum and resources.

MGT, a national technology and advisory solutions leader, has acquired Tambellini Group, a provider of proprietary research and advisory services for higher education CIOs. The acquisition adds Tambellini's market intelligence subscription product and higher-education technology research capabilities to MGT's SLED-focused advisory offerings to expand capabilities and client value across colleges and universities.

Banyan Software has acquired DualEnroll, an EdTech SaaS platform that automates and manages dual and concurrent enrollment for over 100 colleges, districts, and systems across the United States. Founder Janet Van Pelt is stepping back from operations and Banyan has named Scott Holmes as CEO to lead the business as part of Banyan's growing education technology portfolio.

Trainocate, a global IT training provider, has acquired EnterOne, an EnterOne-based Reston, Virginia IT training specialist focused on Cisco, VMware, AWS and Microsoft technologies. The acquisition expands Trainocate’s footprint in North America and Latin America while enhancing its advanced-technology training capabilities, including AI and cloud offerings.

New Story acquired the Virginia assets of the Center for Autism & Related Disorders (CARD), comprising three school campuses and nine ABA therapy clinics. The locations will transition to New Story brands Rivermont Schools and Your Life ABA clinics, expanding New Story’s special education and therapy footprint in Virginia and growing its network support across multiple states.

Traliant, a PSG-backed provider of online compliance training, has acquired Clear Law Institute to broaden its portfolio of compliance and investigations training courses. Vista Point Advisors served as exclusive financial advisor to Clear Law Institute in the transaction.

PeopleGrove, a Career Access Platform provider, has acquired Student Opportunity Center (SOC), a leading provider of experiential learning and High-Impact Practices (HIPs) services for higher education. The deal integrates SOC's experiential learning expertise into PeopleGrove's platform to expand capability for universities, and SOC CEO Chris Freire will join PeopleGrove as Vice President of Experiential Learning.

Pearson agreed to acquire PDRI (Personnel Decisions Research Institutes, Inc.), a provider of workforce assessment services to U.S. federal government agencies, from SHL for an enterprise value of $190 million. SHL described the sale as a strategic divestiture aligned with its shift toward commercial SaaS solutions; completion was expected in H1 2023 and the transaction closed in March 2023. The acquisition expands Pearson’s workforce assessment capabilities and its position in the U.S. government and public-sector assessment market.

TrueLearn has acquired APEX Anesthesia Review, a provider of high‑stakes exam preparation for Student Registered Nurse Anesthetists (SRNAs) and continuing education for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). The deal expands TrueLearn’s healthcare education platform into the nurse anesthesia market and adds APEX’s exam‑prep and CE capabilities to TrueLearn’s analytics‑driven learning products.

IXL Learning, the San Mateo–based education technology company, has acquired Curiosity Media, the maker of SpanishDict, inglés.com and Fluencia. The deal expands IXL's language-learning portfolio—complementing Rosetta Stone and other assets—and aims to accelerate Curiosity Media's growth and reach.

Emler Swim School acquired SwimKids Swim Schools, a Northern Virginia swim-school operator, in a deal that closed May 17, 2022. The acquisition adds SwimKids locations to Emler’s footprint (bringing Emler into Virginia as its sixth state) and retains SwimKids staff and brand under Emler’s ownership.

HSI, a Frisco, Texas-based provider of EHS, compliance and professional development solutions (majority-owned by Waud Capital Partners), has acquired microlearning provider Blue Ocean Brain. The acquisition expands HSI's employee learning and professional development capabilities by adding Blue Ocean Brain's daily microlearning content and platform to HSI's integrated training and software offerings.

Anthology and Blackboard have completed a definitive merger to create a combined higher-education technology company operating under the Anthology parent. The combined company, majority owned by Veritas Capital with minority stakes for Leeds Equity Partners and Providence Equity Partners, will be headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida and aims to offer an expanded, data-driven EdTech ecosystem serving institutions worldwide.

Endeavor Schools, a Miami-based education management company, has acquired Loudoun School for Advanced Studies (LSAS) in Ashburn, Virginia, marking the company’s 60th school. The acquisition expands Endeavor’s private K–12 portfolio and strengthens its presence in Virginia as part of its ongoing roll-up of independent and specialty schools.

CDW Corporation acquired Amplified IT, an education-focused IT consultancy and Google Cloud partner based in Norfolk, Virginia, to strengthen CDW's services and Google Cloud capabilities for K–12 and higher education customers. Terms were not disclosed; the acquisition is intended to expand CDW's education solutions and support offerings.

Big Blue Swim School has acquired Tom Dolan Swim School, expanding Big Blue’s presence into Northern Virginia with locations in Dulles and Falls Church. As part of the agreement, Tom Dolan will join Big Blue’s team to help manage and grow the brand in the region while the Dulles and Falls Church pools transition to Big Blue over the coming three months.

Volaris Group has acquired SoftChalk LLC, an educational content authoring software provider based in Richmond, Virginia. SoftChalk will be integrated into AssetWorks (a Volaris subsidiary) to support product growth and expand Volaris' portfolio of higher-education software solutions.

Cambium Learning Group has agreed to sell Rosetta Stone’s Languages division to IXL Learning in a divestiture intended to streamline Cambium’s K‑12 portfolio and allow IXL to expand its personalized learning offerings to include Rosetta Stone’s language products. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

KnowFully Learning Group, a NexPhase Capital-backed provider of professional education (including the Surgent brand), has acquired The Income Tax School, Inc. (ITS). ITS will operate as Surgent Income Tax School, expanding KnowFully/Surgent's tax-focused continuing education and exam-prep offerings for tax and accounting professionals.

Cambium Learning Group, a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, completed the acquisition of Rosetta Stone, including its Lexia Learning literacy division. The deal expands Cambium’s digital education portfolio by adding Rosetta Stone’s language-learning technology and Lexia’s PreK–12 literacy solutions to its suite of K‑12 and lifelong learning products.

Cambium Learning Group, a Veritas Capital portfolio company, has completed its acquisition of AIR Assessment, the student assessment division of the American Institutes for Research (AIR). The deal creates Cambium Assessment, combining K-12 assessment capabilities with Cambium's existing digital curriculum and instructional offerings to deliver an end-to-end solution for schools, districts and education departments.

Edlio, a K-12 website and community engagement platform, has acquired OSMS, a cloud-based provider of online payments and student receipting for the K-12 market. The deal brings OSMS’s PCI-compliant payment and receipting capabilities into Edlio’s product suite to deepen its K-12 digital ecosystem and address rising demand for online payments and student receipting.

Renovus Capital Partners provided equity financing to combine Clinical Care Options (CCO) and Practicing Clinicians Exchange (PCE), two leading medical and healthcare education companies. The deal merges CCO's oncology- and specialty-focused CME/CE platform based in Reston, Virginia with PCE's NP/PA‑focused continuing education business in Greenwich, Connecticut to broaden capabilities, audience reach, and product distribution.