K-12 Dealmaking: Classera Raises $40M Series A; YouScience Acquires NC3T
Classera raised $40 million in a Series A funding round led by Sanabil Investments, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign public investment fund, the company announced this week.
The San Francisco-based company is an ed-tech startup that offers an online learning platform. It said the funds will be used to boost growth in its largest markets — the Middle East and Africa — as well as to further develop its platform and expand its presence in the corporate online training sector. The company also said it’s looking to increase its presence in the Asia-Pacific region through direct sales, channel partners, and acquisitions.
In addition to Sanabil, Global Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, 500 Global, Sukna Ventures, and Seedra Ventures also participated in the round. The Series A represents Classera’s first major funding since it was founded in 2011, the company said.
The funding will help take the company’s platform to “the next level,” Classera co-founder and CEO Mohammad Almadani said in a statement, and ultimately make the system “smarter, inspiring, and simpler.”
YouScience acquires makers of work-based learning platform. YouScience acquired the National Center for College and Career Transitions, the organizations announced, as YouScience aims to increase its range of college- and career-readiness products.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Utah-based YouScience offers an aptitude assessment and industry certification exams aimed at helping students prepare for college and career paths. The company said acquiring the National Center for College and Career Transitions, known as NC3T, will allow it to add NC3T’s work-based learning platform Seamless WBL into its offerings, as well as NC2T’s professional development, workshops, and consulting services.
“Supporting educators in their efforts to uplift both students and their communities is at the heart of who we are and what we do. It is at the heart of who NC3T is,” YouScience CEO and founder Edson Barton said in a statement. “This acquisition strengthens our ability to create informed and empowered students through career-connected education.”
NC3T, based in Columbia, Maryland, was founded in 2012 by Hans Meeder, a researcher and author who studies career technical education and career pathways.
“We’re excited to combine forces with YouScience as we continue to support career-connected learning in schools across the nation,” Meeder said in a statement.
SchoolStatus acquires attendance-focused software company. Mississippi-based SchoolStatus announced it acquired School Innovations & Achievement, a software company that focuses on tracking K-12 student attendance data and policy compliance.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SchoolStatus provides districts with a software platform to manage communications with parents and track student data. The company said the acquisition would allow it to add attendance data and analytics into its existing offerings, which can offer additional insights into student performance.
“We’ve seen that higher attendance leads to better student outcomes and attendance data is one of the key metrics integrated into the SchoolStatus data platform,” SchoolStatus founder and CEO Russ Davis said in a statement. “We’ll now have a platform with enhanced capabilities to spot chronic absenteeism, which will allow educators to intervene in real-time, in the primary language of the family.”
California-based School Innovations & Achievement was founded in 2003 by Jeff Williams.
“Improving student attendance is the gateway to improved student achievement and the first line of defense against lost learning,” Williams said in a statement.
By joining SchoolStatus, School Innovations & Achievement customers, “will have access to the same great products and services they’re used to, and we’ll be able to continue to enhance our users’ options for two-way communication,” he added.
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See also:
- K-12 Dealmaking: Scholastic Scoops Up Learning Ovations; Wonde Acquires Secure Schools
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