At exit, Renaissance Learning was a leading provider of technology-based school improvement and student assessment programmes for pre-kindergarten through to senior high school ages. See how its products grew to be used by more than 70,000 schools with our backing…
Renaissance Learning
Together we achieved
- The increased visibility of the business as an education technology leader, by moving from a ‘mission-driven’ focus to a ‘strategy-driven’ focus
- 46% pa growth from 2010 to 2013 in Renaissance’s next-generation computer adaptive software following significant product investment
- International expansion resulting in a growth in UK orders of 36% pa between 2010 and 2013 and a new partnership in South Korea
This was accomplished by
- Migrating to a ‘Software as a Service’ business model, resulting in greater contributions from higher-margin recurring revenue
- Developing the relationship with Google Capital to promote the opportunities for commercial partnerships between Renaissance and Google in education
- Divesting non-core assets such as hardware and quizzes
- Completing an add-on acquisition of Subtext, an education-focused eReading platform, to strengthen Accelerated Reader amid the digital evolution, and to allow the company to more effectively target the middle and high-school markets
The metrics
€328m
Transaction value
2011
Acquisition year
4.1x
ROI
2014
Exit year
Sale
To financial sponsor
144
Orders 2010
195
Orders 2013 (11% pa)
Cash EBITDA
2010 - $52m
2013 - $91m