Tyton Partners Investment Banking – 2019 Highlights & 2020 Predictions

After a strong end to 2019, which included several high-profile transactions and a continued investment in building our practice in Europe and China, we enter 2020 with 9 active deals under LOI, and a dozen new mandates to kick off the new year. This is complemented by a pipeline that remains robust notwithstanding the uncertainty (e.g. presidential election, credit markets, global trade wars, regulatory changes) that we are experiencing in the markets.

Our market experienced record deal volume in 2019 with a continued interest in SaaS and tech enabled offerings that target the global knowledge industries. Below are some of the key deals highlights from our 2019 M&A practice:

We expect to see continued consolidation and demand for SaaS platforms that deliver administrative solutions and create efficiencies within the PreK-12 and Higher Education market segments. We also expect to see sustained investment growth and M&A in training and workforce oriented solutions that serve large enterprises as they shift to meet the evolving workforce needs powered by data and analytics.

Looking ahead, we also predict that the same corporate data center evolutions we are seeing in the broader corporate SaaS markets will continue their acceleration in the K-12, Higher Education, and Human Capital Optimization markets.

This replicant demand and evolution will impact progressive K-12 district purchases, higher education institutional licensing, and corporate L&D tech enabled service providers’ growth in 2020. We’ll see increasing demand for mobile first SaaS solutions, migration to PaaS (Platform as a Service), AI in Business Intelligence tools for schools, colleges and L&D purchasers, and platform unbundling which will drive significant growth in the edu-SaaS markets.

Let us know if your Q1 travel plans involve appearances at SXSW or ASU-GSV. Tyton Partners will attend both conferences. Let’s find a time to connect in Austin or San Diego.

SXSW – Austin, TX – March 9-12 
ASU-GSV – San Diego, CA – March 30-April 1

We look forward to the opportunity to continue to support you in the navigation of market shifts, capital market opportunities, and the identification of growth opportunities.

Wishing you much success in the year to come!

Chris Curran
Founder & Managing Partner
Tyton Partners
ccurran@tytonpartners.com

Vivek Kamath
Partner & Managing Director
Tyton Partners
vkamath@tytonpartners.com

Accelify Solutions’ Sale to Frontline Education

Accelify is a leading SaaS provider of special education (“SPED”) management systems designed to help school districts strengthen SPED operations and compliance and maximize Medicaid reimbursement. The company’s suite of modular software products and services are designed to increase operational efficiencies for the management of SPED departments throughout the U.S.

Frontline Education is the leading provider of school administrative software, serving over 80,000 schools and millions of educators. The company was acquired by Thoma Bravo, a leading private equity firm supporting growing technology companies, in August 2017.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Accelify Solutions.

Cloud Academy’s Sale to QA

Cloud Academy is the leading enterprise digital skills development platform accelerating innovation through guided Learning Paths, Hands-on Labs, and Skill Assessment. Companies trust Cloud Academy to deliver role-specific training on leading clouds (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud Platform), essential methodologies needed to operate on and between clouds (DevOps, security), and capabilities that are unlocked by the cloud (big data, machine learning, IoT).

QA is the UK’s leading learning organization providing training, consultancy, apprenticeships and post graduate degrees on a range of technical, business and leadership subjects. With over 22 UK training centers and a range of online learning options, QA offers an unparalleled set of learning solutions to both private and public sector organizations.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Cloud Academy.

TE21’s Sale to Certica Solutions

TE21 is an award-winning education company that offers mission critical solutions to meet the needs of K-12 schools and districts. The company provides benchmark assessments, item bank, intervention solutions, professional development, and education improvement services to K-12 schools.

Certica’s analytic, assessment and data management solutions provide a foundation for standards-based learning and assessment, as well as teacher data literacy. The company serves more than 1,500 K-12 school districts and numerous charter school organizations, state education agencies and educational service agencies.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to TE21.

All Campus’ Sale to Education Growth Partners

All Campus offers comprehensive, customized Online Program Manager (OPM) services to its university partners including marketing, curriculum development, enrollment, recruitment and retention — all with their partner’s unique identity and brand top of mind. The company provides higher educational institutions with an alternative to the traditional OPM model, which typically requires universities to outsource curriculum development and relinquish control of enrollment and other decisions. All Campus’ expertise and upfront marketing investment enables their partners to connect their academic program with qualified students, increase enrollment and maximize market share.

Education Growth Partners is a private equity firm dedicated to small buyouts and providing growth capital to proven, high potential learning, data and knowledge, and workplace companies that offer compelling solutions to unmet needs.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to All Campus.

Fullstack Academy’s Sale to Zovio

Fullstack Academy’s coding bootcamps train students across the country in on-campus and remote programs. Through its own campuses, online, and through university partnerships, graduates of Fullstack programs are trained to succeed in an environment of increasing demand for IT professionals.

Zovio is a publicly traded education technology services company that partners with higher education institutions and employers to deliver innovative, personalized solutions to help learners and leaders achieve their aspirations.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to Fullstack Academy.

HelioCampus’ Sale to Pamlico Capital 

HelioCampus is a first-to-market business performance analytics tech enabled services platform for colleges and universities. Founded in 2015, HelioCampus’ technology platform consolidates, organizes, and manages an institution’s data as HelioCampus’ data scientists partner with customers to develop solutions for their most pressing challenges. HelioCampus helps institutions jump-start or accelerate their path to advanced analytics and realize improvements in enrollment, persistence, and managing costs.

Pamlico Capital is a private equity firm founded in 1988 that primarily invests in growing middle-market companies in North America. Pamlico Capital seeks control-oriented growth equity and buyout investments of up to $125 million alongside founders and proven management teams in its target industries: business & technology services, communications, and healthcare.

Tyton Partners acted as exclusive financial advisor to HelioCampus.

About Tyton Partners

Tyton Partners is the leading provider of investment banking and strategy consulting services to the global knowledge and information services sector. With offices in Boston, Stamford, CT, Chicago, and San Francisco, the firm has an experienced team of bankers and consultants who deliver a unique spectrum of services from mergers and acquisitions and capital markets access to strategy development that helps companies, organizations, and investors navigate the complexities of the education, media, and information markets. Tyton Partners leverages a deep foundation of transactional and advisory experience and an unparalleled level of global relationships to make its clients’ aspirations a reality and to catalyze innovation in the sector.