PreK-12 Transaction Spotlight:
Tyton Partners represented School Specialty in its Divestiture of EPS School Specialty, a PreK-12 supplemental curriculum provider, to Excolere Equity Partners.
EPS Learning is a leading PreK-12 literacy and math curriculum solutions provider supporting struggling students to achieve the best possible outcomes. Anchored to the Science of Reading, EPS Learning makes it easy and effective for teachers to meet the needs of every PreK-12 student in every tier and with every reading skill.
Excolere Equity Partners is a leading middle market private equity firm that leverages its deep sector experience and strategic and operational expertise to accelerate the growth and enhance the impact of companies in the Education and Human Capital sector.
“The opportunity to work with School Specialty on the divestiture of its curriculum business to Excolere Equity Partners was a rewarding experience for our team, and we were pleased with the efficient execution of the process by everyone involved in the transaction. Facilitating a divestiture inherently has complexity, but this strategic transaction for School Specialty highlighted the importance of finding the right growth-focused investment partner to drive the next stage of growth for the business.” Chris Curran, Founder & Managing Partner
Tyton Partners represented Fairmont Schools, a PreK-12 co-educational private school, in its sale to International Schools Partnership (ISP Schools).
Founded in 1953, Fairmont operates five campuses in Southern California and boasts award-winning academics with an equally strong focus on the arts and athletics. With a strong emphasis on personalized attention and individualized instruction, Fairmont Schools nurtures a culture of academic excellence, leadership, and lifelong learning.
ISP Schools represent a global network of 80 PreK-12 educational institutions in 20 countries committed to providing exceptional learning experiences for more than 50,000 students worldwide. With a presence in various countries across the globe, ISP Schools offer a diverse and enriching educational environment that celebrates cultural diversity and promotes international mindedness. ISP Schools is a portfolio company of OMERS Private Equity.
“Being entrusted to represent a beloved institution owned and operated by the same family for 70 years was an honor. Equally important to maximizing the financial return for our client was ensuring that the family’s legacy was being placed in the right hands and that its fundamental mission would endure for generations to come. Ensuring that both parties in such a high-stakes transaction across international borders understand and respect the objectives and perspective of the other was critical to a successful outcome.” Trace Urdan, Managing Director
Higher Education Transaction Spotlight:
Elentra, a SaaS platform for health science colleges and universities, in its sale to Achieve Partners
Elentra is a comprehensive health sciences education platform to manage and deliver curriculum, assess and confirm competencies, and ensure and report on compliance. Originally built by Queen’s University to serve their School of Medicine, Elentra was spun out as a solution purpose-built by schools, for schools, and today serves many of the leading schools of medicine and health sciences worldwide.
Achieve Partners is a social impact focused fund investing in cutting-edge technologies and novel business models that bolster skill development and secure the future of work.
“Tyton was thrilled to support Queen’s University and the Elentra team on this exciting transaction. Achieve Partners’ social impact focus and deep experience in the digital transformation of education makes them the perfect partner for Elentra to continue to scale its purpose-built platform, and acquire other solutions, to best serve medical and allied health institutions globally. This is another example of Tyton supporting universities to commercialize and monetize their innovation.” Dan Clary, Managing Director
Corporate Training & Continuing Education Transaction Spotlight:
MedVR Education, a VR medical simulation training provider, in its sale to NBME
NBME, a leading medical assessment organization, acquired MedVR Education, an extended reality (XR) platform for healthcare skill development. The combination of MedVR Education’s leading technology for simulation-based learning and NBME’s history of support for medical education and expertise in psychometrics, test development, and research creates a compelling opportunity to offer next generation tools to facilitate learning and support skill development across the medical education, training, and practice continuum. By extending medical education assessment into learning and practice, medical learners are empowered with actionable insights that assess and guide their development.
“Partnering with NBME on the acquisition of a MedVR demonstrates the forward-thinking, long-term view of a leading non-profit in medical education and assessments. The entire NBME team supported the successful execution of this transformative opportunity to address the shifting needs of learners in seeking to improve their practice.” Max Woolf, Managing Director
Tyton Partners represented Talespin, a spatial computing platform for immersive learning content, in its sale to Cornerstone OnDemand.
Tailspin is a transformative corporate learning solution that leverages an extensive library of immersive AR and VR content, generative AI-powered authoring tools, and targeted assessment technology to develop essential human skills that help employees thrive.
Cornerstone OnDemand is a cloud-based talent management software company that provides solutions for recruiting, learning, performance management, and HR administration. Their learning and talent experience solutions successfully help clients deliver relevant content and accelerate talent and career mobility.
“We are thrilled to have advised Talespin on this transformative acquisition by Cornerstone OnDemand. This strategic move underscores the growing significance of immersive learning solutions in shaping the future of work in the age of AI. The integration of Talespin’s on-demand content authoring and spatial learning technology with Cornerstone’s industry-leading talent experience platform promises to deliver unparalleled value to organizations worldwide. This collaboration will address the huge growing need for soft skills training and we look forward to witnessing the continued innovation and impact it will bring to the market.” Brian Feeney, Director
We are pleased to announce that Tyton Partners Investment Banking division is poised for a strong 2024. Macroeconomic conditions are becoming more favorable for M&A, we have a compelling active roster of 30+ clients in-market and a high quality pipeline of market-leading opportunities. We continue to serve our clients across the PreK-12, Higher Education, and Corporate Training and Continuing Education markets, as well as the broader TMT ecosystem.
Through the end of 2023 and Q1 24, the latest trend developing for clients of Tyton Partners and the broader market is the emergence of independent sponsors and search funds in the education ecosystem in addition to traditional Private Equity, VC, and strategic investors. There are select education assets that may not be at the maturation cycle for institutional investment, however, they are at a large enough scale where smart talented professionals backed by the LP community can further refine these assets that might have been passed over in prior economic cycles. We have found homes for businesses that may not have fit the ideal mold for most institutional investors, but still had significant tangible value to be realized in the market. This trend reinforces our sector expertise and the duty we have to our clients to continue to be intimately aware of new entrants as buyers in the education investor ecosystem. We remain deeply committed to serving our capital markets clients no matter the stage of the Company’s lifecycle, with a unique suite of services that include M&A, capital market access, and strategy consulting services.
Tyton Partners is a sponsor at the 2024 ASU+GSV Summit next week and we have senior team members who are participating and/or moderating several sessions during the conference, the complete list can be found here. We welcome the opportunity to meet with you in person to discuss your goals and initiatives for the remainder of 2024 and beyond. Feel free to reach out to us here to schedule time with us in person or virtually. We look forward to continuing our existing dialogue or starting a new relationship!