In this week’s dealmaking news, Schoold, a provider of a college- and career-planning app, received additional funding, while private equity firm Quad-C acquired an early education services provider.
Additionally, two coding education companies raised money.
Schoold Receives Additional Funding: Schoold, a college- and career-planning startup based in San Francisco, has raised additional investment capital from new investors include Learn Capital, Social Capital, University Ventures, and Professor Joe Grundfest of Stanford Law School.
The total amount raised will be used to extend and introduce new core functionality to the Schoold app in advance of the fall college application season, the company said in a statement.
One investor, FastForward, disclosed in a report on UK-based Interactive Investor that Vested Finance Inc. (traded under the brand name Schoold) “has successfully raised additional funding of $1.55 million in a series seed-2 preferred stock financing, with significant participation from major Silicon Valley venture capital funds and other investors.”
Earlier this year, the company closed a seed round of approximately $4.5 million with investments from FastForward, serial entrepreneur and investor Lorne Abony, and several others.
Quad-C Management Acquires Rainbow Early Education: Private Equity Firm Quad-C Management has acquired Rainbow Early Education, a provider of early education services, for an undisclosed sum. Rainbow management maintains significant ownership in the business, according to a statement from Quad-C.
Quad-C acquired Rainbow from Spire Capital Partners; in a separate press statement, Spire noted that it had initially partnered with Patrick Fenton, Rainbow’s founder and CEO, in 2010 “to invest in a platform providing a differentiated early education experience for children.”
Codecademy Raises $30 Million: The New York City-based online coding school has raised $30 million in a Series C round led by Naspers, an Internet and entertainment group based in Cape Town, South Africa, according to press reports, which noted that others investors in the round include previous investors Union Square Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Index Ventures and Sir Richard Branson.
Naspers most recently invested $60 million in Udemy, a San Francisco-based provider of online courses.
Code Institute Raises $556,000: Dublin, Ireland-based coding education company Code Institute has secured $556,000 (€500,000) in syndicated investment from Kernel Capital and Enterprise Ireland, according to an announcement posted on the company’s website.
“This investment enables Code Institute to expand their reach in existing European markets as well as creating a suite of future courses and developing our current syllabus,” the company said.
Brazilian Private Education Companies to Merge: Brazil-based private education companies, Kroton Educacional SA and Estácio Participações, have agreed to merge, according to The Wall Street Journal. The merger will result in Kroton’s ownership of all the shares issued by Estácio, according to a statement from Kroton.
Kroton describes itself as “one of the largest private educational organizations in Brazil and worldwide,” operating in the primary, secondary education and post-secondary education segments.
Estácio Participações is one of Brazil’s largest private-sector postsecondary groups, based on the number of students it has enrolled, the company says.
Be sure to check back on Marketplace K-12 for updates on mergers, acquisitions, fundraising, and other dealmaking. Also see EdWeek Market Brief, a service that gives companies operating in the market insights on the needs and priorities of school officials.
