K-12 Dealmaking: Showbie Acquires Socrative; Swing, Goodwall Raise Funds
In this week’s dealmaking news, Canada-based classroom workflow app Showbie acquired formative assessment tools provider Socrative. Also, Swing Education, an online job market for substitute teachers, and Goodwall, a professional development network for students, raised funds.
Showbie Acquires Socrative: Showbie, a Canada-based classroom workflow app, has acquired Socrative from MasteryConnect, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based education software company.
“Together, Showbie and Socrative create an amazing suite of assessment and feedback tools for educators, that deliver a wide range of solutions to common classroom activities,” Showbie said in a statement.
While Showbie plans to seek opportunities to make the products work better together in the future, the brands will continue to operate as separate apps, Showbie noted in the statement.
Showbie’s mission is to build tools to help teachers and students everywhere become more productive and creative in the paperless classroom, according to the Edmonton, Alberta-based company.
“We are excited to integrate Socrative into the Showbie family and continue to innovate to deliver tools that will enhance the learning journey for educators around the world,” said Colin Bramm, CEO and Cofounder of Showbie.
Swing Education Raises $15 Million: Swing Education, a marketplace for substitute teachers, has raised $15 million in a Series B funding round co-led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Owl Ventures, according to a statement.
Existing investors Social Capital, Kapor Capital, Moment Ventures, Ulu Ventures, Redhouse Education, and Edovate Capital also participated in the round.
Founded in 2015, Swing Education aims to help schools connect with qualified educators via an online marketplace.
Swing Education said it has growing communities of substitute teachers in California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia. Their pool consists of both veteran educators and those who are entering into the education community through Swing. Once registered with Swing, substitutes can access daily requests from hundreds of schools.
The company said it “intends to use the funds to raise the prominence of substitute teaching, offer resources to promote excellence in substitute instruction, and expand into new regions.”
Goodwall Raises $10.8 Million: Goodwall, a professional development network for young talent, has raised $10.8 million in a Series A funding round led by Randstad Innovation Fund and Manixer, strategic partners from the recruitment and higher education space. Additional investors include Francis Clivaz, Zurich Cantonal Bank and Verve Capital Partners.
Goodwall noted it has seen “impressive traction with its core demographic of 14-24 year-olds,” according to a statement. As a result of the funding, Goodwall will continue to guide the next generation as it navigates the future of earning and learning.
For all members, Goodwall’s experience begins with a professional profile that visually demonstrates experience and education, specifically highlighting hard and soft skills, the company explained. Based on their profiles and preferences, college students and graduates are connected with employers for jobs and internships, while high school students are connected to colleges and scholarships.
“We’re excited to support the Goodwall team in building a new segment with college and graduate demographics after their success in creating a unique and positive community to gain support, receive guidance and opportunities,” said Paul Jacquin, managing partner from Randstad Innovation Fund. “The level of engagement on Goodwall has been impressive and unique in its community aspect. We are thrilled to bring the platform to its next chapter of growth.”
Escape Technology Partners With Digital Schools: Escape Technology, an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software for K-12 schools, has formed a partnership with Digital Schools, an integrated HR, position control, finance, net payroll and budgeting software serving the K-12 market, according to a statement.
“We believe the immense value in collaborating through partnerships is the best way to strategically address the ongoing needs of our combined customer base,” said Ali Jenab, CEO of Escape. “By joining forces, we’ve taken a great step forward toward expanding our collective impact and developing the best in school business software.” Both companies will continue to operate independently and retain their company names, branding and products.
With the partnership, Escape further expands their integrated suite of Finance, Payroll, HR modules that manage critical budgeting and payroll processes, the company noted.
“Aligned in service and philosophy, the two companies serve the same purpose: providing the most superior back-office software solution, offering the best customer support in the industry and an increasing leadership position in the education technology market,” according to the statement.
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