Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has bought Renaissance Learning for $1.1 billion in cash, TechCrunch reported.
The acquisition comes just less than a month after the learning analytics service secured $40 million in a funding round led by Google Capital which valued the company at $1 billion. As a result of the all-cash acquisition, Google Capital now holds a minority stake in Renaissance Learning, the report said.
Hellman & Friedman Managing Director Tarim Wasim said in a statement about the acquisition, "Renaissance Learning is an outstanding company that has been helping educators accelerate student learning for decades. We believe strongly in the mission and are excited to help grow Renaissance's impact globally through continued investment in products that make a difference in the classroom."
Judith and Terrance Paul founded Renaissance Learning in 1985 and they continued to be the firm's majority owners for a long time. Although the company went public in 1996, it continued to be closely-held. UK-based private equity firm Permira took it private in 2011 in a $455 million deal. Permira was the controlling owner of the learning analytics firm before this acquisition, the report said.
Renaissance Chief Executive Officer Jack Lynch told TechCrunch that the private equity firm first expressed interest in acquiring the company late in 2013. Talks about the deal started becoming serious in the past few months. Google Capital already knew that Renaissance could be acquired when they invested in the company a few weeks ago. They are expected to still be a backer of the firm but details about that still needs to be threshed out, the report said.
An estimated 30% of schools in the US use Renaissance, which provides teachers tools that will enable them to monitor the performance of their students. In the 1980s, the data-driven firm's first product was one that taught reading skills to students. That application is still available today but the company has also grown its products by including other subjects, the report said.
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