DreamBox Learning, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company that sells education technology software to K-12 schools, announced Tuesday it was acquired by Discovery Education, a Charlotte, N.C.-based edtech company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Elliott Investment Management L.P., which acquired a majority stake in DreamBox in 2021, will retain a minority stake, as will existing backer TPG’s The Rise Fund.
Founded in 2006, DreamBox adapts to individual students based on their answers and how they solve problems. Teachers and administrators get access to analytics and reporting. The company supports 6 million students and 600,000 educators.
“Building upon our existing math and reading solutions, we can now leverage Discovery Education’s highly scalable global footprint to reach more students and deepen our partnerships with educators around the world,” Jessie Woolley-Wilson, President and CEO of DreamBox Learning, said in a statement.
Discovery Education also sells software for K-12 students. It serves more than 4.5 million educators and 45 million students. The company is owned by private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group. It acquired Pivot Interactives and DoodleLearning last year, and Mystery Science in 2020.
DreamBox had raised more than $150 million in venture capital funding before its deal in 2021 with Elliott.
The edtech market is expected to grow to $348 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13.6%, according to Grand View Research.
The education sector is dealing with teacher and staff shortages spurred by the pandemic and affecting public schools across the country. At the same time, there is growing interest in how AI can help transform education. Some startups are using the latest advances in generative AI technology to give students personalized instruction that can cater to different learning styles.
Edtech startups gained momentum in the early stages of the pandemic as students were forced to learn from home, but investor interest slowed considerably from 2021 to 2022, PitchBook data shows. DreamBox laid off an undisclosed number of employees in September of last year.
M&A activity has also slowed over the past few years amid economic uncertainty and the tech slowdown. Deal value in North America was down more than 28% through the first half of 2023, according to PitchBook.
Woolley-Wilson took the helm of DreamBox in 2010 after leadership roles with Blackboard’s K–12 Group; LeapFrog SchoolHouse; the College Board; and test-prep company Kaplan.
DreamBox employs more than 300 people, according to LinkedIn.
