achieve3000 acquisition insight venture partners

Actively Learn also offers tools that allow teachers to upload their own content for use in the platform.įinancial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Where Achieve3000’s library skews toward nonfiction and informational materials (such as news articles), Actively Learn focuses heavily on fictional texts, including literary classics. The deal pairs two companies in pursuit of a common goal through different, but complementary assets, says its chief executives. As the company’s name implies, its tools aimed at help teachers to get students deeply engaged in the materials and build critical-thinking skills through discussion and open responses. Embedded within each text are notes, videos, practice questions and other multimedia learning materials. At a practical level, he adds, “we wanted access to a larger sales team for distribution.”Īctively Learn’s library includes 30,000 digital texts on subjects covering topics across English language arts, science and social studies subjects. “Through this deal, we’ll make a bigger impact,” says Goyal. According to Evidence for ESSA, a group headed by Johns Hopkins researchers, Achieve3000 has shown “ significant positive effects” in a study of sixth- and ninth-grade students using the product. What made Achieve3000’s offer attractive was a common interest in driving measurable student growth in literacy skills, says Jay Goyal, co-founder and CEO of Actively Learn.

“Almost immediately,we started looking at inorganic growth opportunities, and put out offers and outreach to bankers,” Udell tells EdSurge. Dodelson stepped down as CEO in April 2018 and was succeeded by Udell who took over the job in May. In 2015, the company was acquired by private equity firm Insight Venture Partners.

(Stuart adds Achieve3000 is “nicely profitable.”)įor its first 18 years, Achieve3000 was led by its founder, Saki Dodelson. Equally important: The company is cashflow positive, currently generating an estimated $100 million in revenue each year. The company claims its products are used by more than 3 million users across 9,000 schools around the world. The company offers reading materials that are rewritten at 12 different levels in English (and eight levels in Spanish), so that students can all engage in the same content regardless of their reading skills. Now, just a few months into his current role as CEO at Achieve3000, Udell is already adding another company to the list.Īchieve3000, a provider of online reading and literacy tools, announced it has acquired Seattle-based Actively Learn, which also provides a suite of online reading materials and instructional supports aimed at helping students build literacy and critical-thinking skills.įounded in 2000, Achieve3000 offers online literacy tools for a range of students, from English language learners in schools to working adults. Stuart Udell has overseen nearly two dozen mergers and acquisitions across his career in the education industry, which spans stints at Penn Foster, Catapult Learning and K12 Inc.

Achieve3000 acquisition insight venture partners