It’s been a rollercoaster couple of weeks for large, private companies in the edtech market.
On the positive side, Bain Capital announced a deal to take LMS provider PowerSchool private at a 37% premium to the company’s May 7 stock price (when deal rumors started circulating). This deal shows optimism among edtech investors even as ESSER funding winds down in the U.S. [TechCrunch; Reuters]
On the other hand, two notable investors, HSBC and Blackstone, have marked down their stakes in Byju’s to $0. This continues a run of bad news for the former most valuable edtech company in the world as it continues to struggle after a board dispute last year caused the resignation of three board members and the company’s financial auditor. [TechCrunch]
Why it matters: It is not yet clear which way the financial winds will blow heading into the second half of 2024. While Byju’s is an exceptional case, the broader funding narrative, as compiled by Crunchbase, is also down year-over-year (and way down from 2021/2022 highs).
