Author: IBL News

IBL News | New York

Ellucian, provider of SIS and ERP for higher ed institutions, announced the acquisition of CampusLogic, a SaaS EdTech company specialized in student financial solutions, with 800 customers. The transaction amount was not disclosed.

Currently, 86% of higher education students receive financial aid.

“Integrating CampusLogic’s capabilities across Ellucian’s comprehensive SaaS offerings creates new opportunities for innovation beyond student financial success to address the issue of student well-being,” said Laura Ipsen, CEO, Ellucian.

“Our solutions improve the student financial aid experience, addressing the number one barrier to enrollment and graduation,” said Gregg Scoresby, Founder and CEO of CampusLogic.

Gregg Scoresby will join Ellucian “in a new role to lead the vision and strategy focused on student success and well-being,” according to the acquirer.

Reston, Virginia-based Ellucian claims it has 2,700 customers in over 50 countries.

Big news to start 2022! Ellucian has signed an agreement to acquire @CampusLogic, a leading edtech software provider. CampusLogic’s powerful financial aid solutions will expand our offerings to address the biggest barrier to graduation today. https://t.co/nCLAkQYjDj

— Ellucian Inc. (@EllucianInc) January 11, 2022

IBL News | New York

The London-based Times Higher Education (THE) acquired Inside Higher Ed for an undisclosed amount this month.

Inside Higher Ed promised that its journalism “will remain independent and will continue to provide thoughtful, substantive analysis on the pressing issues facing higher education.” It will continue operating under its existing brand. 

Washington DC-based Inside Higher Ed “explained that they collaborated with THE over the years and see this as a natural extension of our relationship.”

Founded in 2004, Inside Higher Ed claims to reach an annual audience of 25 million with its news stories and analysis, industry insights, job boards, and other tools and services.

With 50 years of history, THE has been owned by Inflexion Private Equity since February 2019. This media outlet provides, in addition to news stories, rankings, consultancy, and hiring services, to 800 clients. It is also known for its events, including THE World Summit Series, which engaged over 45,000 people globally in 2021.

IBL News | New York

EdTech companies that have figured out how to scale and achieve the highest Return on Education (RoE) amid Covid uncertainty continue to experience extraordinary growth and traction, says investor at GSV Ventures, Alexandra Argo, in an article at Medium. Investment firm GSV is now preparing its 2022 ASU+GSV Summit, scheduled for April 4-6.

In parallel, the company has released its 2022 GSV EdTech 150 list, with a selection of transformative companies in digital learning backed by venture capitalists. This selection comes after an evaluation of 3,000 companies across the three major sectors: higher ed, K-12, and life-long learning, including here workforce and adult consumer learning.

GSV developed a scoring system with several KPIs: revenue scale, revenue growth, active learner reach, international reach, and margin profile.

“We estimate that the 150 companies reach ~3 billion people, or close to half of the global population, and generate approximately $20 billion in revenue, growing in the high double digits,” wrote Alexandra Argo.

The list included publicly listed digital learning companies Coursera, 2U, Grand Canyon Education, Kahoot, Docebo, Upwork, Afya, Arco.

A third of the companies, like BYJU’s and Course Hero, are experiencing strong Network Effects.

In two years, global VC investment in EdTech jumped 72% year-over-year to $21 billion in 2021, up from $7B in funding in 2019.

IBL News | New York

As the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads, colleges and universities now face the challenge of whether requiring booster shots and when to resume face-to-face learning. For college officials and millions of college students, these problems seem familiar. The pressing question is when to start the new semester, either the next few days or weeks.

Some institutions have already decided to start the first weeks of the semester virtually reinstating tough precaution measures.

The list includes Harvard University, Stanford University, Georgetown University, several of the University of California’s campuses, Michigan State University, Jackson State University in Mississippi, the University of Cincinnati, the Queen’s University of Charlotte, and the University of Hawaii’s campuses.

Regarding vaccination, most universities encouraged their students proof of inoculation.

Eight institutions in the University of California system that are operating remotely — Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Cruz — extended virtual classes to late January. Stanford University, Duke University, and Seattle University have announced delaying a return to in-person classrooms, as well.

In a message to the campus community, the President of Seattle University, Eduardo M. Peñalver, explained that remote learning would be extended through January 30.

He summarized the dominant thinking in higher education:

“Current projections suggest that the Omicron-driven wave will continue to grow rapidly before cresting over the next few weeks. While early research continues to indicate that the variant is less severe and results in milder illness compared to earlier variants, especially among vaccinated people, there is still a great deal of uncertainty.”

That uncertainty is affecting admission offices and visitor centers, too. Virtual tours seem to be the new norm for now.

IBL News | New York

Angel Studios, the streaming platform behind the Christian series “The Chosen”, announced last week it had raised $47 million in funding from venture capitalists. The financing was led by VC firm Gigafund and Bain-backed Uncorrelated Venture.

Angel Studios, the streaming platform behind the Christian series “The Chosen”, announced this week it had raised $47 million in funding from venture capitalists. The financing was led by VC firm Gigafund and Bain-backed Uncorrelated Venture. Original seed investors Alta Ventures and Kickstart Fund also participated.

In addition to VC money, $5 million was crowdsourced directly from fans.

Angel Studios presented the financing injection as an effort “to bring control of the entertainment industry back to consumers and creators” and “give Hollywood a remake.”

“The round caps off a major comeback year for cofounders Neal and Jeffrey Harmon, who led Angel Studios to over $100 million in annual revenue just one year after Disney and Warner Bros tried to shut the studio down in court,” said the company.

Gigafund, known for being one of the largest investors in SpaceX, said through its Managing Partner, Stephen Oskoui, “Angel is on track to rewrite the rules of the media business and have a significant impact on culture.”

Today’s movie business is a $280-billion industry almost totally controlled by five major Hollywood studios. According to Angel Studios, Hollywood executives decide what content to produce, with little to no input from consumers. Almost 80% of the films fail to break.

“We are a community-driven movie studio that empowers audiences to decide what content gets produced and distributed while creating communities around each project. Creators pitch projects on the Angel platform, and “Angel investors” fund the ones they’re most excited to see (via the Angel Funding Portal).”

Under this model, three successful shows have been produced, including: