Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
Strategic acquirers, private equity (buyout funds and growth funds) firms, and valuation benchmarks for Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms
1.1 - About Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
Companies in this category build cloud platforms that power digital instruction, student engagement, and the student lifecycle for universities and colleges. Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms centralize course delivery, tutoring, advising, and program operations, enabling institutions to scale online and blended learning, improve persistence, and manage data across departments while integrating with student information, financial aid, and communications systems—spanning LMS, OPM, and SIS providers that M&A analysts track for strategic buyers.
Vendors typically offer enterprise LMS and virtual classroom environments where instructors author content, automate workflows, and manage assessments. They support online program management and course marketplaces to launch certificates and degrees at scale. Student success platforms apply predictive analytics to flag risk, guide advising, and map degree pathways. Active learning and AI assistants personalize practice and feedback. Enrollment marketing and CRM capabilities drive demand, while integrations with SIS, financial aid, and loan servicing streamline compliance and reporting.
Primary customers include public and private universities, community colleges, and online program divisions. Outcomes commonly include higher student retention and completion rates, faster enrollment growth and revenue diversification, improved data-driven advising and academic planning, and scalable delivery of online and hybrid programs. Institutions also gain better operational visibility, regulatory reporting, and learner engagement, reducing support costs while enhancing instructional quality across departments and campuses.
2. Buyers in the Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
2.1 Top strategic acquirers of Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms companies
Instructure
- Description: Provider of educational technology services helping schools plan, implement and optimize Canvas and other Instructure products through strategic consulting, instructional design, custom development, migration, technical consulting, certification courses, training workshops and 24/7 help-desk support.
- Key Products:
- Canvas LMS: Learning management system with extensive APIs offering GraphQL queries, pagination, throttling, file uploads
- OAuth2 authentication and hundreds of endpoints for courses, assignments, quizzes, users and analytics
- Elevate Standards Alignment (AB Connect): Standards alignment API supporting authentication
- ODATA-style filtering, sorting, facets, paging, related-object handling and embeddable widgets for aligning educational content to academic benchmarks
- Data Access Platform: Centralized platform delivering Query API, command-line CLI and client library to securely access Canvas datasets, perform snapshot or incremental syncs, manage schemas and respect defined rate limits and policies
- DataSync: Integration suite providing Interop API
- Grades Exchange API
- OneRoster API and Platform API to synchronize rosters, grades and other educational data between Instructure products and external systems.
- Rationale: Provider of Canvas LMS learning management system, Data Access Platform secure analytics hub, and DataSync interoperability APIs for SIS/OneRoster integrations.
- Company type: Private company
- Employees: ●●●●●
- Total funding raised: $●●●m
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2.2 - Strategic buyer groups for Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
M&A buyer group 1: Education IT
Raptor Technologies
- Type: N/A
- Employees: ●●●●●
- Description: Provider of integrated SaaS-based school safety software that lets K-12 schools manage visitor entry, event security, attendance, dismissal, emergency response and student safeguarding through connected desktop and mobile applications, supporting prevention, preparation, response and recovery across the full safety spectrum.
- Key Products:
- Digital Experience Development: Designs and builds user-centric digital interfaces and platforms that enhance customer engagement and deliver memorable online experiences across devices and channels
- Enterprise Modernization: Re-architects legacy systems with modern technologies to improve scalability, performance and integration, enabling businesses to stay agile and competitive
- Data & AI Application Development: Creates data-driven applications leveraging artificial intelligence and analytics to generate actionable insights, automate processes and support smarter decision-making
- Managed IT Services: Provides end-to-end monitoring, maintenance and troubleshooting of IT infrastructure, ensuring high availability, security and continual system optimization.
Buyer group 2: ████████ ████████
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●● companies3. Investors and private equity firms in Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
3.1 - Buyout funds in the Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
2.2 - Strategic buyer groups for Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
4 - Top valuation comps for Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms companies
4.2 - Public trading comparable groups for Higher Education Learning and Student Success Platforms sector
Valuation benchmark group 1: Online Learning and LMS Providers
Youdao
- Enterprise value: $●●●m
- Market Cap: $●●●m
- EV/Revenue: ●.●x
- EV/EBITDA: ●●.●x
- Description: Provider of online services in the fields of content, community, communication, and commerce focusing on e-learning and educational technologies, offering products such as digital dictionaries, intelligent learning tools, and smart devices.
- Key Products:
- Digital Dictionaries and Translation Tools: Provides online dictionaries and translation tools for various languages
- Learning Services: Includes tutoring, premium courses, and other fee-based educational services
- Youdao Smart Learning Hardware: Offers smart devices such as the Youdao Dictionary Pen and Smart Learning Pad
- Adult and Vocational Courses: Provides adult education and vocational training through NetEase Cloud Classroom
- Education Digitalization Solutions: Licenses technologies and solutions to schools or enterprise customers, including the Youdao Smart Learning Terminal and Youdao Smart Cloud.