Education Advanced Secures Significant Growth Investment from Serent Capital
TYLER, TX – April 29, 2021 – Education Advanced, Inc. ("EAI"), a provider of operations management and workflow solutions for K-12 school districts, today announced it has received a significant investment from Serent Capital, a growth-focused firm that invests in technology and tech-enabled services companies. This investment will accelerate the company’s growth plans, including product investments and entry into new geographic markets.
The company’s platform empowers K-12 education leaders with intelligent scheduling and planning tools to help them solve their most significant resource management pain points by delivering meaningful time and costs savings. The company’s platform serves more than 4 million students across 450 school districts in 28 states nationally.
EAI’s suite of products includes TestHound, a test management and enablement tool that can reduce test coordination time by up to 50%. Cardonex is the company’s automated master class scheduling and staffing tool that enables districts to accommodate up to 90% of student’s course requests requirements, reducing staff’s master scheduling time by up to 75%, and ultimately driving better student outcomes. BuildYourOwnCurriculum (BYOC), a curriculum management tool, helps districts maintain state and national compliance for subject-level curriculum standards.
Education Advanced Founder and CEO Dr. Eli Crow said, "Our team of educators, technologists, and business experts has maintained a relentless focus on our goal to empower educators and transform schools. Partnering with Serent Capital enhances our access to the resources and expertise needed to create and deliver world-class products and services to school districts around the country."
EAI has continued its strong growth momentum over the past year, augmenting its senior leadership team, acquiring Wisconsin-based School Software Group, and earning placement on fastest-growing companies lists published by Inc. Magazine and The Financial Times.
"We have been highly impressed by Eli and the team at Education Advanced since our initial meeting," said Lance Fenton, Partner at Serent Capital. "The EAI team has built an impressive software company that delivers tremendous value to K-12 administrators as evidenced by some of the highest customer satisfaction ratings we’ve seen. We are thrilled to partner with Eli and the whole EAI team as they invest further behind their market-leading products, scale their customer acquisition engine to reach even more districts, and expand their portfolio of offerings through strategic acquisitions."
Education Advanced represents Serent’s seventh platform investment in the education sector. Serent’s prior investments include ArbiterSports, KEV Group, and USATestprep.
LoneTree Capital joined Serent in its investment in EAI and will support the company’s growth plans across organic and acquisition strategies.
Leonis Partners advised EAI on the investment. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal counsel to Serent Capital.
About Education Advanced, Inc.
Education Advanced is a provider of operations management and workflow solutions for K-12 school districts that enable educators to be more efficient, allowing them to dedicate more of their time and resources to exceeding student needs. EAI’s product offering includes Cardonex, TestHound, and BuildYourOwnCurriculum (BYOC). These award-winning and patented technology solutions advance the efficacy of master scheduling, staff planning, curriculum development and delivery, and assessment coordination for K-12 school districts across the country. Learn more at www.educationadvanced.com.
About Serent Capital
Serent Capital invests in growing businesses with compelling solutions that exceed customer needs. As businesses grow and evolve, the opportunities and challenges they face change with them. The principals at Serent Capital have firsthand experience navigating growth through their experiences as CEOs, strategic advisors, and board members to successful businesses. Serent leverages their expertise and capital to help growing businesses thrive. For more information on Serent Capital, visit www.serentcapital.com.
About LoneTree Capital
LoneTree is a growth-focused private capital firm that provides flexible capital, M&A, and operational support to leading companies in high-growth sectors. LoneTree invests $5 million to $30 million per transaction into select sectors including software, digital infrastructure, healthcare IT / services, business and consumer services, and financial technology / specialty finance. For more information, please visit www.lonetreecap.com.