Education technologies have always been a challenging vertical market for funding. It’s not because the problem space is small, quite the opposite. EdTech companies try to bring innovation to students and teachers from K-12 to college and college alternatives. There’s never been much investment cash sloshing around that market because of the lack of upmarket buyers.
Blackboard has made 21 acquisitions between 2009-2016, according to Crunchbase. They went private in 2011 with a deal with Providence Equity Partners. Maybe this is the year they will be back shopping for startup innovations.
One result we will see for years is the impact of dropout rates expected to spike from the pandemic at a high school level. Axios outlines the economic cost.