On DreamBox in particular, they saw a "decade-long opportunity," Heim said. The firm's funds also have a flexible mandate compared to other private-equity investors, which allows Evergreen to focus on "businesses where we see an enormous amount of opportunity." Heim believes Evergreen's advantage as an investor lies with the fact they have technology and education domain expertise (Heim joined Evergreen in 2020 after investing in technology at Warburg Pincus and other private-equity firms) and serious capital backing them (Elliott runs more than $40 billion in total assets). Industry publication EdSurge noted that 2020 was a record year for education technology startups, with more than $2 billion raised from investors like Dragoneer and Andreessen Horowitz. There's a huge transformation occurring in the education space right now, said Christian Heim, managing director at Evergreen, and "it can really only be delivered through technology."Įvergreen is one of many that have jumped into the space. As children across the country were out of school for close to an entire school year, parents and teachers have accepted that technology is a necessary tool to help students catch up on what they missed. The pandemic forced education - like many industries - to rapidly adopt technologies that might have taken years to integrate.
DREAMBOX 500S WHAT IS IT SOFTWARE
The firm's Menlo Park, California-based Evergreen Coast Capital recently bought a majority stake in software company DreamBox Learning for an undisclosed sum that a source close to the firm called "market-clearing." Earlier this year, the firm bought a higher-education company in a not-yet-announced deal.
Evergreen Coast Capital, Elliott Management's PE arm, bought DreamBox Learning in early November.Billionaire Elliott Management founder Paul Singer now owns DreamBox Learning through his private-equity arm.