Silicon Valley behemoth Google recently showed a new interest in online education through investment in Renaissance Learning, which provides cloud-based educational software and other reading and assessment tools. Google Capital, the company’s new investment arm, provided $40 million in capital for the expansion of Renaissance products.
Google began its foray into investing in 2009 with Google Ventures, which focuses on early-stage startups in Silicon Valley and beyond. Google Capital, on the other hand, will focus primarily on late-stage companies. David Lawee, the manager of Google Capital, stated that education would remain a primary focus for the division.
Based in Wisconsin, Renaissance has created learning software for decades and was publicly traded until 2011, at which time a British private equity firm purchased it. Today, the company provides cloud-based educational software and additionally offers solutions for communication between students and teachers both on the web and through mobile devices.
Lawee and his team targeted Renaissance because of its potential for having a real and immediate impact on the quality of education in the United States and around the world.
