PowerSchool received the Pandemic Pivot Award in this year's Sacramento Region Innovation Awards.
Education software developer PowerSchool Holdings Inc. racked up 12 acquisitions of other companies in the past five years. One of those deals turned out to be a big growth driver after the pandemic hit.
In 2019, Folsom-based PowerSchool (NYSE: PWSC) acquired Schoology, a New York-based student learning technology company. Schoology had developed cloud-based personalized teaching aids and learning technology. As part of the acquisition, PowerSchool added Schoology technology to PowerSchool’s Unified Classroom suite of products and added to its research and development budget.
The online classroom was an interesting — but not widely used — technology at the time of the sale, announced in October 2019.
But six months later, schools across the country were scrambling to install that kind of technology, as the pandemic disrupted in-person education.
The rush by schools to offer online learning and connectivity between teachers and students accelerated the adoption of PowerSchool’s remote learning platform. The Schoology remote learning platform had 2 million users early in 2020, and now it has more than 20 million.
PowerSchool launched in 1997, offering online tracking of grades and attendance. Through acquisitions and its own developments, it now offers a suite of 15 applications for cloud-based software for K-12 education. PowerSchool’s solutions are used in the classroom, at home by parents and students, and at school and district front and back offices.
Through some of its products, PowerSchool reaches 45 million students, representing 70% of all K-12 students in the country. Customers use an average of two of PowerSchool’s 15 products, which is an opportunity for cross-selling additional services to existing customers.
PowerSchool’s initial public offering in July raised $766.1 million, net of underwriting costs and commissions, and was the largest IPO by a Sacramento-area company in recent memory.
PowerSchool has made four acquisitions in the last two years, and CEO Hardeep Gulati anticipates more acquisitions in the future as the company now has stock as a potential currency in transactions. PowerSchool was featured this year on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in America, with three-year growth to 2020 of 84%.
The Essentials
PowerSchool Holdings Inc.
What it does: Develops cloud-based education software
Headquarters: Folsom
CEO: Hardeep Gulati
Employees: 3,000
Revenue: $434.9 million in 2020
