Jessie Woolley-Wilson, former CEO of Bellevue-based education technology company DreamBox Learning, has joined venture capital firm Owl Ventures as an operating partner.
San Francisco-based Owl Ventures, which focuses on the education technology space, announced the hire Thursday. Woolley-Wilson left DreamBox in October, the same month DreamBox closed its acquisition by competitor Discovery Education.
"Jessie is one of the great education entrepreneurs and leaders of our generation," Tory Patterson, co-founder and managing director at Owl Ventures, said in a news release. "She is a hero of mine, and I am deeply honored to now call her a partner at Owl Ventures."
Owl Ventures invested in DreamBox in 2015.
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Woolley-Wilson took over the president and CEO role at DreamBox in 2010. Earlier in her career, she was the president of Blackboard's K-12 group and LeapFrog SchoolHouse. According to Owl Ventures, she has worked in education technology for more than 20 years.
Owl Ventures said in the release Woolley-Wilson will find new investments for the firm and guide its portfolio companies.
DreamBox, founded in 2006, offers digital math curricula for K-8 and digital reading programs for K-12. The programs are meant to adapt to individual students. The company secured a $130 million investment from TPG's The Rise Fund in 2018, then DreamBox sold a majority stake in the company to Evergreen Coast Capital Corp., an affiliate of the private equity firm Elliott Investment Management, in 2021. DreamBox laid off an undisclosed number of employees in 2022.
DreamBox and Discovery, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, didn't disclose the financial terms of DreamBox's acquisition. DreamBox now goes by "DreamBox Learning by Discovery Education" on its website.
Private equity firm Clearlake Capital Group backs Discovery Education, which offers curricula in science, social studies, math and reading. Discovery says on its website it serves 4.5 million educators and 45 million students.
Owl Ventures was founded in 2014, according to its LinkedIn page. The firm manages more than $2 billion in assets. Its portfolio companies include the online courses platform MasterClass and the studying tool Quizlet, where Woolley-Wilson is a board member.
"I look forward to beginning this new and exciting chapter as operating partner to help identify, fund and scale the next generation of innovative companies," Woolley-Wilson said in a release.
