A-Street Ventures, an investment fund focused on seeding and scaling innovative student learning and achievement solutions for students, families, and schools, announced it will be making a strategic investment in Teaching Strategies, the leading provider of curriculum, assessment, professional development and family engagement tools to the early childhood education (“ECE”) market, marking the debut investment for A-Street. The minority investment is being made alongside KKR’s agreement to acquire Teaching Strategies from Summit Partners, which was announced in July. Financial details of the investment and transaction were not disclosed.
A-Street Ventures, which launched in June, plans to invest in a mix of early-, growth- and late-stage ventures, with a focus on improving student outcomes and closing equity gaps through digital instructional materials, curriculum and new paradigms for student assessment.
“The A-Street team knows education. They will bring not just capital and a strong mission alignment, but a deep understanding of the field to bear on the next chapter of our story,” said John Olsen, CEO of Teaching Strategies. “We know that their collaboration will not only help to sustain and drive our growth and impact, but it will also benefit the children, educators, and families we serve.”
Teaching Strategies connects educators, children and families to inspired teaching and learning experiences through its early learning platform. Teaching Strategies’ research-based resources are found in over 270,000 classrooms and have served more than 15 million children across the globe during the critical, formative years from birth through third grade. Teaching Strategies employs a whole-child teaching philosophy designed to support and nurture all areas of children’s development and learning, from social-emotional and cognitive skills to literacy, math and science.
“Founded by an early childhood educator, Teaching Strategies has for more than 40 years developed resources that support the critical work of early childhood educators, parents and families in ways that are deeply aligned with our focus on education as a powerful engine of social mobility,” said Marc Sternberg, Founder and Managing Director of A-Street Ventures. “Teaching Strategies’ research-based digital solutions are empowering and inspiring early childhood educators and helping children in their formative years receive a higher-quality learning experience. We look forward to supporting the company as it continues on this critical mission and unlocks new and innovative ways to teach our youngest learners.”
“We are proud to be working together with A-Street Ventures, a pioneering supporter of innovation in education, whose guiding principles align perfectly with those of Teaching Strategies: to empower our teachers and their students through the best possible content and services,” said Richard Sarnoff and Webster Chua, Partners at KKR.
Source: PR Newswire
