American Public Education Valuation Multiples

Constellation Software is an acquirer, manager, and developer of vertical market software, or VMS, businesses globally. VMS differentiates from horizontal software in that it provides mission critical solutions within a specific industry for customers in a particular market. Constellation operates through a decentralized model in which each business operates as its own independent entity. Managers of individual businesses are incentivized to optimize their business for returns on invested capital and revenue growth. Excess cash generated by the individual businesses is repatriated to portfolio managers who focus on allocating as much capital as possible on new acquisitions. As of 2025, Constellation consisted of over 1,000 individual businesses and 64,000 employees.

Tyler Technologies provides a full suite of software solutions and services that address the needs of cities, counties, schools, courts and other local government entities. The company’s three core products are Munis, which is the core ERP system, Odyssey, which is the court management system, or CMS, and payments. The company also provides a variety of add-on modules and offers outsourced property tax assessment services.

UK-listed Pearson is a testing and educational provider. Pearson's primary operations are in assessment and qualification testing and higher education, but they also provide English education and testing, virtual learning, prehiring testing and screening, and upskilling/reskilling. The company divested noncore businesses, including the Financial Times, The Economist, and publishing house Penguin, and is now focused on being an educational resource and testing provider.

TAL Education Group is a smart learning solutions provider in China. It operates a few business lines including enrichment learning, high school academic tutoring, learning technology, and content solutions. Among those business lines, TAL focuses on enrichment learning and content solutions.

Topicus com Inc is engaged in the development, installation, and customization of vertical market software and the provision of related professional services and support for customers across several diverse markets, mainly in Europe. Its revenue consists mainly of software license fees, maintenance and other recurring fees, professional service fees, and hardware sales. Geographically, the company generates maximum revenue from its business in the Netherlands, and the rest from other markets.

Duolingo Inc is a technology company that develops a mobile learning platform to learn languages and is the top-grossing app in the Education category on both Google Play and the Apple App Store. Its products are powered by sophisticated data analytics and artificial intelligence and delivered with class art, animation, and design to make it easier for learners to stay motivated master new material, and achieve their learning goals. Its solutions include the Duolingo Language Learning App, Super Duolingo, Duolingo English Test: AI-Driven Language Assessment, Duolingo For Schools, Duolingo ABC, and Duolingo Math. It has four predominant sources of revenue; time-based subscriptions, in-app advertising placement by third parties, and the Duolingo English Test, and In-App Purchases.

Graham Holdings Company is a diversified holding company with operations spanning educational services, television broadcasting, healthcare, manufacturing, automotive dealerships, and other businesses. The Company's education activities are conducted through Kaplan, whose services include academic preparation programs for international students, English-language programs, exam preparation, and career and academic advisement. These services are provided to students, schools, and colleges, both domestically and outside the United States. It operates through seven reportable segments: Kaplan International, Kaplan Higher Education, Kaplan Supplemental Education, Television Broadcasting, CSI, Manufacturing and Automotive, with key revenue coming from the Education and Automotive segments.

Stride Inc is an American online educational company. It offers alternative programs to traditional on-campus schooling. It also operates state-funded virtual charter schools around the United States. The educational programs for K-12 students are usually monitored by parents and provide virtual classroom environments where teachers meet with students online, by phone, or in-person. The company's contractual agreements with various school districts to offer its curriculum programs provide a majority of the company's revenue. The company lines of business are Managed Public School Programs, Institutional and Private Pay Schools and Other.

East Buy Holding Ltd is a live-streaming platform that focuses on selecting premium products for customers. The company operates in three reportable segments: Private Label Products and Livestreaming E-Commerce, College Education, and Institutional Customers. The majority of its revenue comes from private label products and the direct e-commerce segment, i.e., direct online commerce with private label products sold to individual customers and providing commission services.

Exponent Inc is a science and engineering consulting firm that provides solutions to complex problems. The company's consultant team is composed of scientists, physicians, engineers, as well as business and regulatory consultants. The company currently operates through two segments. The engineering and other scientific segments, which account for the majority of revenue, provide servicing encompassing biomechanics, biomedical engineering, buildings and structures, civil engineering, construction consulting, etc. The environmental and health segment covers chemical regulation and food safety, ecological and biological sciences, environmental and earth sciences and others. The company generates almost all of its revenues from America.

McGraw Hill Inc is a provider of information solutions for education across K-12 to higher education and through professional learning. The business is comprised of four reportable segments: K-12 provides end-to-end core, supplemental and intervention curricula to support the needs of U.S. K-12 schools; Higher Education provides students, instructors and institutions with adaptive digital learning solutions and content, and instructional materials; Global Professional provides students, institutions and professionals with comprehensive medical and engineering learning solutions; and International provides comprehensive digital and print solutions in more than 100 countries and more than 80 languages outside of the United States.

John Wiley & Sons Inc is a publisher and a trusted leader in research and learning. The company segment includes: Research, which includes the reporting lines of Research Publishing and Research Solutions, and Learning includes the Academic and Professional reporting lines and consists of publishing, courseware, and assessments. Its industry-principal content, services, platforms, and knowledge networks are tailored to meet the evolving needs of its customers and partners, including researchers, students, instructors, professionals, institutions, and corporations. The company empowers knowledge-seekers to transform today’s obstacles into tomorrow’s brightest opportunities. For more than two centuries, the company has been delivering on its timeless mission to unlock human potential.

Alef Education Holding Plc is an EdTech company that designs impactful learning experiences for students customized to different curriculums. The company operates in three segments: The Education solution segment, which provides customers the right of access to the Group’s learning platform. The Support and services segment includes ancillary services such as IT infrastructure setup and maintenance support and services, and the Financial investments segment pertains to the maintenance of the investment portfolio for returns based on market dynamics. The majority of its revenue is generated from the Education solution segment.

Youdao Inc develops and markets software applications. It engages in developing technologies to provide learning content, applications, and solutions. The firm operates in three segments: Learning services, Smart devices, and Online marketing services. The majority of its revenue comes from the Learning services segment, which generates revenues from online courses, mainly including Youdao Premium Courses, NetEase Cloud Classroom, and China University MOOC. The learning products segment includes sales of smart devices such as the Youdao Dictionary Pen and the Youdao Pocket Translator. Geographically, all of its revenue is generated from the People's Republic of China.

Coursera Inc is an online learning platform that connects learners, educators, and institutions with the goal of providing educational content that is affordable, accessible, and relevant. It combines content, data, and technology into a single, unified platform that is customizable and extensible to both individual learners and institutions. The company operates through two reporting segments: Consumer and Enterprise. The majority of revenue is generated from the Consumer segment. The consumer segment targets individual learners seeking to obtain hands-on learning, gain valuable job skills, receive professional-level certifications, and otherwise increase their knowledge to start or advance their careers.

Cengage Learning Holdings II Inc is an educational technology, content, and services company operating in the higher education, professional, K-12, English language teaching (ELT) and library spaces. It has five reportable segments on the basis of products and customers provided by each segment: Cengage Academic (U.S. Higher Education, International Higher Education, and Secondary Education), Cengage Work (ed2go and Infosec), Research, ELT, and Other (Australia K-12 and Milady). Research, ELT, and Other are reported together as a core business unit titled Cengage Select.

Founded in 1981, Blackbaud provides software solutions designed to serve the "social good" community, including nonprofits, foundations, corporations, educational institutions, healthcare institutions, and individual change agents. Through M&A and organic product development efforts, the company has also moved into related areas outside core fundraising, notably into K-12 schools. The firm enables more than $100 billion in donations annually across a customer base in excess of 40,000 customers in over 100 countries.

Afya Ltd is a medical education group based in Brazil. Its education portfolio has several courses in addition to Medicine, such as Management, Dentistry, Law, Engineering, Nursing, Psychology, and Accounting Sciences, among others. It has three segments; Undergrad provides educational services through undergraduate courses related to medical school, undergraduate health science and other ex-health undergraduate programs, Continuing Education provides medical education, specialization and graduate courses in medicine, delivered through digital and in-person content; and Medical practice solution provides clinical decision, clinical management and doctor-patient relationships for physicians and provide access, demand and efficiency for the healthcare players.

Duolun Technology Corp Ltd develops motor vehicle driving training and examination system, vehicle driving simulation training systems, intelligent traffic management application platform, traffic signal control systems and electronic police systems.

Scholastic Corp is an American publishing and education media company that focuses on books and educational material for schools, teachers, parents, and children. It creates print, digital, and audiobooks, learning materials and programs, classroom magazines, and other products that support children’s learning and reading both at home and at school. The company also owns rights to various books, including Harry Potter, Dog Man, and The Hunger Games among others. It has three reportable segments Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, and International. The majority of its revenue is from the Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment.

Udemy Inc operates a marketplace platform at the center of a vibrant knowledge network. The company operates under two operating and reportable segments Enterprise segment and Consumer segment, out of which the Enterprise segment derives the maximum revenue. Geographically, the company derives maximum revenue from North America, and also has its presence in Europe, Middle East, Africa; Asia Pacific; and Latin America. The company leverages data, technology, and insights for effective learning experiences. It helps individuals and organizations to possess effective skill acquisition and development with flexibility.

Docebo Inc is a provider of cloud-based learning management systems. The solutions provided by the company allow learning administrators to deliver scalable and flexible personalized learning experiences, from formal training to social learning to multiple internal, external, and blended audiences. The group provides an easy-to-use, configurable, and affordable learning platform with the end-to-end capabilities and critical functionality needed to train both internal and external workforces, partners, and customers. The majority of the revenue is derived from customers based in North America.

Jiangsu Chuanzhiboke Education Technology Co Ltd provides online training courses.

Gaotu Techedu Inc is a technology-driven education company that provides online live courses in a large-class setting backed by its proprietary technology infrastructure. The company offers courses in large-class format, which amplifies the benefits of online education and allows it to rapidly expand its student base. It operates solely in the PRC and all assets are located in the PRC. The learning services that the company offers include Traditional Learning Services, Non-Academic Tutoring Services, and College Student and Adult Education Services. It derives maximum revenue from Learning Services and also from Educational content & digitalized learning products.

Tianli International Holdings Ltd operates as a private education service provider in Western China. The Company provides clients with integrated education management and diversified services. Its services mainly include comprehensive education services, training services, study trip services, early childhood education services, canteen operations, management and franchise, as well as supply chain management services. The Company also offers extracurricular programs in music, arts, physical education, and languages, as well as licensing rights to its brands for early childhood centers. Geographically, it derives revenue from the PRC.

Qibu Co Ltd operates in the apparel industry. The company designs and develops, produces, and sells children's shoes, children's wear, and children's clothing accessories. The company's main product brand is ABC KIDS.

D2L Inc is a learning innovation company. It provides cloud-based learning software for higher education institutions, kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) schools and districts, and private sector enterprises. The company serves K-12, higher education, associations, and the corporate sector. Its product includes D2L Brightspace and D2L Wave. Geographically, It operates in United States, Canada and Rest of the World, where it derives maximum revenue from United States.

NIIT Learning Systems Ltd is engaged in providing managed training solutions which predominantly include technology-based solutions for learning and education management to improve efficiency and effectiveness to customers in the education sector in India and international markets. The company also offers a comprehensive suite of solutions including content, learning delivery, assessment, and technology for students and teachers, as well as solutions for institution administration and management. Geographically, the company derives a majority of its revenue from America, and the rest from Europe, India, and the rest of the world.

MegaStudyEdu Co Ltd is a Korean company that operates in the education sector. The company operates online education institute, provides educational information and consulting for entrance examination, and offline school direct business.

Fenbi Ltd operates as a non-formal vocational education and training (VET) service provider in China. The company providing a comprehensive suite of recruitment and qualification examination tutoring courses for adult students pursuing careers in government-sponsored institutions and several professions and industries. The company helps college graduates excel in the competitive selection process administered by governmental institutions and helps professionals obtain the relevant qualifications. Its segments are Tutoring services and Sales of books. The company generates the majority of its revenue from Tutoring services, which are classroom-based platforms teaching to students who physically attend the lecture centers or through an online platform.

Goodheart-Willcox Co Inc is a United States-based company engaged in publishing both print and digital textbooks on technical, trades, engineering; family and consumer sciences; business, computer, and career education; agriculture education; health sciences; and health and physical education. It also produces online courses and other instructional resources that provide a complete classroom solution. The company publishes for technical, trades, and technology; family and consumer sciences; and business, marketing, and career education. The firm recognizes revenue from selling digital online content, printed products and others.

Chegg Inc is an American educational services company. The Chegg platform provides products and services to support learners with their academic course materials, as well as their career and personal skills development. The company's service and product offerings fall into two categories: Subscription Services, which encompasses Chegg Study Pack, Chegg Study, Chegg Writing, Chegg Math, and Busuu offerings that can be accessed internationally through the company's websites and on mobile devices, and Skills and Other, which encompasses skills, advertising services, print textbooks, and eTextbooks offerings.

Tribal Group PLC is a provider of education software and services for international education, learning, and training markets. It has two business segments. The Student Information Systems (SIS) segment represents the delivery of software and subsequent maintenance and support services and the activities through which it deploys and configures software for its customers, and the Etio segment represents inspection and review services that support the assessment of educational delivery, and a portfolio of performance improvement tools and services, including analytics, software solutions, and asset management. The company generates maximum revenue from the SIS segment. Geographically, it operates in the UK, Australia, other APAC, North America, and the rest of the world.

51 Talk Online Education Group is an online education platform in China, with core expertise in English education. The company's mission is to make quality education accessible and affordable. It's online and mobile education platforms enable students across China to take live interactive English lessons with overseas foreign teachers, on demand. The Group operates in seven principal geographical area: China, Hong Kong, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

I-Scream Media Co Ltd is an education company with educational content and different content production capabilities. The company's business includes the edutech platform 'Ice Cream S' utilized by elementary school teachers with differentiated and diverse contents, 'Ice Cream Remote Education Training Center', a training institute for teachers to enhance their teaching expertise, 'Ice Cream Mall', which helps teachers conveniently prepare classes and operate classes by the Korean environment, and 'Ice Cream Textbook', an elementary school textbook that combines books and digital contents.

RM PLC provides resources, software, solutions, services to Uk and international education sector. The company is structured into Four operating divisions: RM TTS, RM Assessment, RM Technology and services. TTS provides education resources used in schools through a predominantly direct marketing business model. The RM Assessment business provides IT software and services to exam boards and professional bodies to allow e-assessment. RM Technology division focuses on supplying IT software and services to schools and colleges. Its primary geographic markets are the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Asia, the Middle East, and the Rest of the world.

WW International Inc specializes in weight management and providing clinical solutions in the United States. it also operates its proprietary digital platform that provides members with access to science-backed behavioral weight loss and weight management programs. The company's primary sources of revenue are subscriptions for digital, workshop, and clinical offerings. The Digital business refers to providing subscriptions to digital product offerings. Workshops + Digital business provides subscriptions for unlimited access to workshops combined with digital subscription product offerings. The Clinical business provides subscriptions to clinical product offerings combined with digital subscription product offerings and unlimited access to workshops.

ReadyTech Holdings Ltd is a provider of people management software for educators, employers, and facilitators of career transitions. Its products are JR Plus, A2E, HR3, ePayroll, JR Gov, Aussiepay, and others. The company's operating segments include Education and Work pathways, Workforce Solutions, and Government and Justice. It generates maximum revenue from the Government and Justice. The education segment mainly provides products and services to tertiary education providers. Its Workforce segment provides products and services to a mid-sized company across various industries. The Government division provides government and justice case management software as a service solution to local governments, state governments, and justice departments.

Nerdy Inc provides a platform for live online learning, with a mission to transform the way people learn through technology. The company's proprietary platform leverages technology, including AI, to connect learners with instructors across a wide range of subjects and formats, including subscription-based learning, one-on-one instruction, small group tutoring, large-format classes, and assessments. Its flagship business operates under the Varsity Tutors brand. The company's offerings are available directly to students and consumers, as well as through schools and other institutions.

iHuman Inc is a Chinese company that uses artificial intelligence to create technology-driven puzzle products for children, making parenting easier and children happier. The company offers a range of intellectual development products that are designed to make the child-rearing experience more manageable for parents while turning intellectual development into a fun journey for children. Its revenue is generated from subscription fees paid by users for premium content on their self-directed and interactive online applications, as well as offline products and other sources.

Thinkific Labs Inc is a cloud-based software platform. Its business activity is to provide a platform that helps entrepreneurs and established businesses to scale and generate revenue by teaching. The platform provides its creators with the functionality needed to launch, grow, and diversify their businesses by creating and selling learning products composed of customized courses, communities, membership sites and other experiences that creators can create, sell, and deliver using its Platform. Its sources of revenue consist of software subscriptions to its cloud-based platform and revenue from payment processing.

Skillsoft Corp is a leader in corporate digital learning. The company's segments include Talent Development Solutions and Global Knowledge. Talent Development Solutions brings a foundation of products and customers. TDS enterprise-grade solution serves customers and employees world-wide. TDS Learner is a world-renowned consumer-scale and experiential learning platform that serves learners internationally. The Global Knowledge segment is centered around instructor-led training, or live learning, with face-to-face delivery by experienced trainers, both in-person and virtually.

WOONGJIN THINKBIG Co Ltd operates as a book publisher for various age groups in South Korea. It develops and offers educational and cultural content, including member-only workbooks, complete works series for children, study rooms, learning centers, online and offline book publishing services. The company also offers book curation, tutoring, and visiting learning services; and educational and cultural contents for toddlers, young customers, and adults.

Sylogist Ltd is a software company that provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that provides ERP, CRM, fundraising, education administration, and payments solutions to education verticals. , including fund accounting, grant management, and payroll to public service organizations. The company's revenue is divided into verticals namely, SylogistMission, SylogistEd, SylogistGov, and SylogistServices. It receives maximum revenue in the form of SaaS subscriptions. Geographically, the company offers its services to the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, and other regions. The majority of the revenue comes from the United States of America.

3P Learning Ltd engages in the development, sale, and marketing of online educational programs. It provides learning resources to schools and parents of school-aged students. It provides online education with e-learning programs covering mathematics, spelling, literacy, reading, and phonics. The firm is organized into geographic operating segments: Asia-Pacific (APAC), North and South America (AMER) and Europe, and Middle-East and Africa (EMEA). The company offers its products under the Mathseeds, Mathletics, Reading Eggs and Others. The majority of its revenue gets derived from the APAC segment.

FLOWSPARKS NV is engaged in providing online educational services. It provides an e-learning platform that enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver digital training based on their internal expertise. With built-in instructional design, multilingual capabilities, reporting features, and AI Co-Authoring, FLOWSPARKS helps companies scale training across teams, locations, and languages. In addition to the platform, it offers customized training content creation services for customers who require support.

Skolon AB provides digital educational tools. The company offers teachers and students a personal collection for all their digital tools.