Glendale-based Age of Learning Inc. has raised $300 million from a group of investors to expand new product offerings in what may be the largest raise by an American education technology company.
The Series C fundraise places a $3 billion valuation on the digital education platform and puts the company on a path to surpass the $2.4 billion valuation mark of edtech language learning app Duolingo Inc.
Company executives said Age of Learning’s valuation has doubled since its last fundraise in 2020. The company has hauled in a total of $500 million in private investments over the past six years.
The latest fundraise was led by San Francisco-based alternative asset firm TPG through its TPG Tech Adjacencies fund; Doha, Qatar-based Qatar Investment Authority, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar; and Menlo Park-based private equity firm Madrone Capital Partners.
The money will be used for the company’s global expansion in Asia and other international markets and to increase investments in new products and technologies to effectively educate more learners globally, according to Zachary Katz, Age of Learning’s executive vice president of partnerships and corporate affairs.
Age of Learning, which reached more than 10 million children last year, saw an acceleration of its business during the Covid-19 pandemic as schools embraced new technologies for remote learning, Katz explained.
“The pandemic was an accelerant for our business and brought forth trends that we were already seeing. We saw significant increases in the amount of time kids were spending on our platform,” he said.
Founded in 2007, Age of Learning launched its flagship product, ABCmouse.com, in 2011. The product offers learning activities for preschool, pre-kindergarten and kindergarten-age children, including interactive games, educational video, ebooks and other content.
This is not Age of Learning’s first fundraise. In 2018, the company partnered with Shenzhen, China-based tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., which ultimately invested $50 million in the Glendale edtech a year ago in a Series B round.
Tencent localized the ABCmouse program for China, including integration of ABCmouse with QQ, one of China’s biggest instant messaging platforms serving hundreds of millions of monthly active users. QQ offers services that provide online social games, music, shopping, blogging and voice chat software.
Tencent also localized the ABCmouse program for China’s WeChat social network and content platform.
China and Asia more broadly are target markets for Age of Learning. In 2019, the company appointed Paul Candland as chief executive. He formerly headed Japan and Asia operations for Burbank-based Walt Disney Co.
In 2015, the company had a $150 million Series A fundraise led by Iconiq Capital, a San Francisco-based wealth management firm.
