Dive Brief:
- Education software company Instructure, which created the Canvas learning management system, is said to be planning an initial public offering for later this year with the help of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
- Reuters reports that Instructure, which serves 18 million students from K-12 through college, could be valued at between $500 million and $800 million during the IPO.
- Blackboard, one of the LMS giants Instructure formed to compete with, is said to be exploring a sale that could value the company at $3 billion, including its debt.
Dive Insight:
Instructure formed in 2008 and has raised $90 million in venture funding. The company’s signature product, Canvas, moved from 9% to 12% of LMS market share in just one year, in part taking clients from Blackboard, which has dropped from a near monopoly with 90% market share in 2006 to 44% more recently. Blackboard’s exploration of a potential sale is further evidence of the consolidation happening in the software and services industry across the education sector. New companies have jumped into the market with innovative product offerings just as institutions are using tech upgrades as a way to better serve and compete for students.