News

Sumeru Equity Partners has made an investment in GoGuardian, a Chromebook management software provider for schools. No financial terms were disclosed. Vista Point Advisors served as financial adviser to GoGuardian. In addition to the funding, GoGuardian has named Tony Miller, former Deputy Secretary to the U.S. Department of Education, to its board.

PRESS RELEASE

Los Angeles, CA—May 24, 2018 — GoGuardian, a leading education technology SaaS provider that powers K-12 personalized learning and enhances student safety, announced that Sumeru Equity Partners (“SEP”)—a growth-focused technology investment firm—has made a strategic investment in the company to accelerate growth and product innovation. Alongside the investment, GoGuardian has appointed Tony Miller—accomplished technology executive and former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education—to the company’s Board.

GoGuardian currently serves over 5 million students in 10,000 schools across all 50 states, and is uniquely positioned to help educators support student growth. “Since our inception, GoGuardian’s mission has been entirely focused on helping educators, students, and school administrators leverage technology to improve the teaching and learning experience,” said GoGuardian co-founder, CEO and Board Director Advait Shinde. “We are excited to partner with SEP to expand our reach and invigorate classrooms across the country with innovative tools that meet the evolving needs of today’s educators and students,” said Shinde.

“SEP’s emphasis on investing in customer-centric technology and track record of helping companies scale is aligned with our approach of serving schools in increasingly transformative ways. We welcome the partnership with SEP and Tony Miller as we look to make student-driven learning and holistic well-being the norm in K-12 education,” Shinde said. “Research on schools’ needs defines GoGuardian’s product roadmap. This partnership will expedite the research and development process – helping us further support educators’ goals of creating dynamic, interactive and safe learning environments.”

SEP Managing Directors George Kadifa and Sanjeet Mitra added, “Over the last decade, we have observed the meaningful impact that innovative technologies have in significant enhancement of the student learning experience. GoGuardian’s technologies are fulfilling this mission while supporting districts, teachers, and school administrators in ensuring productive K-12 classrooms and safe learning environments. From its founding, GoGuardian has taken a sincerely differentiated, school-centric approach and made significant investments to create a leading, modern platform. We are highly enthusiastic about partnering with Advait, the GoGuardian team, and Tony to support the growth of the company going forward.”

Tony Miller is an accomplished education and business leader, recently serving as Deputy Secretary and Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Department of Education. He said, “More and more school districts, teachers, and students are using devices to improve learning in the classroom and at home. As the market leader in supporting the safe and effective use of these education technologies, GoGuardian plays a critically important role today and is uniquely positioned to deliver unprecedented value to schools, teachers, students, and parents going forward.”

As part of the investment, majority shareholder SEP will add principals Kadifa, Mitra and Sean Kendra to GoGuardian’s Board of Directors. The transaction closed in May 2018 and financial details were not disclosed. Vista Point Advisors, a San Francisco-based boutique investment bank, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to GoGuardian.

About GoGuardian
GoGuardian has changed the way K-12 schools maximize the learning potential of every student. Its SaaS products help educators identify learning patterns, protect students from harmful and distracting content, and support students who are at risk of self-harm. With GoGuardian, educators can easily engage students with more effective resources and communication. No other tool provides such actionable insight into student needs. As the only solution built exclusively by, for, and with educators, it’s easy to see why 10,000 schools and 120,000 educators choose GoGuardian to engage with and protect over 5 million students.

Learn more about GoGuardian’s industry-defining learning analytics, student engagement, and self-harm prevention products at www.goguardian.com.

About Sumeru Equity Partners
Sumeru Equity Partners is a technology-focused private equity firm that invests in middle market companies across software, technology-enabled services and hardware. The firm employs a growth-oriented partnership model with technology companies and typically invests $25-200 million per transaction. The firm was founded in 2014 by an experienced team from Silver Lake Sumeru, a private equity fund started in 2007 within Silver Lake. Sumeru Equity Partners utilizes extensive operating and investment experience in partnership with management teams to drive company growth and build strategic value. For more information please visit www.sumeruequity.com.