Francisco Partners to acquire VitalSource Technologies

Submitted 15/04/2021 - 9:34am

Ingram Content Group (Ingram) has signed a definitive agreement to sell VitalSource Technologies LLC to Francisco Partners, a global investment firm that specialises in partnering with technology businesses.

VitalSource is an education technology solutions provider committed to helping partners create, deliver, and distribute affordable and impactful learning experiences worldwide. VitalSource’s products and technologies, including the leading learning platform, Bookshelf, are used by 16 million learners in more than 240 countries.

Under Ingram’s leadership, VitalSource was transformed from a small venture serving a niche market to a global leader in digital content distribution. Ingram first acquired VitalSource in 2006 with an eye to grow it into a larger digital learning platform that could serve the higher ed market and more. This was part of a larger effort by Ingram to help the book industry leverage technology to transform the way content is accessed and in turn, the way the book industry works.

"We are very proud of the extraordinary value-add VitalSource offers the academic and professional communities. VitalSource has grown into one of the leading digital curriculum delivery and learning platform providers with proven scalability and reliability at a time where digital content and online learning is very much in demand,” says Ingram Content Group President & CEO Shawn Morin. “Francisco Partners is committed to furthering the VitalSource mission of improving learner outcomes and accelerating our commitment to developing innovative, forward-thinking solutions and platforms that open doors to affordable and impactful learning experiences to students and professionals around the world.”

“We are excited to partner with the VitalSource team to improve the affordability and learning experience for all students,” says Jason Brein, Partner at Francisco Partners. 

“We are grateful to Ingram Content Group for the opportunity to invest in VitalSource during its next phase of growth and look forward to leveraging our education technology investment expertise to further transform the business,” adds Paul Ilse, Senior Operating Partner at Francisco Partners Consulting.

“We’re thrilled to have entered this agreement with Francisco Partners and be in the position to drive continued digital transformation across all of our segments,” says VitalSource President Kent Freeman. “This acquisition is a great fit for our business, for our team, and for our customers and partners. It ensures that we will be able to expand our efforts to deliver affordable and impactful learning solutions for students and professionals. We are proud of the work we have done to become a leader in the educational technology industry, and we are poised to accelerate those efforts with this investment from Francisco Partners. I couldn’t be more excited to lead the team into this next part of VitalSource’s journey.”

The transaction is expected to close this summer, pending regulatory approval.

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