TRICKLING UP (OR DOWN?) K-12 edtech deals are certainly happening, as NewSchools Venture Fund showed last week. But the postsecondary space may be getting hot as well. M&A news service mergermarket shared with the Financial Times its observations on how mergers and acquisitions in the postsecondary space are "creeping back" after a "slow" September that saw three deals. October came back with a vengeance with three private equity deals and two big purchases by Pearson and John Wiley. And in November, Riverside Company announced its acquisition of two developers of e-learning courses for the postsecondary and professional market. But some sector analysts aren't calling this a boom just yet, acknowledging that the financial performance of for-profits in the postsecondary space has been weak--and that the "hostile" Obama administration has taken a tough stance on for-profit schools with lackluster academic results.
