Zovio, a Chandler-based education technology services company recently announced that it has sold its tutoring services business to GoGuardian, a K-12-focused EdTech platform, for $55 million in cash.
The sale of the subsidiary, called TutorMe, comes after Zovio leaders recently said they were exploring selling segments of the business.
Zovio, formerly known as Bridgepoint Education, has been attempting to transition to an educational services company after previously operating as an owner of for-profit colleges. As part of the pivot, the company snapped up TutorMe in 2019 for a deal including $2.8 million in cash and nearly 310,000 in shares.
Founded by Andrew S. Clark, Zovio teams with higher education institutions and employers to deliver a suite of innovative, personalized solutions and learning experiences that fuel student achievement and help institutions grow end-to-end. The company partners with clients to understand their customers on a deeper level and find the most meaningful ways to enhance their experience.
The Zovio network, which includes Fullstack Academy and TutorMe, leverages its core strengths and applies its technology and capabilities to priority market needs. Using advanced data and analytics, the platform identifies the most meaningful ways to enhance the learner experience and deliver strong outcomes for higher education institutions, employers, and learners. Its purpose is to help everyone be in a class of their own.
Commenting on the latest development, Chief Executive Officer of Zovio, Randy Hendricks, said in an emailed statement,
“The sale of TutorMe highlights the company’s ability to fulfill its plan to pursue strategic alternatives. We believe this transaction is in the best interest of our stakeholders and will be instrumental in our plan to unlock value for our shareholders.”
TutorMe is a revolutionary online education platform that provides on-demand tutoring and online courses. The startup believes there are more teachers in the world than are actually teaching so it wants to empower more people to learn from each other. The platform enables thousands of tutors to share their knowledge with students around the globe. Whether one needs help with high school algebra or wants to learn how to program in Python. The company’s mission is to make learning as convenient and effective as possible.
TutorMe has been a growing source of revenue for Zovio. Along with Fullstack Academy, TuTorMe brought in $9.3 million in the first quarter of 2022, up 29.5% from the same period the year before.
GoGuardian said in a statement that it shares a commitment with TutorMe to make learning more convenient, effective and equitable.
“We’re excited to join our teams in order to better support the students, schools and districts we serve.”
In December 2020, Zovio sold Ashford University to the University of Arizona, which rebranded the online college as the University of Arizona Global Campus. The company retains close ties to the university through a 15-year contract under which it provides services such as marketing and recruitment in exchange for a cut of the online college’s revenue.
