A private equity investment package worth $40m dollars should be announced today by the FamilyEducation Network, an aggregator of primary and high school web sites. Harcourt, Jostens, AOL, the Morningside Group and DLJ/Sprout have each taken stakes in the Network. The company notes that this IPO-level injection of cash should let it continue growing without the financial demands – or oppressive shareholder scrutiny – commonly suffered by public companies.
FamilyEducation Network now links around 6,000 schools from 775 school districts around the USA. A hub site delivers fresh news daily to the school site spokes. Setting new standards for opportunism in marketing, the company adds that this network model: provides over 100 million parents a month – including that coveted soccer mom – with information on a range of education issues, from learning disabilities to college financing and, sadly, about how to reassure your children after the recent Littleton, CO tragedy.
