Finalsite Acquires the Blackboard K-12 Division of Anthology
Combination Creates a Leading Global Provider of K-12 School Website and Digital Communication Tools
Glastonbury, Conn. and Boca Raton, Fla. – Sept. 15, 2022 – Finalsite, a global leader in K-12 independent school website and digital communications software and services, and Anthology, a leading provider of education solutions that support the entire learner lifecycle, today announced that Finalsite has acquired the Blackboard K-12 Community Engagement division (“Blackboard K-12”) from Anthology. Blackboard Community Engagement solutions include Blackboard Web Community Manager, Blackboard Connect, Blackboard Reach, Blackboard Mass Notifications, and the Blackboard Mobile Communications App, which primarily serve public K-12 districts and schools.
This combination of complementary solutions creates a leading global provider of website, marketing, and communications software and services for K-12 schools, with a total client base of over 7,000 schools and districts across 115 countries, as well as expanded resources to provide customers even higher levels of service and support. With the addition of Blackboard K-12, Finalsite can provide its clients enhanced access to more solutions, services, and thought leadership designed expressly for K-12 institutions, delivered and supported by a focused team of industry experts.
“Our mission is to help schools prepare students to be successful in the wider world,” said Jon Moser, Finalsite’s Founder and CEO. “This acquisition brings together the brightest minds in K-12 EdTech, accelerating transformative improvements in everything from our product development to our customer service. Together, we will elevate school-to-home engagement and improve outcomes for schools – and learners – globally.”
“The foundational years in K-12 have a tremendous impact on a student’s education experience. That’s why it’s imperative for schools and districts to have access to the right technology to lay the foundation for lifelong learning,” said Lee Blakemore, President of Blackboard K-12. “With Finalsite’s comprehensive portfolio, our K-12 clients will be positioned to continue to deliver critical communications at scale while receiving the comprehensive and dedicated support for which we are known.”
This transaction enables Anthology to continue its accelerated investment in Blackboard Learn Ultra, Anthology Student, and other areas of the business where Anthology can provide significant value to the global education community. K-12 schools that use Blackboard Learn will be positioned to continue partnering with Anthology as their learning management system provider to support a flexible, intuitive learning environment for faculty and students.
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal counsel to Finalsite. Milbank LLP served as legal counsel to Anthology.
About Finalsite
Finalsite is the preferred website, communications, and marketing platform of more than 8,000 schools worldwide. The company’s people, products and services transform how schools connect and engage with their community, recruit students and staff, and fundraise; while managing the complex requirements around data privacy, accessibility, hosting and security. Finalsite products and services include award-winning website designs, a robust content management system, innovative inbound marketing tools, data integration, training, support and marketing consulting. With a 96 percent retention rate year-over-year, Finalsite is the choice of over 700 NAIS member schools and 1,000+ school districts in the U.S., and international schools and universities in over 115 countries around the world. Finalsite is headquartered in Glastonbury, Conn. with employees based internationally across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit www.finalsite.com.
About Anthology
Anthology offers the largest EdTech ecosystem on a global scale for education, supporting more than 150 million users in 80 countries. With a mission to provide dynamic, data-informed experiences to the global education community through Anthology Intelligent Experiences™, we help learners, leaders and educators achieve their goals by offering over 60 SaaS products and services designed to advance learning. Discover more about how we are fulfilling our mission for education, business and government institutions at www.anthology.com.
Media Contacts
Finalsite
Morgan Delack
Vice President of Communications
[email protected]
Anthology
Chelcee Coffman
Senior Director, Global Communications & Corporate Marketing
[email protected]