Stephens Group Participates in SchooLinks’ $80M Funding Round

October 29, 2024

AUSTIN, TEXAS – October 29, 2024 – The Stephens Group, LLC (“Stephens Group”) today announced a minority growth investment in SchooLinks, a leading software platform providing College and Career Readiness (“CCR”) resources for K-12 students across the U.S. The $80M Series B funding round was led by Susquehanna Growth Equity (“SGE”) and included participation from Strada and ASA. The new capital will help SchooLinks expand its growing suite of CCR offerings and accelerate its growing ecosystem of products that facilitate connectivity between K-12, higher education, and employers.

The precipitous drop in college and career readiness has been widely reported, with analysis of recent ACT scores showing only 1 in 5 high schoolers in the class of 2023 graduated ready to succeed in their core introductory classes in college. SchooLinks bridges this gap through a CCR platform with a curriculum designed to engage students and help them understand post-graduation interests. Programs include engaging assessments, gamified lessons that teach financial literacy, scholarship applications and interactive video, alongside individualized roadmaps for students and their families customized to their unique skills, interests, and goals for the future.

SchooLinks was founded in 2015 by Katie Fang, a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur, with a focus on democratizing access to important CCR resources and opportunities for students across the U.S. Today, SchooLinks operates across 40 states and has become the go-to platform for a growing number of public-school districts who are putting more emphasis on the resources they provide K-12 students to equip them for the future, well after graduation. The SchooLinks platform is a modern solution that has been architected and customized to the precise needs of administrators, counselors, CTE, families, students and workforce. The platform also elevates student engagement beyond its peers in the space while seeking to advance the country’s workforce development at a deeper level than other CCR companies.

“I’m thrilled to be partnering with mission and vision-aligned investors in our latest funding round. Our partners bring a significant amount of experience to the table, including deep experience in SaaS and the education industry,” said Katie Fang, Founder and CEO of SchooLinks. “We are constantly evolving our platform, including the additions of our workforce solutions, to aid school districts in ensuring that the experiences they provide students continue to be valuable after graduation. With these capabilities we are looking forward to expanding our impact from school districts to employers and this financing round will enable us to accelerate this evolution.”

SchooLinks is growing rapidly, serving customers nationwide and positioning itself to be the most trustworthy and reliable platform for school districts. The platform, which today serves 15 times the number of districts and 10 times the number of students, has evolved exponentially in the last three years to ensure a true student-centric college and career planning experience.

Ryan Morrow, Stephens Group Managing Director, added, “We are pleased to collaborate with Katie and the SchooLinks team to support its next phase of growth. We believe SchooLinks is poised to continue its leading product innovation and best-in-class customer service that has made it the premier college and career readiness platform for K-12.”

Aaron Clark, Senior Managing Director of Stephens Group, remarked, “We are thrilled to partner with SGE to support SchooLinks as they continue to build the market leader in the CCR space.”

ABOUT SCHOOLINKS

SchooLinks is a modern college and career readiness platform that supports districts and students through all aspects of post-secondary planning: from career interest inventory to academic plan that aligns with student’s interests and goals. It also enhances early warning systems and boosts post-secondary outcomes to meet districts’ goals.

At a district level, SchooLinks streamlines back-office logistics, such as individual career and academic plans, academic planning, CTE pathway, endorsement tracking, etc., so that counselors and CTE teachers can spend meaningful in-person meeting time and handle large caseloads effectively. To learn more, please visit: www.schoolinks.com.

ABOUT THE STEPHENS GROUP, LLC

The Stephens Group, LLC (https://www.stephensgroup.com) is a private investment firm that partners with talented management teams to help build valuable businesses. Backed by the resources of the Witt Stephens and Elizabeth Campbell families, the firm combines the operational expertise of a private equity firm with the flexibility provided by long-term capital. With over $2 billion of private equity assets under management, the firm has a long history of providing informed, sophisticated expertise and working with owners and managers to help them successfully achieve their strategic visions and build long-term value. Since 2006, The Stephens Group has invested in over 50 companies, targeting investments in industries across the U.S., including industrial products and services, specialty distribution, and vertical software.