PSG Announces Strategic Growth Investments in Education Technology Platforms Verity IQ and Campus Ivy
Investments aim to enable Verity IQ and Campus Ivy to continue increasing transparency and connectivity across the student information system for both users and administrators
BOSTON – September 9th, 2024 – PSG, a leading growth equity firm that specializes in partnering with software and technology-enabled services companies, today announced a strategic growth investment in two software companies serving career, community, trade, and higher education institutions and their students: Verity IQ, a customer relationship management (“CRM”) and student information system (“SIS”) provider, and Campus Ivy, a provider of financial aid solutions. The investments aim to enrich each company’s existing offerings with additional features and functionality, as well as to strengthen the seamless integration of their solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Both companies were founded by experienced education professionals who recognized the limitations of existing tools in the market. Driven by a shared commitment, they focused on enhancing the experience for students and educational institutions with innovative technological solutions.
Verity IQ’s solutions, including “Verity Dialog CRM” and “Verity Student SIS,” help higher education institutions manage the entire student lifecycle. The CRM facilitates multi-channel communication for student recruitment and retention and guides prospective students through the admissions process with paperless and e-signature workflow automation. The SIS tracks student attendance, academic progress, documents, as well as student account ledgers, supported by digital payment processing for tuition and fees, in addition to capturing progress to graduation and post-grad job placement.
Campus Ivy helps institutions transform their financial aid administration with a focus on the student experience to help improve financial aid efficiency and compliance for institutions and students across three offerings: (1) cloud-based financial aid automation software, including a user-friendly interface for students to access important information related to their awards (2) outsourcing services, encompassing processing, packaging and file review, reconciliation, and verification; and (3) professional services for expert guidance in federal student aid management, from compliance audits to Title IV training, and more.
“PSG has a deep conviction in the potential for innovative technologies to transform education, and we have been actively investing in edtech for many years. We’ve closely monitored the increasing demand for trade and vocational schools, as well as community colleges, driven by the shortage of skilled vocational workers and the rising costs of higher education, among other tailwinds,” said Marco Ferrari, Managing Director at PSG. “In our view, Verity IQ and Campus Ivy have distinguished themselves as leading providers of crucial solutions that support the entire student lifecycle, evidenced by the many institutions that choose to work with both providers.”
“We started this company as a direct result of our experience with the challenges caused by school departments operating with outdated and incompatible products and services and have seen first-hand the impact this has on the student experience. We built Verity IQ to provide essential systems to address notable pain points – decentralized data, lack of visibility across departmental performance, lack of automation, and inefficiencies in school operations,” said Cornelia Anderson, Co-Founder & CEO, and Aaron Anderson, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Verity IQ. “We believe that PSG’s expertise investing in the education technology market and shared commitment to solving for these inefficiencies stood out from the beginning. We value their know-how and shared enthusiasm for what we are building.”
“PSG’s track record investing in education technology and their excitement about the future of our industry make them a strong partner to accelerate our vision,” said Cid Yousefi, Co-Founder, President & CEO, and Siana Stewart, Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer of Campus Ivy. “We’re excited for what’s ahead as we bolster our existing products that have been helping to transform school operations and financial outcomes nationwide.”
Additional education technology companies in PSG’s portfolio include Aztec Software, DigitalEd, Lumaverse, Packback, Pathful, and SchoolStatus.
About PSG
PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities, and build strong teams. Having backed more than 140 companies and facilitated over 500 add-on acquisitions, PSG brings extensive investment experience, deep expertise in software and technology, and a firm commitment to collaborating with management teams. Founded in 2014, PSG operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City, London, Madrid, Paris, and Tel-Aviv. To learn more about PSG, visit www.psgequity.com.
About Verity IQ
Verity IQ (“Verity”) is an education technology SaaS company emerging as an industry leader with an all-in-one approach to student life-cycle management. Verity’s focus on recruitment, retention, and placement using modern channels for communication designed to deliver a quality student experience, lower cost of ownership, and innovative analytics. Learn more here: https://verityiq.com/.
About Campus Ivy
Campus Ivy provides student centric outsourced financial aid services and cloud-based financial aid automation software to higher education institutions. Informed by the team’s decades of experience working in technology and education, Campus Ivy offers a user-friendly interface with access to an extensive set of features that span the full spectrum of financial aid needs. This enables schools to improve efficiency, compliance and financial performance while allowing more time to focus on their students. To learn more, visit: https://campusivy.com/.