Renaissance, a developer of educational technology products, acquired Nearpod, a media and assessment platform for educators, for about USD 650 million. The deal is yet to be finalized, although both parties have reached a definitive agreement.

The Nearpod brand will be retained and managed by Nearpod CEO, Pep Carrera. The acquisition expands Renaissance’s portfolio to include a lesson delivery and teacher engagement tool. 

Founded in 2012, Nearpod is a dynamic media and assessment platform that allows educators to build interactive multimedia presentations or select from a library of more than 8,500 interactive lessons and videos. Educators can also access a range of virtual reality programs, quizzes, and student insight tools. As of February 2021, the company had raised more than USD 30 million in funding. In 2019, the company acquired Flocabulary, a platform promoting literacy through K-12 curriculum-based hip hop-themed videos, activities, and creativity tools. Nearpod expanded into the higher education space in October 2019 with the launch of “Nearpod for Higher Education”. In January 2021, Next Gen Personal Finance, a provider of K-12 financial education, partnered with Nearpod to provide 1,500 personal finance teachers and more than 1.5 million students access to the platform. In 2020, Nearpod was used by one million teachers in more than 1,800 school districts across all 50 states, with 2-3 million students using the platform daily.

Founded in 1986, Renaissance is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and learning analytics company that develops cloud-based, pre-K-12 educational software and adaptive assessments. Its products include Accelerated Reader and Star Assessments. After being publicly listed over 1997–2011, Renaissance changed hands a couple of times before being acquired by private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2018. In 2019, Renaissance acquired Schoolzilla, a cloud-based data management and visualization platform for education practitioners.