Lightspeed Systems® Expands Digital Learning Offering with Acquisition of CatchOn

Addition of Innovative Education Data Analytics Provider Enhances Lightspeed’s Capacity to Help
Educators Teach Students and Improve Learning Outcomes

Austin, Texas – January 11, 2022 — Lightspeed Systems (“Lightspeed”), a trusted partner in learning safety and effectiveness, today announced that it has acquired the ENA affiliate CatchOn, Inc. (“CatchOn”). CatchOn is a leading provider of learning analytics for schools, and with this acquisition, Lightspeed accelerates its mission of providing purpose-driven technology that fosters safe and effective learning solutions for K-12 students across a growing network of more than 32,000 schools. Lightspeed has completed this transaction with the continued investment support of funds affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC (“MDP”), a leading private equity firm based in Chicago. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2016, CatchOn is a real-time data analytics provider that captures and shares insights on technology usage, data privacy, and student engagement to create more efficient and student-focused educational strategies. CatchOn empowers administrators to make data-informed decisions about students’ technology engagement and investment that enhance learning outcomes and enable higher quality learning experiences for all students. Combining Lightspeed’s market-leading online safety ecosystem with CatchOn’s pioneering data analytics tools creates an unparalleled, comprehensive suite of learning solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of educators and their students.

“We are thrilled to welcome CatchOn to the Lightspeed community,” said Brian Thomas, President & CEO of Lightspeed Systems. “Investment in education technology has never been higher or more critical, as administrators strive to better understand the technologies they are implementing, analyze outcomes and maximize the positive impact educators are having on students’ lives. CatchOn’s innovative data analytics tools are highly complementary to Lightspeed’s web-filtering, analytics, and online monitoring solutions. Together, we will have the technologies, capabilities, and team required to accelerate our mission of keeping students safe, and learning equitable and effective.”

Jena Draper, Founder of CatchOn, added: “Since 2016, CatchOn has been empowering education leaders to measure the effectiveness and usage of their online software application investments. In Lightspeed, we are confident that we have found the right home for our data analytics tool. With Lightspeed’s leadership in online safety monitoring and highly complementary capabilities, our combined company is well-positioned to become an even stronger partner for a growing network of educators.”

Michael McKerley, President of ENA, said: “We are proud of the work we have done with CatchOn since 2018. With its proven technology, stellar team and strong momentum, CatchOn is poised for a bright future with Lightspeed. We are confident CatchOn customers will benefit from the enhanced services the combination of Lightspeed and CatchOn will provide, and we wish the entire CatchOn team nothing but the best as they enter their next phase of growth.”

With the support of MDP, Lightspeed continues to expand its presence in the growing domestic and international K-12 web-filtering and reporting, analytics, mobile device management and classroom management market. In 2021, the Lightspeed product team launched several innovative tools, including the Lightspeed Parent Portal™ and Lightspeed Alert™ with 24/7/365 human review.

William Blair & Company served as Lightspeed’s financial advisor and Alston & Bird provided legal counsel. Evercore served as CatchOn’s financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP provided legal counsel.

About Lightspeed Systems^®

With over 20 years of providing technology to meet the needs of schools, Lightspeed Systems® is the market leader in online student safety and effectiveness. The purpose-built Lightspeed ecosystem of cloud-based solutions—tailored to meet today’s evolving challenges—provides schools worldwide with the most effective web filter, student safety monitor, classroom management software, device management tool, and analytics program available. Lightspeed Systems is a proven partner for schools, serving over 20 million students in 39 countries and 32,000 schools globally. To learn more, visit www.lightspeedsystems.com.

About CatchOn

CatchOn is a comprehensive data analytics tool that enables K-12 leaders to quickly and effectively calculate their return on investment of their digital tools, track student engagement at the district, school, course, and/or student level, and strengthen their data privacy compliance efforts. For more information, please visit https://www.catchon.com/, call 866-615-1101, or email [email protected].

About Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC

Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC ("MDP") is a leading private equity investment firm based in Chicago. Since MDP’s formation in 1992, the firm has raised aggregate capital of over $28 billion and has completed over 150 investments. MDP invests across five dedicated industry verticals, including basic industries; business and government software and services; financial and transaction services; health care; and telecom, media and technology services. For more information, please visit www.mdcp.com.

About ENA

ENA, a ZMC portfolio company, delivers transformative technology solutions supported by exceptional customer care. Since 1996, we have worked with our customers to design and engineer high-capacity and future-ready connectivity, communication, cloud, security, and data analytics solutions. For more information, please visit www.ena.com, call 866-615-1101, or e-mail [email protected].

Media Contacts

For Lightspeed Systems:
Ida Yenney, KCPR
[email protected]
818-419-0516
For Madison Dearborn Partners:
Deirdre Walsh / Hannah Gould
Abernathy MacGregor
[email protected]
212-371-5999
For ENA:
Rachel Little
[email protected]
615-312-6181