Gizmos - EVA - Adriana Silestre

June 2021

Start

I am a math and science teacher to intermediate students in grades 7&8.

About Me

Rationale

STEM Simulations

70%

79%

of top paying jobs,
require STEM education

3:2

30%

rate that STEM occupations are growing compared to non-STEM occupations

of companies in biotech sectors reporting a lack of qualified

STEM employment growth since 1990 (from 9.7M to 17.3M)

STEM Education

STEM is an economic driver which presents many opportunities. We need to prepare the next generation to meet those opportunities.

79%

Since 1990 STEM employment has grown 79% (from 9.7 million to 17.3 million)

Why STEM simulations?

Simulations allow students to manipulate variables and witness the effects in real time; whereas nonsimulation experiments can take days, weeks, or months to collect data, analyze the results, and form a conclusion.

Simulations for STEM learning in K-12 classrooms are by and large associated with improved learning outcomes for students, especially when focused on achievement outcomes and when compared to more traditional lecture and textbook-based instruction.

D'Angelo, C., Rutstein, D., & Harris, C. (2016)

About

ExploreLearning Gizmos is the world’s largest library of interactive online simulations for math and science education in grades 3-12.

• Provides curriculum-based STEM learning simulations for the classroom
• Has over 400 math and science Gizmo simulations.
• Helps teachers take advantage of research-proven instructional strategies and build 21st Century skills for students.
• Runs on PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, and Android Devices.

Fun and easy to use, Gizmos help students develop a deep understanding of challenging concepts through inquiry and exploration. Students use Gizmos to interact with and explore hundreds of math and science topics ranging from heredity to trigonometry. Teachers use Gizmos as dynamic "what-if" tools to help students move beyond memorizing to true understanding.

Mission

ExploreLearning Gizmos Simulations

Venture Analysis

Founders

01

Financials

02

Cambium Learning is acquired by Veritas Capital

2018

Cambium Leanring Group is listed on NASDAQ (ABCD)

2009

Explore Learning becomes part
of Cambium Learning group

1999

$36M

per year

7%

218

employees

Annual Revenue

Employees

hiring growth

M&A
by Veritas Capital

2018

Merged & Aquired

Merged and Acquired in 2018 by Veritas Capital, shareholders received USD$14.50 for each share of Cambium stock.

Veritas Capital is a leading private equity firm that invests in companies that provide critical products and services, primarily technology and technology-enabled solutions, to government and commercial customers worldwide, including those operating in the aerospace & defense, healthcare, technology, national security, communications, energy, government services and education industries. Veritas seeks to create value by strategically transforming the companies in which it invests through organic and inorganic means. For more information on Veritas Capital and its current and past investments, visit www.veritascapital.com.

provides digital education solutions to school districts, educators, students and parents. The Company’s solutions target preK-12 literacy, science, math and intervention and serves approximately 75% of US school districts in all 50 states and customers in over 170 countries.

Profile

03

ExploreLearning Gizmo Profile

Pain Point

Solution

Differentiation

STEM Education gap

STEM is hard to learn, hard to use, hard to create lessons, lack of experiential learning opportunities.

Gizmos

STEM educational simulation for science and math that is engaging, easy to use and learn, as well as easy to implement by teachers.

Differentiation

• 
  

  • World’s largest library of online simulations for math and science education in grades 3-12

  • Correlation to curriculum expectations and textbooks

  • Immediate student feedback, assessment and reporting.

  • New STEM Cases, providing students real-world problems.

  • Students learn through inquiry and exploration.

  • Student google doc explorations guide ready for use with the Gizmo

  • Exceptional support for teachers

  • Runs on PCs, Macs, Chromebooks, iPads, and Android Devices.

• 
  

Competition

04

Investing in

The impact of COVID-19 on education will undoubtedly change learning forever. In a year that saw PreK-12 digital curriculum spend exceed $13.1B and the percentage of schools and districts now issuing personal computing devices jump to 87%

“Looking ahead, we’ll continue to emphasize our core elements of simplicity, certainty and now to ensure all educators and students feel seen and supported.”

John Campbell, CEO of Cambium Learning Group.

As an Educational Venture Analyst for Explore Learning Gizmos, I recommend investing in Cambium Learning as the company continues to grow, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for online applications and simulations.

If interested in investing please contact
Barbara Benson CFO of Cambium Learning.

Reflection

As a Science and Math teacher I am always looking for ways to promote critical thinking skills and provide my students with experiential learning opportunities that keep them engaged. STEM education requires a hands-on learning experience that can be achieved through simulations. I have been using GIZMOS for a few years now, and I have never even looked at the company that created it or the story behind it. I just know that my students enjoy using it, it develops critical thinking skills, supports STEM learning, it is easy to use as a teacher and my board has purchased the licenses for us to use. GIZMOS was the first educational application that came to mind when thinking about the EVA as I wanted to learn more about it as a venture. Throughout this EVA, I gained so much perspective about GIZMOS from the venture, business and investing side. I didn’t know that GIZMOS was invented more than 20 years ago, as it is so relevant and current to me. I learned how the business grew, it was traded in the NASDAQ market, and later on acquired by a private equity firm.

In my upcoming venture pitch my focus is on STEM applications for education, it was interesting to complete this EVA not only to learn about GIZMOS but also about its competitors and the ideas that are possible, such as Lab4u- an app envisioned by a Chilean and a Colombian developers to use cellphones as sensors for lab experiences. I also reviewed their venture profile and journey and
it gives me motivation to think of creating my own venture. GIZMOS has been around for awhile and it gave me perspective to see what is possible to achieve and how a venture can grow.

References

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