Instructure Acquires Portfolium in $43 Million Deal
SAN DIEGO. FEB 21 2019. Vertical Venture Partners (VVP) and their affiliate, the UCSD based Triton Technology Fund, today announced the acquisition of their portfolio company Portfolium by Utah based EdTech leader Instructure (NYSE: INST)
UCSD based Triton Technology Fund participated in the early seed stage financing of the company.
Founded in 2014 by UCSD alum Adam Markowitz, Portfolium sells academic institutions access to what it calls its ePortfolio network, which, along with hosting student portfolios, also offers student assessments and job matching services. Students at schools that subscribe use the platform for free.
The company has hundreds of customers around the world. And more than 4 million students from about 3,600 colleges, universities, and high schools have tried out the service, according to the company.
Instructure has a teaching platform called Canvas for educational institutions, both K-12 and higher education, and employee development and engagement software called Bridge that it sells to corporations. Instructure says its software has been used by more than 4,000 educational institutions and corporations globally.
Instructure CFO Steve Kaminsky said the company plans to pitch Portfolium to Canvas customers that don’t already use it. But Instructure also sees an opportunity to push greater adoption of the startup’s service, according to CEO Dan Goldsmith.
“Portfolium is still at the early stages, and so part of the acquisition is based upon their feedback that we’ve received from common customers and organizations out in the market, but there’s still a huge opportunity moving forward to expand,” Goldsmith said.
About Vertical Venture Partners
Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”) is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Dave Schwab, a 20-year veteran in early stage technology investing.
VVP focuses on making Seed and Series A investments in B2B technology companies targeting pain points in specific vertical sectors.
The VVP team has decades of operating and investment experience gained from diverse backgrounds in venture capital, research & development, investment banking and advanced technology.
VVP works with the University of California on a variety of commercialization projects and has affiliate venture funds at UCSD and UCR.
Please visit www.vvp.vc to learn more.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Media contact: Doreen Thawley; doreen@vvp.vc