K-12 Mega-Merger Folds 5 Education Companies Into a New Illuminate Education

Five education businesses are merging into one—which will be called Illuminate Education—under the leadership of long-time K-12 executive Christine Willig, the investment firm Insight Venture Partners announced today.In the move, the New York-based venture capital and private equity firm is combining two of its holdings Illuminate Education and Key Data Systems (KDS), of which Willig has served as CEO since October 2017—with IO Education, SchoolCity, and Alpine Achievement. The merged companies will be united under the “Illuminate Education” corporate identity and will create a combined platform serving 20 million students in the U.S., according to the investment firm.