STRATEGIC ALLIANCE ANNOUNCEMENT

March 31, 2022

Cherry Tree & Associates (“Cherry Tree”), The Amos Group, and EdBD Group are proud to announce that they have formed a strategic alliance to better serve their clients and the education industry. As experts in helping education companies, their owners, and their executive teams achieve strategic milestones, the firms’ new alliance will bring together expertise in comprehensive investment banking services focused on M&A and growth equity investments, global business development, strategic advisory, and digital resources – all focused on driving growth globally for education-related businesses. 

Education companies around the world have long looked to the Amos Group and the UK and Ireland based EdBD Group for a variety of advisory services and impactful solutions, including the digital resources SchoolBondFinder, SchoolNetwork, and establishing cross-border distribution in the U.S. and internationally. As their clients grow and seek services including raising growth equity, making acquisitions, and selling all or a portion of their equity, they are increasingly asked to help advise their clients through important strategic decisions. This includes the recent acquisition of iCEV by The Riverside Company, where The Amos Group and EdBD provided strategic advisory services and helped iCEV through a fulsome process that culminated in negotiating a very positive outcome. 

Cherry Tree also has a long history of providing savvy advice and strategic insights to education related companies, completing hundreds of transactions with comprehensive investment banking services including sell-side and buy-side advisory, and institutional capital raising especially for edtech companies looking to recapitalize with additional capital to fund growth. Cherry Tree employs a full and dedicated team of investment banking professionals, experienced in positioning for optimal value, creating a competitive auction, building relationships between buyers and sellers, supporting thorough diligence, and negotiating hard on behalf of its clients. The firm takes a long-term approach to providing insight and advice to education companies, often earning it the right to represent them when a transaction occurs. Cherry Tree has worked with leading education companies including Edmentum, Tierney/Trox, Carnegie Learning, Flipgrid/Microsoft, and Fastbridge/Illuminate. 

While the companies will continue to serve their respective clients independently, they see numerous opportunities to help their clients by working together, especially by complementing the strategic perspective of The Amos Group and the EdBD, with the transaction experience of Cherry Tree. 

About Cherry Tree & Associates: 

Cherry Tree is a Minneapolis-based investment banking firm with more than four decades of transaction experience, with education being a primary segment focus. Our services include Sell-Side M&A where ownership wants to either realize their liquidity goals or desires to recapitalize their business to better position it for future growth. Additionally, we represent Buy-Side clients in efforts to add acquisitions to complement their organic growth efforts. 

To learn more, visit: www.cherrytree.com

About Amos Group: 

The Amos Group is the parent company of: SchoolBondFinder, the first comprehensive online database tracking K12 funding projects in the U.S., and SchoolNetwork, a networking platform for K12 District Administrators to view and share funding project documents, review solution providers and advertise RFPs nationwide.

To learn more, visit: www.theamosgroup.us

About EdBD Group: 

EdBD Group, with offices in the United Kingdom and Ireland and doing business globally, is a highly specialized business development consulting group focused exclusively on supporting companies in the education space. Their team is comprised of senior executives from education publishing and EdTech with deep connections in key global markets. They work with clients that have innovative products or services, accessing markets and companies to create opportunities that will allow greater market penetration and faster growth.

To learn more, visit: www.edbdgroup.com

CONTACTS:

Chad Johnson
Managing Partner,Cherry Tree & Associates
cjohnson@cherrytree.com

Chuck Amos
CEO,The Amos Group
chuck@theamosgroup.us

Ben Powell
Managing Director,EdBD Group
ben@edbdgroup.com