| Invested through |
|
|---|---|
| Asset Classes | Listed equity |
| Impact strategy | Impact Equities and Bonds |
| ISIN code | US73939C1062 |
| Industry group | Consumer Services |
| Aligned with SDGs |
PowerSchool is a US company that provides software for K-12 educational institutions. The software addresses various workflows within the K-12 software ecosystem, including both back-office and classroom workflows. PowerSchool's core product is its Student Information Systems (SIS) product, where the company is the market leader. It also offers enrollments, K-12 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), talent management, and classroom applications such as a learning management system (LMS), assessments tools, and special programs management.
As of March 31, 2021, PowerSchool had over 14,000 customers, which includes 93 of the 100 largest districts in the US. The company's non-US revenue is small (1-2%) due to low penetration rates, but expansion outside the US is a key part of its growth strategy.
Investment rationale
Inequality is a global problem for which education is one of the solutions. Already in 1848, Horace Mann (an American educational reformer and politician known for his commitment to promoting public education) stated that:
"Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery."
Clearly, there is more needed than education alone, but it's a precondition for equality.
For PowerSchool specifically, we believe that its suite of software solutions enables both a more tailored as well as location agnostic approach to education. This is because the company's products are centered around the data of students (stored in the student information systems or SIS), which allows for tailoring of content and assessment. In addition, due to the platform being cloud-based, the software can be used outside schools as well. Both are important as children develop differently and thus learn at different paces. Furthermore, remote access to education allows children to continue to learn, even if they can't be at school. As a result, we believe the company's software makes a significant contribution to the education of children.