A pair of Maryland VCs invested in the latest big coding school deal

Two Maryland firms were among the investors that backed a Denver-based coding school’s $32 million funding round that was announced at the same time as an acquisition deal.
Galvanize announced the Series C funding round, led by Catalyst Investors, last week. Among the participating investors were a pair of local VCs: Fulton-based New Markets Venture Partners and Baltimore-based ABS Capital Partners.
The deal comes a couple of months after New Markets Venture Partners closed a $68 million venture fund focused on education ventures.
For its part, downtown private equity firm ABS Capital Partners was an existing investor in Galvanize.

ABS Portfolio Company To Acquire Hack Reactor https://t.co/p71mWQjQHA

— ABS Capital Partners (@ABSCapital) July 19, 2018

At the same time as the funding announcement, Galvanize said it acquired San Francisco–based Hack Reactor.
According to Reuters, the move will combine operations for the two companies in San Francisco, New York and Austin, where Hack Reactor has campuses. Galvanize is in a total of seven cities, and is also adding Hack Reactor’s campus in Los Angeles with the deal.
The merger is another sign of consolidation in the coding education space. Last year, coding schools with a national presence including Dev Bootcamp and The Iron Yard shut down. Meanwhile, the New York–based Flatiron School was acquired by WeWork, and expanded to D.C.
For its part, Galvanize is making a bet on getting bigger.
“We believe we have the team and the assets to be the leader in technology boot camps for individual students and corporations,” Galvanize CEO Al Rosabal told Reuters.