M&A Moves: Maryland edtech company 2U may get acquired for $1B

2U might be looking at a $1B acquisition deal

Reports suggest that Lanham, Maryland edtech firm 2U could get acquired for a cool 10 figures.

According to Bloomberg, the company apparently received an offer from India-based online education company Byju. Citing an individual close to the deal, the report said that it offered $15 per share of the company’s stock. While the deal is not yet publicly confirmed, it’s already reached stockholders, as the company’s shares jumped 17% last week. Byju would allegedly use the deal to grow its presence in the US.

A spokesperson for 2U declined to comment on the potential deal.

The news follows a huge acquisition by 2U itself. Last fall, the company acquired Cambridge, Massachusetts education platform edX for $800 million. When it first announced the deal during the preceding summer, 2U said that it expected to reach near $1 billion in annual revenue by the end of 2021.

“There is an urgent need across society to make learning affordable, accessible and equitable – for all learners, at every stage of life. Meeting that mission made edX a global brand and a top destination for learners everywhere,” said 2U cofounder and CEO Christopher Paucek in a statement at the time. “That’s the mission we now advance together.”

MyDigitalOffice acquired Datavision Technologies

MyDigitalOffice (MDO), a Bethesda, Maryland company that created a hotel performance management tech platform, acquired hotel data analytics company Datavision Technologies.

According to MDO, the Datavision hospitality platform offers a view into the ins and outs of hotel operations, as well as lets customers create reports and dashboards to ensure better stays. With the data from MDO’s pool, it said customers will have access to even more information for the data and reporting platform.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Datavision into the MDO family and couldn’t be more excited for our amazing customers, like Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, and for our industry as a whole,” said MDO’s founder and CEO Ali Moloo in a statement. “Together, we are the global category leader for holistic hotel performance management.”

Here’s who else is making merger (and acquisition) moves across the DMV:

• San Diego’s Interlaced.io, an IT services provider, acquired fellow IT service company Grove Technologies, which is based in DC. In a statement, Interlaced said that the move would help the company bring its technology to the DMV-area market.
• Linthicum, Maryland-based Peak Technologies, which specializes in ID and data tech, is moving into the Euro sphere with acquisitions of Ireland’s VisionID and the Netherlands-based Dalosy. Both are automatic identification and data capture companies; financial terms for both deals were not disclosed.
• TargetSmart, a DC-based political data provider, acquired fundraising firm Integral Resources. TargetSmart will absorb a six-person team and Integral Resources’ call center. TargetSmart said that this is its first major acquisition since its founding in 2006.
• Arlington, Virginia radar defense tech Leonardo DRS will be merging with Israel-based RADA Electronic Industries, the pair announced in June. The combined company will be public once the deal closes, which is expected in Q4, and RADA will become a subsidiary of Leonardo. The combined company will be listed on the Nasdaq and TASE under the symbol DRS.
• Leesburg, Virginia’s Quantum Computing Inc. (QCI), a quantum software company, completed its acquisition of New Jersey quantum photonics company QPhoton. QPhoton will become a subsidiary of QCI through the deal, and CEO Yuping Huang will become QCI’s new chief quantum officer and director.