Games and Learning

Blendspace, which aims to make it easier for teachers to incorporate digital tools into the classroom, has been added to TES Global’s increasingly large set of teaching tools.

2014 has been a busy one for the British-based TES Global, a digital network for teachers and administrators that claims more than 66 million members in nearly 200 countries.

The company, formerly named TSL Education, has been buying up several established teacher networks and digital tool companies and incorporating them into their overall suite of services.

This week Blendspace became the latest acquisition.

Terms of the deal were not released, but the new firm adds a startup aimed at making it easier for teachers to mix digital and traditional teaching tools – so-called blended teaching.

“We got into education because we wanted to be part of something bigger than ourselves,” Blendspace wrote on its blog on Tuesday. “This collaboration will accelerate us so that we reach more classrooms faster with better products.”

In announcing the move, TES Global said Blendspace would become a part of its Wikispaces division.  The British firm bought Wikispaces, a startup that aims to create wiki tools for teachers, in February.

“Blendspace is a very clever, simple and beautifully designed lesson-building tool, which enables teachers to join individual resources together into whole lessons and courses. At TES Global, enhancing the reach and functionality of our resources platform is one of our top priorities and I believe the addition of Blendspace into our portfolio is a strong complement to the tools currently being developed, and will enable us to further expand our range of classroom technologies,” Louise Rogers, chief executive of TES Global, said in a release. 

All of this marks a serious series of investments in the edtech space fueled, in part, by TPG Capital. In 2013, the San Francisco-based investment giant bought TSL Education for a rumored $675 million. 

At the time, TPG stressed the purchase of what was then called TSL Education was aimed at expanding the online and international reach of the primarily British company.

“Over the past several years [TSL Education has] done an outstanding job in transitioning the business to become the leading site for teachers both online and in print while gaining a sizeable and growing audience across the globe,” Karl Peterson, Managing Partner for TPG Capital LLP, said. “TPG’s global presence and extensive online experience fit well with the Company’s ambitions and we anticipate accelerating growth through further investments in TSL’s digital capabilities.”

And since the purchase the education firm has been on a bit of a buying spree, purchasing Wikispaces in March, a UK-based teacher recruitment firm Vision for Education in June and now Blendspace in July.

The investments put the renamed TES Global in a position to reach more than 65 million teachers in nearly 200 countries with services ranging from technology tools to create blended classrooms to lesson plans to recruitment tools for administrators.

The acquisitions create a stronger player in the edtech and recruitment sectors and also signal a continued interest in the edtech space by some investors.