Making an impact on the higher education enrollment landscape
Carnegie provides its 500+ higher education customers with a broad range of marketing and enrollment services. As a trusted partner to universities, Carnegie creates strong brands, messaging, digital marketing and technology solutions that help universities optimize their student enrollment objectives.
The Private IPO® fit the needs of Carnegie’s founder
Originally founded by Joe Moore over 30 years ago, Carnegie had built a stellar reputation within the higher ed market. Joe had a great business that was going to keep growing, even with the uncertain times that COVID brought in 2020. They had a plan they intended to execute and wanted a partner that believed in their plan.
In October 2020, we invested with Carnegie’s shareholders in The Private IPO® solution, providing Joe and his core leadership team an opportunity to diversify net worth while keeping control of the business in the hands of the founders. Our solution allowed the team access to capital for acquisitions and an incentive program that would reward their future growth.
Core investment thesis supported both organic and inorganic growth
Carnegie’s growth thesis was strong. Within the broader market, demand for digital marketing services at universities was growing and Carnegie had the largest digital marketing team dedicated to higher education. The company also operated in a highly fragmented competitive landscape with many of high quality, albeit smaller competitors offering different but complementary and synergistic service lines.
Collaborative work drove equity value creation
Carnegie’s board and leadership team executed a strategic plan to drive equity value creation. With collaborative discussions and careful planning, the team sourced and integrated six highly strategic add-on acquisitions, adding new complementary services to Carnegie’s go to market strategy. To ensure the success of those tuck-ins, the leadership team took on a new integrated marketing plan, repositioning the individual product offerings into a cohesive and integrated solution sale under the “Carnegie” brand. This included a revamp of sales, marketing and account management that enabled significant cross selling of services across the customer base. The board also worked closely with the founder on a succession plan, moving the founder into an active Chairman role while a new CEO helped prepare the company for its next stage of growth.
Outcome
A successful exit and a new partner for growth
After successfully executing on its strategic business plan and almost quadrupling EBITDA in only three years, Carnegie was successfully sold to another financial buyer in February 2024. Management continues to work with the new sponsor, executing on a long-term growth plan supporting the higher-ed market.
