Iowa City-based firm Pear Deck recently announced its acquisition by GoGuardian, an education technology company headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
Pear Deck, established in 2015 by Riley Eynon-Lynch and Michal Eynon-Lynch, focuses on aiding teachers in creating interactive lessons directly from Google Drive to foster active learning in classrooms.
In a video unveiling the merger, Riley expressed excitement about the alignment of objectives between GoGuardian and Pear Deck, noting, “They [GoGuardian] are addressing the same problem that we were tackling at Pear Deck but from a completely different perspective. So, I’m thrilled that we’re now collaborating and addressing this challenge together.”
This acquisition marks the second successful venture for Riley and Michal, who previously founded ActiveGrade, a company dedicated to enhancing educators’ ability to monitor student progress. ActiveGrade was acquired by Haiku Learning in January 2013.
Advait Shinde, co-founder and CEO of GoGuardian, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, emphasizing the shared vision and synergy between the two companies. He stated, “We are excited to collaborate with Pear Deck to extend our impact and inspire classrooms nationwide with innovative tools that cater to the evolving needs of educators and students today. Our missions are highly aligned, and our products and teams complement each other well. We have witnessed numerous instances where schools combine our GoGuardian Teacher product with Pear Deck to facilitate instruction and create environments conducive to student success. Together, our expertise and resources are poised to develop next-generation technologies that will revolutionize digital learning environments.”
As part of the acquisition agreement, Michal Eynon-Lynch will join the GoGuardian Board of Directors. The specific terms of the deal were not disclosed.