Riverside Insights Acquires SaaS Provider ESGI

ITASCA, Ill. & SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Riverside Insights (“Riverside”), a portfolio company of Alpine Investors (“Alpine”), today announced that it has acquired ESGI (“Educational Software for Guiding Instruction” or “ESGI”), an industry-leading SaaS platform for administering, creating, tracking and reporting teacher-led assessments of early childhood students.

“We are thrilled to partner with ESGI to expand Riverside’s leadership position,” said Rajib Roy, CEO of Riverside. “ESGI has built a market leading, premier product suite through its commitment to creating high-quality assessment technology for teachers and classrooms. With Riverside’s vast reach to school districts across the country, it can greatly enhance faster adoption of ESGI products while furthering its own mission: ‘1 Billion Lives Enriched Globally By 2020.’”

With origins dating back to 2001, ESGI was founded by Greg Gorman with the mission to help teachers and administrators overcome the unique challenges of early childhood education. ESGI’s web-based assessment and reporting system supports individualized learning using real-time data analytics that improve student performance, educator effectiveness, and operational efficiency. ESGI’s services include a shared network of 1,200 pre-loaded and customizable assessments, automated and personalized parent letters across multiple languages, fully automated and real-time dashboards and reports, and comprehensive online training and support.

“Riverside and ESGI share a common commitment to elevating the potential of students, educators, and administrators,” said Jim Bowler, CEO of ESGI. “Riverside’s talent-oriented mindset, mission-driven culture and commitment to research-based assessments make it a great fit for ESGI’s vision for transforming the early childhood classroom. We are excited to work together to effect positive change in education and advance student achievement.”

Alpine and Riverside were advised by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. ESGI was advised by Dorsey & Whitney and Craig-Hallum Capital Group was the M&A advisor.

About Riverside Insights
Riverside is a leading provider of educational and clinical assessments that play a key role in helping individuals elevate their learning potential by providing accurate and reliable data. With over 80 years of research and experience, Riverside is comprised of several iconic, leading brands such as Woodcock-Johnson®, the Iowa Assessments™, and CogAT. For more information, visit https://www.riversideinsights.com/.

About Alpine Investors
Alpine Investors is a people-driven private equity firm that is committed to building enduring companies by working with, learning from, and developing exceptional people. Alpine specializes in middle-market companies in the software and services industries. Its PeopleFirst strategy includes a CEO-in-Residence program where Alpine partners with CEOs first and places them into companies as part of the transaction. This provides a distinct solution for situations where additional or new management is desired post-transaction. For more information, visit https://alpineinvestors.com/.

About ESGI
ESGI is an industry-leading platform for conducting one-on-one assessments that guide instruction for early childhood students. ESGI assessments empower teachers with real-time student data in easy-to-read reports, graphs, parent letters and flashcards. With over 1,200 preloaded assessments from early childhood experts and the opportunity to create customs assessments, teachers and administrators individualize instruction to support the success of every student.