Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
Imagine Learning (formerly Weld North Education)
A private-equity-built roll-up of K-12 digital curriculum. Former Kaplan CEO Jonathan Grayer started Weld North with KKR in 2010, bought e2020 (Edgenuity) and Imagine Learning, added math, literacy, science and core curriculum brands, recapitalised with Silver Lake in 2018 and renamed the whole company Imagine Learning in 2021. It describes itself as the largest US provider of "digital-first" curriculum, serving roughly half of US districts.
At a glance
- Founded
- Weld North founded 2010 by Jonathan Grayer with KKR backing. Main predecessors: e2020 (Arizona, founded 1998; renamed Edgenuity 2013) and Imagine Learning (Provo, Utah, founded ~2004)
- Founders
- Jonathan Grayer (Weld North); predecessor companies had their own founders
- Headquarters
- Scottsdale, Arizona (major offices in Provo, Utah, and elsewhere)
- Ownership / structure
- Private. Majority owned by Silver Lake since January 2018; Onex a significant investor since 2021; Grayer and management hold equity (reported). KKR exited in 2018
- Leadership (2026)
- Jonathan Grayer, Founder, Chairman and CEO (per 2026 company releases); Waseem Alam, CFO and corporate development (reported). Jeremy Cowdrey was CEO of the Imagine Learning business from January 2020 and led it into the 2021 rebrand (verify his later role)
- Segment and buyer
- K-12 core and supplemental curriculum, courseware, virtual instruction; buyers are school districts and states, funded by general and federal (Title I, ESSER) budgets
- Scale
- ~18 million students and ~half of US school districts served; ~3,000 employees (company, 2025). Revenue not disclosed; third-party estimates vary widely and are unreliable
- Capital raised / valuation / market cap
- 2018 Silver Lake transaction reported at nearly $1bn; 2021 Onex investment (amount not disclosed); later valuation not disclosed
- Signature moves
- e2020 buy (2011); Imagine Learning buy (2014); Think Through Math (2015); Silver Lake recap (2018); core-curriculum push via StudySync, Twig and LearnZillion (2019); COVID surge (2020); rebrand to Imagine Learning (2021); AI acquisitions (CueThink, Pango, 2024). Controversies: credit-recovery quality, the 2020 Edgenuity auto-grader episode
8 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2011
Weld North Acquires e2020
Acquisition (platform deal)
2014
Acquires Imagine Learning
Acquisition
2015
Acquires Think Through Math
Acquisition
2018
Silver Lake Recapitalization
PE recapitalization / secondary buyout
2019
Core Curriculum Push
Acquisitions / strategy shift
2020
Edgenuity COVID Surge and Autograder
Scale-up / controversy
2021
Rebrand to Imagine Learning
Rebrand / new investor
2024
AI Acquisitions Pango CueThink
Acquisitions / AI launch