M&A activity snapshot
Education deal flow is recovering after a hard 2025. Tyton Partners counted 514 global education deals in H1 2026, up 77%, and 172 U.S. deals, up 41%. That followed a year when global and U.S. education deal volume fell roughly 20%.
A second data set counts deals differently. R.L. Hulett, using PitchBook data, counted 782 Education & Training deals in 2025, up 6.7% from 733, with the lower middle market (under $50 million) at 82.9% of volume. The two series use different scopes, so they disagree on direction; both show most deals are small.
The market is fragmented. Census counted 118,004 educational services establishments and 82,162 child day care establishments in 2023. Large platforms change hands among sponsors: Harvest Partners bought a majority of The Learning Experience, with more than 430 schools, from Golden Gate Capital.
Who is buying
PE-backed platforms. Sponsors own most large childcare chains. After KinderCare's 2024 IPO, Partners Group still held about 71% of its common stock. At the top end, an EQT-led consortium completed its acquisition of Nord Anglia in a $14.5 billion transaction. Sponsor activity has cooled in the U.S.: the sponsor share of U.S. deals fell from 33% to 24% in H1 2026.
Franchise and multi-brand platforms. Roark Capital-backed Youth Enrichment Brands launched by acquiring i9 Sports, serving more than 600,000 kids a year at launch. These platforms buy franchisors and add brands across sports, tutoring and enrichment.
Strategic and public operators. Strategics held up better than PE in 2025: strategic M&A rose 4% globally while private equity activity dropped about 25%. Strategic investors also reach into new segments, as when DICK'S led a $120M round in Unrivaled Sports.
Independent sponsors and search funds. Below platform size, single-site centers, schools and programs often sell to individual buyers and small funds. Small deals dominate the count, and these buyers compete for businesses under platform minimums.
What buyers look for
Revenue that does not depend on public budgets. Tyton reports that as ESSER funding rolled off, investors shifted toward corporate learning, workforce development, healthcare training and early childhood centers. Sponsors favored models serving fee-paying families.
Enrollment and occupancy trend. Public operators show the spread. In Q2 2026, KinderCare reported 4.0% lower enrollment and closed 49 centers, while Bright Horizons grew revenue 7% to $779.2 million. Universal Technical Institute's new student starts rose 10.9%.
Clean licensing and approvals. Every segment carries a permit that must survive a sale: state childcare licenses and ratios, accreditation and federal student-aid approval for trade schools, background checks for youth programs, and state licenses for driving schools. Buyers check these before price.
Durability against AI and policy shifts. Online and district-funded tutoring has weakened. Nerdy's Q2 2026 revenue fell 4% and it is winding down its schools business. In-person, family-paid instruction draws more interest.
What makes a strong company
An education or child services business that draws premium interest usually shows:
- Mostly private-pay or employer-paid revenue, with subsidy or government revenue a minority.
- Enrollment or occupancy that is rising, with waitlists or documented retention.
- Licenses, accreditation and franchise agreements in good standing, with transfer paths understood.
- Staff who stay through a sale: center directors, lead teachers, instructors and coaches.
- Several sites or programs, or a clear way to add them.
- Pricing power. The national average price of child care was $13,184 in 2025.
Valuation and deal structure
Size sets the multiple. Reported 2025 Education & Training deals had a median 12.6x EV/EBITDA for PE buyers and 6.0x for strategic buyers, and median revenue multiples of 1.0x and 1.2x. Hulett notes these medians come from a small sample of deals that report multiples.
Small businesses trade on owner earnings instead. BizBuySell's Education and Children segment averaged 0.84x revenue and 2.88x cash flow, with a $350,000 median sale price, on sales from 2021 through 2025. The same data shows day care and child care centers at 3.27x and schools at 2.63x. Cash flow there means seller's discretionary earnings, which runs higher than EBITDA, so the two measures are not directly comparable.
Deals often stall on price. Tyton estimates that as many as ~40% of launched U.S. PE sale processes stalled amid bid-ask gaps. Earnouts tied to enrollment and seller rollover into a platform are common ways to bridge that gap, though no public source tracks how often each is used in education. Owners can test their numbers with the valuation tool.
Subindustries
Each segment below has its own buyers, regulations and KPIs. Childcare and career training draw the most platform interest; driving schools and youth programs are smaller and more local.