Nelnet Acquires School Software Provider Entab in India

Nelnet, a financial services and technology company in Lincoln, Nebraska, has acquired Entab Infotech, a school management software provider in New Delhi, in northern India. Nelnet’s Business Services unit made the purchase, according to the company’s announcement as published by Stock Titan. Nelnet did not disclose a price.

Nelnet trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NNI. Its Business Services unit serves more than 1,200 higher education institutions and nearly 12,000 K-12 schools worldwide.

Entab was founded in 2000 and sells software that schools use to run admissions, academics, fees and other operations, along with a learning management system. Its CampusCare platform serves more than 1,000 schools in 28 of India’s states and supports more than 1.5 million students. Nelnet said Entab’s 290 employees and its leadership team will stay on.

DeeAnn Wenger, president of Nelnet Business Services, said: “This acquisition represents an important milestone in our strategy to build a global platform that helps educational institutions operate more effectively and better serve students and families.” Lawrence Zacharias, Entab’s chief executive and co-founder, said that joining Nelnet Business Services “significantly enhances our access to resources and expertise that will enable us to accelerate our product roadmap.”

Why this matters. India isone of the world’s largest K-12 education markets, and Nelnet is buying a business that already serves more than 1,000 schools there, rather than building one from scratch. For American executives, the deal shows a way to enter India: acquire a local company with its staff and customers in place.