Melbourne-based edtech giant Compass Education has snapped up Clipboard, a fast-rising startup specializing in extracurricular activity management, in a deal finalized before Christmas 2025 for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition promises up to a 10x return for Clipboard’s early backers, including Jelix Ventures, EVP, and Sprint Ventures, marking the first exit for Jelix Fund I, according to Startup Daily.

Compass, a 17-year-old platform powering administrative tasks like payments, attendance tracking, and parent-teacher communications across thousands of schools, gains Clipboard’s expertise in handling sports, clubs, excursions, and camps. Clipboard serves over 500 Australian schools and more than one million users, filling a critical gap in school operations.

“By welcoming Clipboard, we are uniting specialist extracurricular workflows with the Compass platform to strengthen engagement and streamline operations across the whole school community,” Compass CEO and cofounder John de la Motte said in the announcement. The move creates real-time, two-way data synchronization across student records, attendance, activities, incidents, timetables, and reporting.

From University Court to Edtech Powerhouse

Clipboard’s origins trace back to 2017, when cofounders Ed Colyer and Sam Clarke, then university students coaching basketball at their Sydney alma mater, grappled with manual tracking systems using paper and spreadsheets. They recruited Christiaan Hind to build the platform, pioneering what they called an “Extracurricular Management System” or EMS, as detailed in Startup Daily‘s 2022 funding coverage.

The startup quickly gained traction, reaching 100 schools by 2022 and expanding to 500 by acquisition time. “Clipboard was founded to help students get more out of extracurricular life by equipping schools with the tools they need to take the burden out of managing their programs,” Colyer stated post-deal.

Pre-acquisition, Clipboard integrated seamlessly with Compass, syncing student data, absences, and schedules to unify views for staff and families, per Compass’s integration page. This existing partnership likely paved the way for deeper integration now.

Investor Windfall and Growth Trajectory

Jelix Ventures led Clipboard’s $850,000 seed in 2020 through an angel syndicate and followed on in the $3.1 million 2022 round led by EVP, with Sprint Ventures joining, as reported by Clipboard’s announcement. “I could not be more delighted that Jelix Ventures was a very early backer of Clipboard… Watching Ed Colyer grow from a university student… has been genuinely awe-inspiring,” Jelix’s Andrea Gardiner said.

EVP’s Daniel Szekely, who joined Clipboard’s board, praised the founders’ grit: “It is a great Australian startup success story… demonstrative of what ambitious founders can achieve regardless of their experience.” Sprint’s Llew Jury highlighted the platform’s innovation in streamlining cloud-based processes for schools.

The funds fueled product enhancements like activity selection and timesheets, saving schools up to $100,000 annually in admin costs. Joining Compass accelerates this roadmap, promising unified operations without disruption for users.

Compass’s Expansion Playbook

Compass, founded in 2009 by de la Motte and Lucas Filer, bootstrapped for years before raising $60 million from Advent Partners in 2019 to fuel national dominance and international push into the UK, Ireland, and beyond, according to Australian Financial Review. Now backed by EQT following Advent’s 2024 exit, it serves over 3,000 schools and 4 million users with 40+ interconnected tools.

“Together, we’re building the most connected ecosystem for schools,” de la Motte added, emphasizing reduced admin burdens to let teachers focus on instruction. Recent moves like acquiring Music Monitor underscore Compass’s bolt-on strategy.

This deal fits a pattern in Australia’s edtech sector, where consolidation addresses fragmented admin tools amid rising demands for data-driven efficiency post-pandemic.

Strategic Synergies in School Operations

Pre-deal integrations allowed Clipboard to pull Compass data for rolls and schedules, while pushing activity info back, automating enrollments and cutting workloads. Post-acquisition, expect tighter fusion: a single student view merging curricular and co-curricular data to boost engagement and safety.

Colyer noted the join-up will “save staff time and increase student engagement outside the classroom.” Schools using both already benefit from visible extracurriculars on schedules, flagging mismatches in timesheets for accuracy.

For investors, the 10x ROI validates early bets on young founders solving real pains. Gardiner called it a mission-driven business gaining a bigger platform, while Szekely thanked collaborators like EVP for their support.

Investor Perspectives on the Exit

EVP led the 2022 round to hire talent and build features amid Covid recovery, with Jelix’s Alon Greenspan noting Clipboard’s 4x growth despite lockdowns, per Clipboard’s blog. Sprint emphasized low-cost innovation for institutions.

“They have delivered an exceptional outcome for their staff and investors,” Szekely said. Gardiner’s multi-round commitment—from syndicate to Fund I—yielded this milestone exit.

Clipboard’s viral adoption via word-of-mouth at schools evolved into international inquiries, but Australia remained core. Now under Compass’s global umbrella, expansion accelerates.

Broader Edtech Consolidation Trends

Australia’s edtech scene has matured, with firms like Compass acquiring to complete stacks. EQT’s investment targets analytics, assessment, and timetabling enhancements, per their press release.

Clipboard fills the ‘third limb’ alongside SIS and LMS, as cofounder Sam Clarke described to Business News Australia. Studies link extracurriculars to better academics and wellbeing, amplifying the platform’s impact.

As schools prioritize efficiency, this merger exemplifies how targeted acquisitions create comprehensive ecosystems, positioning Compass as Australia’s edtech leader amid global ambitions.