ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the financescape of global edu-business, with particular attention to the role of venture capital and private equity investment, in order to account for its relation to educational opportunities and education policy. It focuses on the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF) as a case in point of developmental investment in the sector, drawing upon secondary sources as well as data from interviews conducted as part of a Leverhulme Trust-funded study on new philanthropy, education policy and governance. The chapter provides an overview of the evolution of the Pearson business and it's rebranding as an education/learning company to frame our subsequent analysis of PALF's origins, aims, strategies, and portfolio. It discusses some of the ways in which the increase in the volume and speed of equity investment in edu-business is significantly transforming the dynamics of the sector.
