Image via Facebook/Renaissance Learning

Google recently made an investment in an education technology startup called Renaissance Learning, which reported the details of the search giant’s purchase on Wednesday morning. According to the New York Times, Google paid $40 million for the investment.

This investment, which is Google’s first investment in education, is a significant move for the company. Renaissance offers cloud-based educational software for almost 20 million users. The company’s focus is on reading and math programs for the K-12 set as well as assessment tools. Three years ago, the Wisconsin-based company was acquired by British equity firm Permira. And just last summer, Renaissance bought up Subtext, a digital reading service for all grades.

“All over the world, technology has opened new doors for students to learn both in the classroom and at home,” Google Capital’s Gene Frantz stated, “For many educators, the question is not whether to embrace new technology, but how to embrace technology in a way that makes teachers’ lives easier and meaningfully boosts student achievement.”

Renaissance currently hosts data for 38,000 schools. The total number of students using its cloud platform is at 18 million. With the wide portfolio of reach and applications, this company also owns Learnalytics, a service that allows teachers to monitor the progress of their student. Just last year, the service powered over 45 million assessments.

Last year, the search giant created Google Capital to invest in tech start-ups. Previous investments made by this program include loan match-up service Lending Club and Survey Monkey.

Even though this is Google’s first investment in an educational service, this is not the first time the search giant demonstrated interest in education. The company’s Apps for Education program were designed for both students and faculty to communicate in a secure environment. This included extra secure and private applications for Gmail, Drive, Docs, Calendar, and more. The company also markets Chromebooks to schools.

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