Higher One, New Haven’s fast-growing tech company, is branching out. The Science Park-based company announced Tuesday that it has acquired Campus Labs, a company that helps universities gather and assess data about themselves.
The acquisition marks an expansion for Higher One, which helps universities to process tuition payments and refunds. By buying Campus Labs, Higher One is moving into other university services.
Higher One has become New Haven’s tech darling and favored new-economy jobs generator. The company recently relocated into new headquarters on Winchester Avenue at Science Park, paid for in part with public money. Started by Yale undergraduates, the company now handles financial aid disbursement for 830 colleges campuses, serving about 6.2 million students.
Higher One president Miles Lasater said his company bought Campus Labs for “approximately $38 million in cash plus some stock and a future earn-out based on 2013 revenue.” That means the seller can earn more money if the company does well in the coming year.
Lasater said Campus Labs helps colleges and universities to make better decisions by “gathering input from students and data from other parts of campus to evaluate the success of programs.”
While other industries have moved toward “fact-based decision making” featuring data collection and analysis, “most universities don’t use the data they have as effectively as they could,” Lasater said.
This is Higher One’s largest acquisition, he said. Campus Labs has about 90 employees, compared to the 650 at Higher One, Lasater said,
Combined, Higher One and Campus Labs “serve over half of the education market” in the country, Lasater said.
“I think it continues to strengthen Higher One, which should help us grow our services,” Lasater said. “Over time it will mean that we continue to grow jobs here.”