Niche Acquires Goodkind to Modernize How Colleges and Schools Connect with Students

Goodkind's suite of student-first communications tools positions Niche to accelerate its growth, product innovation, and impact in the education sector.

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Niche, the country's leading platform connecting students with colleges and schools, has acquired Goodkind, a pioneering communications solution that enables schools and higher education institutions to build stronger relationships with students and help boost enrollment. 

From research and evaluation to admissions and enrollment, today's students and their families want a more modern, personalized, and transparent experience—similar to what they've come to expect in other areas of their lives. This acquisition brings together two companies at the forefront of transforming the entire process through more modern communications channels to foster deeper engagement, helping students find schools and institutions where they'll thrive.

The Goodkind platform blends authenticity with automation, allowing institutions to quickly and easily advance their student communications through video messaging, texting, WhatsApp automation, video reels, chatbots and more. With tens of millions of people using Niche each year, this technology will help K-12 and higher education institutions provide proactive, personalized, real-time information to students and their families, based on their specific needs and stage in the process. Backed by Y Combinator, one of the world's top startup accelerator programs, and other leading investors, Goodkind has over 85 partners leveraging its powerful, mobile-first products.

With the acquisition of Goodkind, Niche is well-positioned to accelerate its growth and product innovation, driving even more meaningful results for current and future partners by increasing student engagement, trust, yield and tuition revenue.

"This is a huge milestone for Niche, Goodkind, and the industry we serve," said Luke Skurman, founder and CEO of Niche. "The Goodkind team shares our mission-driven commitment to addressing the critical challenges facing education today, and their product suite has been highly effective in reaching students and families in new ways, no matter where they are in their journey. By bringing Goodkind's talented team and innovative technology into Niche, we can deliver the tools, insights, and outcomes that today's education landscape demands."

"Niche is redefining the category of K-12 and higher education technology and services," said Justin Rotman, co-founder and CEO of Goodkind. "From getting to know Luke and the Niche team over the past few years, it became clear that joining forces would allow us to have an even greater impact – at scale and with speed – creating unparalleled value for institutions, schools, students and families. We couldn't be more excited about this next chapter for Goodkind."

Initially, Goodkind will remain an independent product. Its suite of offerings will gradually integrate into the Niche platform, which is trusted by over 3,000 K-12 schools and colleges, including o140 higher education institutions sending real-time acceptance and upfront scholarship offers through Niche Direct Admissions^®.

Alongside acquiring Goodkind's technology, Niche is thrilled to welcome its exceptionally gifted team, including its leadership group. The Niche leadership team and its existing employees will remain with the company.

For more information about Goodkind, now part of Niche, visit: niche.com/about/partners/goodkind

ABOUT NICHE:
Trusted by over 70 million people annually, Niche is the country's leading college and school search platform. We provide over 3,000 higher education and school partners with the tools and support they need to streamline operations, forge genuine connections with students and achieve their enrollment targets. With our Niche Direct Admissions^® program, higher education institutions can proactively admit students based solely on their Niche Profile, offering a modern admissions experience for today's students that yields higher enrollments. Learn more about ways to partner with Niche.

Press contact:
Nick Liberati
Director, PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Niche