Ohio-based educational publisher McGraw Hill is set to become the latest company to secure funding from the public markets as it prepares for its initial public offering. The company is looking to raise around $537 million at between $19 and $22 per share, which would amount to a $4.2 billion valuation.

Below, we leverage expert transcripts and other insights from the AlphaSense platform to assess McGraw Hill and the competitive dynamics shaping the educational publishing space.

McGraw Hill’s Competitive Positioning

The educational publishing industry has historically been dominated by the “big three” companies: McGraw Hill, Pearson, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is viewed by experts as a leader in elementary math assessments and K-12 core curriculum solutions, yet does not have the size or scale as the rest of the big three. Pearson is much larger and has the advantage in the depth of its catalog, but the company “moves at a glacial pace, especially with innovation,” as one expert puts it.

By contrast, McGraw Hill is considered the ideal combination of heft and innovative power. The company has been strategically investing in AI to enhance its educational offerings, including AI tools and AI-powered learning platforms. One key innovation has been the company’s adoption of an evergreen model, which eschews periodic textbook editions in favor of continuous digital updates. The evergreen model is considered a game-changing development that offers a significant competitive advantage in subject areas like math and science, bringing down the cost of content creation.

The company has also made strategic acquisitions such as Essaypop, GoReact, and Kipactive, underscoring its strategy to leverage cutting-edge technology in the evolving landscape. The upcoming IPO may lend itself to further innovation, enabling the company to invest in innovative capabilities or technologies to strengthen competitive differentiation in its S1/A. The opportunity set is vast: The Business Research Company projects the AI education market will grow to $30.38 billion by 2029. At the same time, companies are facing rising costs that come with innovation.

Digital Disruption: Challenging the Status Quo

As educational publishing hits an AI inflection point, all three big publishers face the challenge of balancing investments with profitability. While each has made strides in innovating, their dominance could be fading. The big publishers face significant disruption from digital-first competitors and AI-powered platforms, such as Sana Labs and Coursera. These smaller firms are leveraging AI to create adaptive learning tools, quiz generators, and analytics platforms — which traditional publishers may struggle to match. These smaller players are also nimble enough to carve out their own niche in underserved markets.

Another selling point for these smaller firms: Their services are often cheaper. With more schools shifting toward low- or no-cost alternatives amid budget constraints, traditional publishers face increased customer acquisition costs.

The arrival of new competition has fundamentally transformed the educational publishing market. Now, platform content is no longer considered the key differentiator between firms. As content becomes increasingly commoditized, success depends less on depth and breadth of content and more on whether companies have the technological ability to deliver the right content to the right audience.

“[I]f the content itself starts to become more and more of a commodity, then the trick is what technology are you using to either present that content just at the right time or to develop quiz questions at just the right time or track student progress against individual learning objectives or all the other technology pieces that come along with that content."

“I think that's where personally I forecast, that's where those edtech companies will be more successful because the value of the words on the page will probably continue to go down little by little.”

– Former VP at McGraw Hill, March 2024 Call

Looking Ahead: Strategic Positioning Is Key

McGraw Hill’s valuation potential hinges on a fundamental question: whether management sees the company as a traditional content publisher or a technology-forward education company. The latter path would likely open up new opportunities.

“If McGraw Hill sees itself primarily as a content-centric company, I think that space in the edtech space will have quite a bit of competition and continued price compression. I think if McGraw Hill sees itself as more of a technology-forward or technology-focused entity that can improve student learning, then there's quite a bit of room and opportunity there.”

– Former VP at McGraw Hill, July 2025 Call

As such, McGraw Hill’s technological agility positions the company favorably for success post-IPO. As the most technology-forward of the big three firms, McGraw Hill is broadly seen as the best equipped to withstand the threat of digital upstarts.

The company has invested heavily in AI-driven personalization. One example is its AI-powered ALEKS platform, which adapts to individual student learning paths. ALEKS is now reportedly being used as core curriculum in some U.S. districts. One expert says McGraw Hill has “done the best job of investing in technology” without many complications.

“I feel like they've just been one step ahead of the other publishers in terms of adding things into their own [platform]. They've been able to keep a solid platform without as many hiccups as others. They've been able to be one step ahead, including data analytics, AI, [and so forth].”

– Former Director at Wiley, November 2024 Call

The same tech tools that have created a competitive advantage for McGraw Hill could also pave the way for international expansion. Experts see a strong opportunity through AI translation abilities that can aid in content creation for non-English speakers. The company’s evergreen model makes localized content adjustments even easier through real-time updates.

Where is the educational publishing space headed? Experts anticipate the industry’s technological transformation will keep up, even as firms adjust how they use that technology. To date, publishers have mostly used technology for streamlining processes and improving the user experience. But tomorrow’s educational publishers could be using technology for content creation.

“Put very simply, if it used to take an author a year to write a new textbook and then add on top of that maybe six months of editing and layout and all sorts of things that would need to be done, you can now [use AI to] get a first draft done much more quickly and bring a product to market much more quickly, while also reducing your overall cost of producing that product. Again, in a space where price compression is happening, that's a very, very attractive proposition.”

– Former VP at McGraw Hill, July 2025 Call

Mitigate Uncertainty With AlphaSense

Using the AlphaSense platform, investors can perform a deep dive on any company, including pre-IPO names like McGraw Hill, with ease. Our Canalyst Models provide financial professionals with an extensive library of 4,000+ pre-built, highly accurate, and granular financial models that update automatically. Our company-specific IPO models, including for companies like McGraw Hill, are available within days of filing, enabling faster, more confident decision-making.

See how AlphaSense can level up your investment research workflow. Start your free trial today.

Don’t miss our other AlphaSense primers:

• Circle and the Stablecoin Market | An AlphaSense Primer
• Chime Financial and the Neobanking Market | An AlphaSense Primer
• Figma and the Creative Cloud Market | An AlphaSense Primer
• StubHub and the Global Ticketing Market | An AlphaSense Primer
• Klarna and the Buy Now, Pay Later Market | An AlphaSense Primer