Parchment, a Scottsdale-based digital credential service, has announced its acquisition of Digitary, also a digital credential service, which is used in hundreds of higher education institutions around the world.
Parchment and Digitary are both edtech companies designed to allow students, academic institutions and employers to request, verify and share credentials, like academic transcripts, safely and efficiently. With this acquisition, Parchment will be part of Digitary’s large global network.
“At our core, Parchment believes credentials matter,” the company said. “Our two companies share a common mission to help turn credentials into opportunities.”
According to Parchment’s website, the company is “the most widely adopted digital credential service.” While Parchment was working with a few schools outside the U.S. the company has largely been based here. Digitary serves schools and universities internationally. Parchment already supports secondary schools, while Digitary is still working with some regions, like Canada, to establish secondary school providers in the network.
Parchment was founded in 2003 in Scottsdale by Jeff Harris, Mark Cohen and John Reese and Digitary launched just two years later out of Dublin.
According to an official statement provided by Parchment, the two companies have “formally combined,” though the official parent company is Parchment. However, the company will continue to operate under the Digitary name in the countries where Digitary has already been established. Digitary has been supporting schools in Australia (MyEquals), Canada (MyCreds/MesCertif), Japan, New Zealand (MyEquals) and the United Kingdom.
Parchment noted that continuity is a top priority during the transition. The company is still “fully committed to supporting both platforms for the foreseeable future.”
“Digitary CORE is purposely built for the unique needs of national network partners, as well as the local requirements and practices of education organizations in a number of regions globally,” Parchment said. “Parchment’s platform is similarly aligned with the needs of its core U.S. market.”
The combined company brings together 275 employees across the globe. Matthew Pittinsky, co-founder and former CEO of edtech company Blackboard, Inc, is Parchment’s CEO.
The company emphasized that there is “very little overlap” in each company’s regional operations, so this combined company should allow academic institutions to keep working with the same people.
“Our collective experience and complementary cultures allow us to deepen our relationships with network members and expand career opportunities for our people.”