Watermark

Name

Watermark

Legal name

Watermark Insights

Website

https://watermarkinsights.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Educational Support Services (611710)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Test Item Banks, Question Authoring & Assessment Design Tools (EDAFADAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Assessment Analytics & Item/Question Intelligence (IRT, Item Banks, Diagnostic Insights) (EDAFAFAG)

Keywords

• Higher education software
• Student success platform
• Accreditation management software
• Faculty activity reporting
• Course evaluation surveys

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Enterprise SaaS Subscription: Watermark operates as a B2B SaaS company serving higher education institutions with an enterprise subscription model. The company offers multiple integrated solutions under the Educational Impact Suite umbrella including Planning & Self-Study, Course Evaluations & Surveys, Faculty Success, Student Success & Engagement, Student Learning & Licensure, Assessment Projects, and Curriculum Strategy. Pricing is quote-based and likely structured as per-institution annual subscriptions with tiered access to different product bundles.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Watermark sells an integrated Educational Impact Suite (EIS) of SaaS solutions to colleges and universities, covering course evaluations, faculty activity reporting and promotion/tenure, student success and retention, accreditation and assessment, curriculum strategy, and student learning/licensure, connected by an Insights Hub. The platform is enhanced with AI features (Instructor Insights, Academic Momentum, Currents, AI-powered CV imports, Assessment Catalyst Toolpack) built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

Product overview

Watermark is a higher education software company offering an integrated Educational Impact Suite (EIS) of complementary solutions connected by an Insights Hub. The core product portfolio includes: Planning & Self-Study (assessment and accreditation), Student Success & Engagement (retention and predictive analytics), Course Evaluations & Surveys (student feedback with AI-powered Instructor Insights), Student Learning & Licensure (ePortfolios and field assessment), Assessment Projects (rubric-based juried assessment), Curriculum Strategy (catalog management), and Faculty Success (activity reporting and promotion/tenure workflows). AI-powered features include Instructor Insights, Watermark Academic Momentum, Watermark Currents, AI-Powered CV Imports, and the Assessment Catalyst Toolpack. The company emerged from consolidation of Taskstream, Tk20, and LiveText brands, serving 1,500+ institutions worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Taskstream by Watermark: Course evaluation and survey software platform for higher education institutions
• LiveText by Watermark
• Watermark Outcome Assessment Projects
• Watermark Student Learning & Licensure
• Tk20 by Watermark
• Watermark Academic Momentum
• Watermark Currents
• Instructor Insights
• Assessment Catalyst Toolpack (ACT)
• Educational Impact Suite (EIS)
• Insights Hub

Products and services

• Watermark Planning & Self-Study Unifies planning, assessment, and program review across institutions with a centralized system for continuous improvement and accreditation readiness, including AI-powered Assessment Catalyst Toolpack (ACT) for accelerated data synthesis and report drafting.
• Watermark Student Success & Engagement Boosts retention and reaches at-risk students faster with predictive analytics, early alerts, guided pathways, and tools to support students from enrollment to graduation.
• Watermark Course Evaluations & Surveys Streamlines course evaluation data collection with deep LMS integrations to boost response rates, including AI-powered Instructor Insights for synthesizing student feedback into actionable teaching guidance.
• Watermark Student Learning & Licensure Measures the entire learning experience with ePortfolios, rubric-based assessment from classroom to field, and field placement coordination; supports program improvement and accreditation.
• Watermark Assessment Projects Enables efficient, rubric-based juried assessment at scale to measure student learning outcomes, helping institutions quickly identify areas for improvement in large or cross-cutting programs.
• Watermark Curriculum Strategy Streamlines curriculum development and catalog creation with visual workflows and collaborative proposal/approval processes, keeping online catalogs accurate with real-time updates.
• Watermark Faculty Success Streamlines faculty reviews with automated data collection; centralizes faculty activity reporting, career tracking, promotion & tenure workflows, and AI-powered CV imports to reduce administrative workload.
• Educational Impact Suite (EIS) Comprehensive suite of complementary higher education solutions connected by an Insights Hub that uncovers key insights to help drive institutional progress and data-driven decision-making.
• Watermark Academic Momentum Standalone AI-powered program health assessment solution that gives academic leaders defensible evidence for program investment, evolution, or restructuring decisions by integrating internal metrics and labor market signals.

Quantifiable outcome

• Course evaluation response rates improved from 30% to 83% in one semester
• +13 more outcomes

Named customers33 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration23 records

AI capability7 records

Feature11 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Microsoft Azure OpenAI ServicecoreTechnology or IntegrationWatermark uses Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service as its enterprise-grade AI infrastructure partner for processing data securely. This is a critical technology partnership enabling Watermark's AI features including Instructor Insights, Academic Momentum, and Currents. Institutional data is never used to train or improve AI models per Watermark's responsible AI principles.
• Instructure (Canvas)coreTechnology or IntegrationEnhanced Canvas & Watermark Partnership for academic quality integration. Watermark offers deep integration with Canvas LMS enabling embedded course evaluations, gradebook points integration, grade blocking for response rates, and automated data synchronization for assessment and faculty activity reporting.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreTechnology or IntegrationWatermark is hosted on AWS infrastructure, providing cloud hosting services. Listed as an AWS hosting partner on the company website.
• Ellucian Banner & ColleaguecoreTechnology or IntegrationEllucian Banner & Colleague SIS integration enables automatic sync of course, student, TA, and instructor data to streamline course evaluation setup and ensure data integrity.
• Anthology BlackboardcoreTechnology or IntegrationAnthology Blackboard LMS integration enables sourcing and refreshing foundational data, embedded surveys, notifications, and seamless course evaluation setup.
• D2L BrightspacecoreTechnology or IntegrationD2L Brightspace LMS integration provides simplified course evaluation setup, survey accuracy, seamless student access to surveys, and instructor result access directly from the LMS.
• MoodlecoreTechnology or IntegrationMoodle LMS integration pulls course and enrollment data to build course evaluations and provides students one-click access to surveys from within Moodle.
• ElluciancoreTechnology or IntegrationEllucian ERP and HCM integration syncs appointments, credentials, course assignments, and grant data with Faculty Success for automated faculty information management.
• OraclecoreTechnology or IntegrationOracle integration enables synchronization of faculty appointments, credentials, and institutional data with Faculty Success.
• WorkdaycoreTechnology or IntegrationWorkday HCM integration syncs faculty employment data, credentials, and appointment information with Faculty Success.
• CayusecoreTechnology or IntegrationCayuse integration connects grant and sponsored research data with Faculty Success for comprehensive faculty activity reporting.
• KualicoreTechnology or IntegrationKuali integration enables sync of institutional data and workflows with Faculty Success for academic management.
• Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCAS partnership enables Watermark to support institutions in implementing CAS standards for recurring self-studies across campus departments and programs.
• G2minorOthersG2 is a business software review platform where Watermark maintains a profile with customer reviews. Multiple G2 badges and reviews appear on Watermark's marketing materials demonstrating social proof.

Scale indicators25 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Anthology: Anthology (formerly Campus Management, now Verra Mobility-owned) is the closest direct peer, offering an integrated SIS plus student success, assessment, and accreditation suite (Campus Labs, Blackboard LMS, Civitas Learning). Competes head-to-head with Watermark across multiple EIS modules, especially at larger institutions pursuing single-vendor consolidation.
• Ellucian: Ellucian is the dominant SIS provider for higher education (Banner, Colleague, PowerCampus) and a core integration partner of Watermark. Increasingly competes in adjacent areas like student success and credentialing, and could bundle or replace some Watermark capabilities at SIS-led customers.
• EAB (Navigate): EAB's Navigate platform is a leading student success and advisor caseload management system that directly competes with Watermark's Student Success & Engagement. Both target retention and predictive analytics outcomes at four-year and community college institutions.
• Coursedog: Coursedog directly competes with Watermark's Curriculum Strategy product, offering curriculum management, catalog, and academic planning software to higher education. An emerging challenger that has gained traction with institutions seeking modern, focused curriculum tools.

Broad incumbents

• Workday: Workday Student and Workday HCM target the same higher-ed institutional buyers with a unified cloud suite. As a broad incumbent, Workday overlaps with Watermark on faculty success (via HCM data), student success analytics, and credentialing, and represents a bundling threat at large research universities.
• Oracle (PeopleSoft Campus Solutions): Oracle's PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Oracle Student Cloud serve as core SIS platforms at many institutions, with Oracle HCM also integrating into faculty workflows. Represents a single-vendor alternative to Watermark's best-of-breed approach at large public universities.
• Instructure (Canvas): Instructure's Canvas LMS is Watermark's deepest LMS integration partner and a core distribution channel for course evaluations. As a broad incumbent with potential to expand into analytics or assessment features, Instructure is both an essential partner and a long-term competitive risk.
• D2L (Brightspace): D2L Brightspace is a major LMS with native Watermark integration and also offers Brightspace Pulse and analytics tools that could overlap with student success features. Competitor-and-partner dynamic similar to Instructure, especially in K-12 and Canadian markets.
• Qualtrics: Qualtrics is a broad survey and experience management platform used by many universities for course evaluations and faculty/student surveys. While not a dedicated higher-ed solution, Qualtrics competes in the course evaluation and student feedback workflows that anchor Watermark's largest product line.

Emerging players

• Civitas Learning: Civitas Learning (now part of Anthology) focuses on student success and predictive analytics for higher education, with the Anthology Ignite platform. Direct overlap with Watermark's Student Success & Engagement predictive features, especially at institutions standardizing on Anthology's stack.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/watermark_ed

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Watermark