Company Overview

June 2016

The Mission

mainstream and modernize the Montessori movement

bring the Montessori movement to every child

Scale quality Montessori practicedevelop and implement a

Montessori platform

Gain Mindshare for Montessori theory

engage with, support, and advocate for Montessori research

The Fundamental, Perennial Opportunity

• The need for quality education is universal. Education is central to human life, and of abiding interest to discerning parents. Superior programs are always be in demand.

• Early education is a idea whose time has come—while the need is universal, the understanding of the need is relatively recent. Today there is widespread cultural recognition of the importance of early education, percolating down from decades of robust research.

The Immediate, Specific Market Opportunity

• Highly fragmented, mom-and-pop early education market with thousands of acquisition opportunities over the next decade. 5000 existing Montessori schools, and additional 20,000 traditional early childcare centers that could be transitioned to Montessori.

• Demand for quality through the roof, particularly in urban metropolises, with no one capable of addressing programmatic barriers to entry, challenges of executing on small real estate footprints, and professional customer service demand by sophisticated clientele.

• Lack of expert operators means that the winning team can quickly gain significant market share. Not many early education companies exist, but those that do are going for 10x to 12x multiples despite mediocre performance.

The Team: A Proven Track RecordPrior to forming Higher Ground Education, the team operated and expanded a national network of premium Montessori schools.• Achieved enrollment of 2,500+ students

• Offered programs for 3 months old through 8th grade, offering premium Montessori-inspired education with in-demand elements such as languageimmersion

• Operated high end of market, with tuition rangingfrom $15,000 to $35,000

• Consistently achieved 30%to 35% campus-level EBITDA

The Team: A Proven Track RecordA track record of rapid growth:• Starting from 3 Montessori schools in Southern

California, HGE team transformed organization into a national chain of 22 Montessori schools in 5 years

• Five-year enrollment CAGR over 40%

• Five-year revenue CAGR over 50%

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Enrollment Revenue

The Higher Ground Program

• HGE’s programs thus combine the best features of classical and progressive education, affording young children joyous learning of truly foundational knowledge.

• HGE Montessori programs feature developmentally optimized learning environments.

• Classrooms house striking, effective curricular materials that enable children to learn core academic skills independently, in a way that nurtures curiosity and fosters self-discipline.

The Montessori pedagogy offers the foundation of a truly enduring alternative approach to education.• Montessori students, by age six, have typically mastered writing sentences and reading challenging

storybooks

• Montessori students, by the age of six, have conceptual and practical facility with the decimal system, including all four basic operations up to multiple digits

• Montessori classrooms are mixed age with a difference of up to three years, deliberately providing students with a rich social environment in which they can learn from each other

• Montessori has a tremendous emphasis on independence and work ethic, providing students with long periods of uninterrupted concentration without the assistance of a teacher, and building in “practical life”, complex practical personal routines, into the core curriculum

• HGE’s innovative elementary and middle school programs continue the Montessori spirit of independent inquiry into foundational knowledge

The Higher Ground Program

The Vision Higher Ground is developing a full stack educational platform for running great schools at scale:• An expansion model that allows for rapid growth. Includes:

• Leveraging insider network to access high volume of great greenfield and school acquisition opportunities

• A non-dilutive capital model that attracts a broader range of off-balance sheet investors

• A technology-enabled operational system that enables HGE to operate thriving, high quality schools through superior pedagogy, facilities, marketing, and customer service

• Scalable, revolutionary, accredited teacher training that attracts and amplifies the best teaching talent in education

The Vision: Three HorizonsHorizon 1 Horizon 2 Horizon 3

enablers

outcomes

means

• Build a profitable preschool base in upper middle class areas in US

• Extend pla>orm to high end interna@onal markets, lower income domes@c markets, and corporate care• Extend program to ELJH

• Extend pla>orm to other operators and to low end interna@onal markets• Integrate preschools with other community services• Extend program to high school

talent, capital

excep@onal team & culture, talent network

• func@onal opera@ng pla>orm• func@onal teacher & admin training

• tech-enabled opera@ng pla>orm• func@onal teacher & admin training pla>orm• func@onal curriculum

• tech-enabled opera@ng pla>orm• tech-enabled teacher & admin training pla>orm• tech-enabled curriculum

In its initial expansion, Higher Ground will focus on three types of school projects:

• Stable/cash flow positive schools: thousands of schools available at 4x to 5x EBIDTA, with significant improvement potential

• Schools in crisis: distressed schools in high end demographic areas which could be acquired for nothing (or less than nothing), and turned around by the right team. HGE is seasoned at these transitions, both in program implementation and change management

• Greenfields: incredible demand in urban areas for those that can truly offer premium quality education by addressing programmatic challenges in early childhood education, and the challenge of the cost and availability of real estate. HGE has the ability to efficiently open schools with a small footprint, which is another competitive advantage

The Vision: Horizon One Expansion

The Vision: Horizon One Platform

HGE ensures the complete implementation of its program, providing:• A professional management team in an industry dominated by individual amateur operators

• Best-in-class Montessori program oversightfrom six-week- to six-year-olds, optimized tofoster motor development, socialdevelopment, independence and grit, andcore academic skills

• Premium, seamlessly integrated languageimmersion offerings

• Recruiting, staffing and training for both theadministration and the faculty. HGE isuniquely positioned to capitalize on a wide,international network of Montessori educatorsand providers

The Vision: Horizon One Platform• Operational systems for all aspects of school operations, from admissions to billing to human resources to

student information

• A complete marketing protocol, from initial analysis and validation of the school opportunity, to an integrated set of marketing resources, events, tour training, analytics, etc.

• New branding: HGE will create and establish a targeted brand suitable to the market, e.g.

The Capital Strategy: Stratified Investments

Management Company

(HGE)

School Asset Companies

Real Estate

Higher Ground Educa=on focuses on pla?orm and program development, long-term growth, systems of scale, and program implementa=on at school asset companies

Func=on Investors

HGE executes best-in-class, highly profitable school(s), via quality programs, within-school capacity/enrollment growth, & expansion of the school asset company's campus por?olio.

• Venture Capital• Mission-Directed Investment• Major investors in other two company =ers that also want minority investment in management =er

• PE/Family Office/Ins=tu=onal • Foreign Investors (EB5)• Parents• Seller Financing• Investors interested in owning a school brand

HGE sources, validates, maintains, and manages school sites, providing turnkey acquisi=on for real estate company

• REITs• Investors interested in owning property

Economics

Long-term upside of brand, model, intellectual property, and scalable revenue pla?orm

Generates earnings for owner of SchoolCo and fees for ManCo (HGE). Predictable and compe==ve short- and medium-term returns, grounded in school cash flows.

Long-term leases at favorable cap rates for real estate owner

HGE has opportunity to develop a Marriott model for the Montessori/early education market, in which it manages brands for investors and executes a roll-up strategy.

• HGE provides management, brand, and a complete set of operational resources, taking full responsibility for implementing a quality school program, in exchange for a management fee

• Investors own School (asset) Companies, putting up capital in exchange for cash flows

• HGE will guarantee a buyout of School Co from investor at fixed IRR after 5 years

• Investors also have an opportunity to separately own underlying real estate, with turn-key acquisition, long-term lease at attractive cap rates

The Capital Strategy: Management Company/School Company Partnerships

MANAGEMENT FEES:School Co to pay HGE:

5% of revenue and 10% of EBITDA

MANAGEMENT:HGE to manage all operational and financial aspects of the

acquired schools on behalf of School Co

HGE to acquire within 5 years

School Co to own 100% initially

ACQUIRED SCHOOLS

Higher Ground Education

Management Company

REAL ESTATE

Investors

School Company

Real Estate investorscontinue to own

underlying real estate even if HGE acquires

School Co

The Capital Strategy: Partnership Model

What’s Next?Since its founding in March 2016, the HGE team has been:• Establishing relationships in the Montessori world,

as a means to leveraging international resources. Management partnerships have been established with reputable training centers, and Montessori thought leaders have begun referring business development opportunities. (These relationships are unique and entrenched.)

• Completing late stage negotiations with a national REIT partner which will invest in real estate and improvements to real estate.

• Entering into an agency agreement with EB-5 agent(s) in China proven to deliver EB-5 investors to school projects.

• Entering into negotiations to manage up to 10 school sites beginning in the fall

Starting fall 2016, the HGE team will begin:• Acquiring, opening, and operating schools.

• Developing a strategy to transform our platform of operational systems into a technology platform, delivered via comprehensive software services.

• Launching an school company/management company structure that institutionalizes a non-dilutive capital strategy, and opens up a range of possible management opportunities with partners.

• Actively pursuing opportunities for further development of our academic programs, including our upper elementary and middle school programs, as well as partnerships with Montessori-inspired high school operators.

Contacts

Ray GirnChief Executive Officerrgirn@tohigherground.com

+1 949 689 7854

Hany SyedAdvisor, Business Development& Expansionhsyed@tohigherground.com

+1 650 471 4631

Thank You