Following Linkedin's macro-buyout of Lynda, an online training platform online and video tutorials, for $1,500M, it seems that transactions in the education sector have been growing with new technologies as the main protagonist. In Spain, although we have not yet seen any large deals, we have seen some transactions in the education sector over the last year.
M&A: Busuu and International School BCN
McGraw-Hill Education invested $6.7M in July 2015 in Busuu, platform that offers free and paid audio-visual language courses in 12 languages, and also includes direct interaction with native speakers around the world. This investment gives McGraw-Hill Education the opportunity to better position itself in the world of new technologies.
The deal includes an agreement that will give McGraw-Hill Education exclusive global rights to distribute Busuu to B2B customers, including schools, private language schools and corporations.
"Busuu had previously raised €4.5M in 2012 when it moved from Spain to London to pursue its international expansion, which has allowed it to now have a strong presence in the markets of Brazil, Russia, China, Turkey, Germany and the United States," says Diego Gutierrez of Busuu. Abra-Invest.
The British Cognita, a world leader in private education, which has 67 schools in 7 different countries, has now bought the International School of Barcelona, located in Sitges, to join its schools in Spain: The British School of Barcelona in Castelldefels, Hastings School in Madrid, El Limonar International School in Murcia, and El Limonar International School Villamartín in Alicante.
As this change of ownership has taken place with the academic year in progress, the Sitges School will continue to operate in its usual dynamic with the support of the Cognita Group until the end of the current school year 2015-2016.
Public Funding: Infantium
A total of 16 innovative Catalan SMEs were selected by the European Commission (EC) in the second call of the Horizon 2020 programme to receive funding to grow, develop innovative projects and bring them to the market, including InfantiumInfantium uses neuroscience, machine learning and general artificial intelligence to enable personalised learning for children based on cognitive abilities.
Previously it had already received 3 seed rounds of funding from investors like 101 Startups and the group Itnet.
Crowdfounding: Foxize School and Emagister
In 2015, Foxize school closed a €205,850 crowdfunding round through crowdcube.
Foxize School was the first business school to be financed through a crowdfunding investment platform that allows teachers and students to become shareholders. It is currently present in Barcelona, Madrid, Palma de Mallorca, Tarragona and Valencia, has a portfolio of more than 250 teachers and more than 15,000 students have passed through it in less than three years.. At Foxize, classes are face-to-face - although online courses are also offered - and cover a wide range of subjects related to finance, communication and marketing in the technology environment.
If you are looking for funding, please contact us. Abra-Invest has a team of experts in public financing at your disposal. Fill in the contact form or call us on +34 946424142
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