Image: Kahoot
The Norwegian company recently raised funding to finance its shopping spree, with this deal being its third acquisition this year.
Kahoot, the Norwegian edtech company, is continuing its acquisition spree with the purchase of digital learning platform Clever for up to $500m.
The SoftBank-backed company will acquire 100pc of Clever, which is based in San Francisco, for an enterprise value between $435m and $500m, dependent on targets.
Clever develops a platform for teachers to create digital classrooms. It claims to be used by 60pc of K-12 (kindergarten to 12th grade) schools in the US.
The company was founded in 2012 and has raised more than $40m in funding from investors such as Sequoia Capital and Peter Thiel.
“Through this acquisition we see considerable potential to collaborate on education innovation to better service all our users – schools, teachers, students, parents and lifelong learners – and leveraging our global scale to offer Clever’s unique platform worldwide,” Kahoot chief executive Eilert Hanoa said.
The deal provides a significant pathway for Kahoot to bolster its presence in the US market.
“Being part of the Kahoot family will give us the opportunity to not only continue our mission, but to accelerate our plans to serve international markets,” Clever chief executive Tyler Bosmeny added.
Last October, Oslo-based Kahoot sold a near 10pc stake in the company to Japanese tech and investment giant SoftBank for $215m. The investment came just a few months after it raised $28m.
The company said that these investments were intended to finance Kahoot’s growth through acquisitions.
In April, it acquired Motimate, another Norwegian edtech company, for around $25m, and in February it acquired Finland’s Whiteboard for around $6m.
Kahoot is publicly traded on Euronext Oslo and has a market cap of 31.9bn NOK, or around $3.7bn.
For the first quarter of 2021, it reported $16.2m in revenue, quadrupling year-on-year, driven by the demand for online learning tools amid the pandemic. It reported 28m active accounts on its services.
