educations.com’s parent company EMG - Educations Media Group has partnered with Verdane, a leading Scandinavian investor in tech and e-commerce to expand their market presence. The group, which has achieved profitable growth for 18 consecutive years, is expected to grow its revenues by 30% in 2019.
A focus area in accelerating the group’s growth will be to expand EMG’s market presence in international higher education beginning with the acquisition of Blueberry, Sweden's largest study abroad agency.
“EMG has a fantastic level of energy and vision. The team has been growing EMG profitably for almost two decades and they are still as excited as when they kicked off. Online education and international mobility mean we are going to see a global transformation both in how knowledge is disseminated and how education is marketed. Education is increasingly moving online, and EMG’s marketplaces provide an excellent platform to enable that development”, says Jakob Tolleryd, Partner at Verdane.
”Verdane has broad experience in digital business models and online marketplaces, and the team understands our challenges. Our partnership started with a cup of coffee and grew out of interesting discussions we had around our business model. It’s the perfect time for us to welcome a tech investor with both the experience and network to help us ramp up growth and continue expanding internationally. We are very proud of what we have achieved together with Novax since 2010 and look forward to continuing that journey,” says Fredrik Söderlindh, CEO and founder of Educations Media Group.
EMG joins Verdane’s portfolio of 19 consumer internet companies across Europe including SearchMetrics with EdTech holdings including assistive software company Lingit and digital learning platform provider Conexus.
Fredrik Söderlindh (founder and CEO), Fredrik Högemark (co-founder and CIO) and Mattias Säker (co-founder and COO) will remain at EMG. All three will reinvest to jointly become majority owners as part of the deal.
About educations.com and EMG - Educations Media Group
educations.com is the international higher education arm of EMG - Educations Media Group, which since 2009 has been helping students find and compare higher education programs abroad.
Founded in 2001, EMG has pioneered 20 local brands spanning the entire education spectrum and works with over 4,000 education providers in 40 different countries across the world. EMG help 30 million visitors across their sites every year find the right program for their needs. Their platform accelerates the growth of educational institutions by providing a one-stop-shop for promoting any type of course or degree program, using targeted marketing to find the right students. EMG reaches out to students and professionals worldwide through its leading online services, comprehensive media partners, school visits and educational conferences and exhibitions. EMG has 170 employees working out of the global head office in Stockholm, and local offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, Mannheim and Oslo.
About Verdane
Verdane aims to be the preferred growth partner to tech-enabled businesses in Northern Europe. Verdane funds provide flexible growth capital to fast-growing software, consumer internet, energy or high-technology industry businesses, through both majority and minority investments in individual companies and portfolios. Verdane funds act as ambitious, active and long-term owners, helping management teams and companies accelerate and sustain growth by leveraging the Verdane advisory team’s capabilities and proven track record in driving business value for companies whose growth is driven by, or connected to, technological development. Verdane funds’ current portfolio includes Conexus, EasyPark, Freespee, HornetSecurity, inRiver, Lingit, Scanmarket and Vaadin. Verdane has 44 employees working out of offices in Copenhagen, Helsinki, London, Oslo and Stockholm. For more information, please visit www.verdane.com.
