www.theassignmentreport.
com
Looking forward, Ardmore says that
following its investment in 2018 in
staffing in the UK and US, both in
operations and sales, the company
is well placed to take advantage of
the growth potential in the market
place, and expects both sales and
profit to grow in FY19.
Vietnam-based English language
tutoring platform raises $50m in
Series D round
ED TECH
Underlying revenue up 9% at
Hobsons
Hobsons, the DMGT owned US-
headquartered student success
technology business, has posted an
adjusted operating profit of £7.4m
for the year ended 30 September
2018 (2017: £16.1m), on revenue
down 41% to £68.3m (2017:
£114.9m). Excluding the disposal
of the division’s Admissions and
Solutions businesses, in September
2017 and October 2017 respectively,
Hobsons delivered underlying
revenue growth of 9% in FY18.
Operating profit improved £5m on
an underlying basis, DMGT said.
DMGT says each of Hobsons’ three
product lines – Naviance, the K-12
college and career readiness solution;
Intersect, the higher education
matching business; and Starfish, the
higher education student retention
and success platform – delivered
growth in FY18.
During FY18, Hobsons launched a
new Naviance Student app, aimed
at increasing end-user engagement.
DMGT says the platform is currently
used by over 13,000 schools, with
40% of high school students in the US
having access to the Naviance app.
Hobsons also enhanced its Intersect
and Starfish product suites during
the year. Over 1,000 US colleges and
Issue 163 December 2018
Topica Edtech Group, the Vietnam-
based English language tutoring
platform, has raised US$50m in a
Series D round led by Northstar
Group, the Singapore-based private
equity firm.
Founded in 2008, Topica provides a
suite of online educational products
including live English tutoring
courses provided by native English
speakers from the US, Australia
universities are now using these two
products, DMGT said.
For FY19, DMGT says investment
is being made to modernise
Hobsons’ core product platforms
and add new client-facing features
and functionality. The business
will also continue to focus on
delivering underlying revenue
growth and improved cash
generation, DMGT said.
Faria Education acquires
Rubicon
Faria Education Group, the
international education technology
company, has acquired Rubicon,
the provider of Atlas, a curriculum
mapping platform. The business
was acquired from Quad Partners,
the New York-based private equity
firm. The financial terms of the
transaction have not been disclosed.
Founded in 1988, Rubicon’s Atlas
system is a leading curriculum
management platform for the K-12
marketplace, supporting schools
to improve their curriculum
development process. The platform
is used by more than 1,800 schools
and districts, Faria said.
Commenting on the deal, Theodore
King, CEO & co-founder of Faria,
said: “Curriculum is the foundation
and other countries, Edumall, a
marketplace of over 2,000 short
skill courses, offering video
learning content, and online degree
programmes for universities. Topica
says it currently partners with 12
universities in the region.
Topica plans to use the new funding to
accelerate new product development
and upgrade the company’s
technology and AI capabilities.
of every school, and essential to
teaching and learning. We are
grateful for the opportunity to
serve Atlas schools, and we aim to
swiftly upgrade the Atlas service
offering and re-introduce our ‘Four
Seasons’ service model to the North
American market.”
Established in 2007, Faria’s principal
product is ManageBac, a curriculum
learning platform, combining
planning, assessment and reporting.
The company has also developed
OpenApply, an online admissions
solution for international schools.
Following the acquisition, the two
companies will serve over 10,000
schools in 130 countries with
curriculum support for over 600
academic standards and a global
team of over 130 staff, Faria said.
Boxlight reports strong
momentum over back-to-
school season
Boxlight, the acquisitive Atlanta-
based interactive classroom
technology company, has reported
an adjusted EBITDA loss of $3.5m
for the nine months ended 30
September 2018 (2017: $833k loss),
on revenue up 27% to $25.9m (2017:
$20.4m). Gross margin fell 670 bps
to 21.8% (2017: 28.5%), as a result of
lower margins on initial deliveries
14