Kahoot! is a global learning and engagement platform company. It was announced today that General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, has joined the company’s investor base. SB Northstar LP is a fund managed by a 100% directly owned Softbank Group Corp. subsidiary. Since 2020, they have partnered with Kahoot!, and are now selling their full 15% stake in the company to General Atlantic. Once the transaction is complete, General Atlantic is expected to become Kahoot!’s new major shareholder. The companies mission is to make learning fun for millions of people around the world. As such, they are considering partnering with General Atlantic to accelerate their growth. This would enable them to innovate, expand their global presence in schools, homes and corporations, and increase their shareholding.
Kahoot! is a digital learning tool that also entertains its audience. It was founded in 2013 and is owned by the Kahoot! Group, which is a growing business with many brands. As of 2017, the platform had been used 8 billion times by non-repeating participants around the world. Kahoot targets users from a wide range of demographics and uses. Its engagement and learning platform is used in 97% of Fortune 500 companies via Kahoot! at Work. This platform is also used in schools by almost 9 million teachers via Kahoot! at School. In addition, nearly 18 million people use Kahoot! at Home and Study. Kahoot! is an online community for creators of educational content. It’s also the name of the company that created Academy, an online marketplace. Since 2021, Kahoot! has operated as part of Clever, which is a single sign-on EdTech platform and digital classroom used by roughly 70% of US K-12 schools. 28 million people have used the services in the last year, and Academy is an online marketplace for eductational content. Kahoot! provides North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East regions with educational content, learnings and engaging solutions for home, school and work.
Eilert Hanoa, CEO of Kahoot! stated, “We are thankful to SoftBank for their partnership over the last two years. As Kahoot! continues pursuing its goal of making lifelong learning easier through a leading global engagement platform, we’re excited to partner with General Atlantic. The company’s executives have considerable experience growing successful software and education tech startups. They’ve also positioned several market leaders for long-term success. We’re thrilled to begin our next phase of momentum in empowering the learning ecosystem around the world.”
General Atlantic’s EMEA managing director Chris Caulkin said that the brand has a lot of potential for growth. Caulkin said Kahoot!’s approach centered around products, its widespread popularity and engaged userbase makes it a perfect candidate for further expansion in the digital learning space. The platform is poised to continue growing in schools, homes and workplaces across the world, Caulkin added. The team will benefit from Verily’s support for years to come as they increase their audience worldwide.
After the closing, it’s customary for regulatory conditions to be applied to the closing. Additionally, Chris Caulkin is expected to join the company’s board of directors after closing and if shareholders approve.
General Atlantic accepted advice from J.P. Morgan as a financial advisor and Wikborg Rein as a legal advisor.
About Kahoot!
Kahoot! aims to make learning fun and exciting. Their website provides a platform for anyone to create, share and host educational sessions. This encourages engaging interaction among students, children and employees— as well as corporations— on a regular basis. Kahoot! was launched in 2013 with the goal of becoming the world’s leading learning platform. Since its launch, the company has hosted hundreds of millions of sessions with over 8 billion participants in over 200 countries and regions. The Kahoot! Group is an acronym for ‘Knowledge Ahead Of Time.’ It refers to the leading US K-12 educational tech platform Clever, and several of its apps. These include DragonBox, Drops, Actimo, Motimate and Poio— all of which are developed by Clever. The Company Group is headquartered in Oslo, Norway; however it also has offices in Poland, France, the UK, Estonia, Denmark, Spain and the USA. The company Kahoot! is listed in Oslo on the Oslo Stock Exchange; its stock price is listed as KAHOT.
About General Atlantic
General Atlantic is an investment firm that provides capital and support to businesses in order to help them grow. They’ve partnered with over 425 companies since their founding in 1980. Through long-term investment horizons and a global approach, General Atlantic has relevant expertise in specific industries and a deep understanding of what drives growth. Their goal is to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and help great management teams scale their businesses around the world. As of June 30 2022, General Atlantic had over $73 billion in assets under management across all of their products. Their firm is headquartered in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai and Tel Aviv.
