Scottish online literacy software company Giglets Education has been acquired by Swedish education technology firm ILT Education.
The seven-figure deal will see Giglets founder and chief executive Craig Johnstone remain in his role and continue to grow the business from its Kilmarnock base.
More than 120,000 pupils and 40,000 teachers already use the literacy platform, which was started at school as part of an enterprise project, before being spun out as a digital business from the University of Strathclyde.
The deal follows an extended period of growth for Giglets, which now turns over around £1m each year. It has recently expanded internationally, with a team in Canada serving the North American markets.
Together with our new owner, Giglets is looking to significantly accelerate growth both domestically and internationally.
The core team of 12, including Johnstone and Jax McGhee, chief product officer and co-founder, will be retained. Chairman and co-founder Karsten Karcher will exit to focus on other interests.
Johnstone said: “Giglets becoming part of the ILT Education family is recognition of the robust and profitable business we’ve been to create over the last 10 years.
“This private equity backed acquisition comes as we look to accelerate our growth across the UK, Ireland and internationally and at a time when the edtech market has never been more buoyant..”
ILT Education is backed by the private equity impact investor Trill Impact.
Johnstone added: “This is also fantastic news for Ayrshire, as we further secure existing jobs and work towards plans to grow the team to around 20 over the next two years.”
Jakob Skogholm, chief executive of ILT Education, said: “This acquisition marks an important milestone in ILT’s internationalisation, particularly in the sizeable and attractive UK market.
“By joining forces with Giglets, we will be able to provide a broader and stronger suite of products towards a wider group of pupils and educators, further strengthening our mission to improve literacy and promote multilingualism across the world”.
The sellers were supported by the team at Grant Thornton for corporate finance advisory, Martin Aitken & Co for accountancy and tax, and Harper Macleod for legal.
Just last week, Scottish education technology company Sumdog was also sold to a Swedish rival, eEducation Albert.
Neil McInnes, head of corporate finance for Grant Thornton in Scotland, said: “The edtech sector is really active at present with investors attracted by scalable producers and recurring revenue streams companies like Giglets can provide.
“We have been supporting the founders of Giglets over the last three years and have enjoyed watching its growth so far, and with the company now benefitting from private equity backing, I am confident its impressive growth journey will continue.”
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