PR85616

PRINCETON, New Jersey, Sept. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

-- The new ETS unit will pursue strategic equity investments, growth

partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions

ETS, the world's largest nonprofit educational assessment and measurement

organization, today announced the creation of ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit

that will focus on growing the business and advancing its mission through

strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1274809/ETS_Strategic_Capital_300_Logo.jpg 

ETS Strategic Capital will broaden, expand and diversify ETS's offering in

assessment, learning and development for K–12, higher education, and

corporations. With this mandate, ETS Strategic Capital is actively seeking

transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies

that will have both a positive financial and strategic impact.  

"We've reached a pivotal point in the ongoing evolution of education — there is

a fundamental change in how educational services are delivered, how tools and

assessments are structured, and how learners, schools, and companies are

engaged and connected," said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS

Strategic Capital. "With our funding, expertise and experience in education,

ETS Strategic Capital is well positioned to help emerging education companies

that are addressing these gaps grow and increase their impact, while tapping

into new opportunities. ETS brings value-add capabilities in assessments,

research and development, global distribution, and innovative technologies to

our portfolio and partner companies."

ETS Strategic Capital currently has a portfolio of five companies that bring

technology, new business models and geographic coverage, and that complement

and build out ETS's current business areas:

--     ApplyBoard: Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity

        investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world's largest

        platform for international student recruitment. As part of this

        investment, ApplyBoard and ETS's TOEFL(R) business unit, which

        provides the world's premier English-language test for university

        study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth

        partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/

--     Pipplet: A start-up specializing in language assessment for

        businesses, Paris-based Pipplet helps companies assess job

        candidates' language fluency based on their practical, real-world

        ability to interact in a professional context. ETS's subsidiary, ETS

        Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic

        Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home

--     Capti (by Charmtech Labs LLC): Through the use of machine learning,

        artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Buffalo,

        N.Y.-based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides

        personalized literacy and learning support to K–12 students. Capti –

        dubbed a "AAA" for teachers – helps teachers accommodate, assess and

        accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital

        arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a

        strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D)

        and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS's

        ReadReady(TM)

(https://news.ets.org/press-releases/ets-and-capti-announce-launch-of-readready-assessment/ )

        intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and

        will work closely with ETS's R&D and NPD teams to expand

        opportunities to positively impact K12 student reading success across

        the United States. https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site//

--     EdAgree: Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree,

        Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match

        international students with universities and support those students

        throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student

        profile information, package it for streamlined processing by

        admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify

        and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree

        also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts

        to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged $1

        million of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company

        and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/  

--     Gradschoolmatch: Gradschoolmatch.com is an interactive internet

        driven software platform that helps prospective graduate students

        match with potential graduate academic programs. The match-algorithm,

        search-engine and business-approach are modeled after successful

        "personal-dating" web-driven businesses; students can post

        biographies, research interests, career plans and academic profiles;

        they can also "bookmark" a graduate program profile to "signal their

        interest" in learning more or send "private messages" to graduate

        school recruiters. Both prospective graduate students and graduate

        institutions may subscribe, which allows them to search by location

        or academic interests, tracking prospects and making contact with

        simplified one-click interconnectivity for matching. ETS Strategic

        Capital arranged the purchase of the Gradschoolmatch.com platform,

        and it will be incorporated into ETS's offerings to the graduate

        school market. https://www.gradschoolmatch.com/

ETS Strategic Capital will serve as the private equity investment and M&A

execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners. It will source

transactions both within the domestic United States and internationally. It

will partner with the broader EdTech ecosystem, to identify and execute deals,

coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs,

network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build

direct relationships with businesses internationally — especially within Asia

Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions.  

More specifically, ETS Strategic Capital will target private equity investments

that are typically in Series B, C or later, where companies already have a

proven product and/or market fit, initial customers, and developed

business-model, and are seeking further new growth capital to scale the

business; in select situations, earlier-stage investment may be possible.

Acquisitions will primarily focus on middle-market scale deals, though smaller

or larger acquisitions may also be possible in certain situations. ETS

Strategic Capital defines growth partnerships broadly and they might involve

joint ventures (JVs), channel-partner or distribution agreements, Intellectual

Property (IP) licensing and technology-transfer relationships, along with

similar strategic value-add business partnerships.  

Ralph Taylor-Smith, currently the Vice President of Corporate Development at

ETS, will become the Managing Director of the new unit, bringing a wealth of

experience in private equity investing, M&A and growth partnerships and joint

ventures. ETS Strategic Capital has a growing bicoastal team based in offices

in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, Calif.

https://www.ets.capital/team/ 

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by

creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals,

educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized

solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary,

secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research,

analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops,

administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the

TOEFL(R) and TOEIC(R) tests, the GRE(R) tests and The Praxis Series(R)

assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

www.ets.org. 

Source: ETS

CONTACT: ETS Contact: mediacontacts@ets.org