Sdui acquires FoxEducation and raises a further 21 million euros
17 July 2024, Koblenz / Vienna. Sdui Group (“Sdui”), one of the leading providers of education technology in Europe, today announced that it has acquired digital education solutions provider FoxEducation with its brands SchoolFox, KidsFox and TeamFox. Fox Education Services was previously owned by leading tutoring provider and EdTech platform, GoStudent.
At the same time, Sdui has raised a further 21 million euros from investors. Summiteer and HV Capital are leading the new financing round with broad support by new and existing investors – including Haniel, Brighteye, Michael Hinderer and HTGF. With the 25 million euros from the first financing round (Series A), the EdTech provider now has a total of 46 million euros available for investment. The company is investing part of this sum in the acquisition of FoxEducation.
The acquisition of FoxEducation will establish Sdui Group as the market-leading EdTech provider in the field of communication and messaging for schools and preschools in German-speaking countries. The company is active in all three countries of the DACH market with a broad product portfolio. Following the acquisition of FoxEducation, Sdui Group serves over 22,000 organizations across Europe.
Similar to Sdui, FoxEducation also offers transformative solutions to improve communication between teachers, educators, students and parents. In the future, Sdui and FoxEducation will combine their expertise to make their products even better. Both companies also expect this to lead to stronger growth. FoxEducation already has three successful years behind it: the education platform was acquired by GoStudent in September 2021 and grew over 70% under the company’s management.
While FoxEducation’s growth represents a significant achievement for GoStudent, its unique capabilities have followed a different trajectory to GoStudent’s core offering: personalised tutoring. For this reason, GoStudent has established fewer immediate synergies with FoxEducation as it has its wider portfolio: TusMedia, Seneca and Studienkreis. Committed to driving education forward through the application of technology, GoStudent’s sale of FoxEducation to Sdui Group is a strategic move, aimed at enhancing communication between schools, parents and students, and strengthening the DACH EdTech ecosystem for the better.
“The acquisition of FoxEducation is an important strategic step that significantly strengthens the Sdui Group’s presence in the DACH region,” says Daniel Zacharias, founder and CEO of the Sdui Group. “With a growing, holistic product offering, this exciting acquisition will enable Sdui to better serve educational institutions in the German-speaking region and consolidate our position as the largest digitalisation partner for educational institutions in Europe. With a total of 46 million euros, we can continue to invest in pioneering education technology.”
“The acquisition of FoxEducation by the Sdui Group is a significant win for our customers,” says Philipp Fendt, Co-CEO of FoxEducation. “We look forward to joining forces to further improve everyday life in schools and preschools. Our combined expertise will create an even stronger foundation for innovative educational solutions. This partnership will ensure that our customers receive the best possible tools for their educational needs. By combining our resources, we aim to provide a more comprehensive and effective solution that will benefit students, teachers and parents alike.”
“The sale of FoxEducation to the Sdui Group is a strategic move that aims to amplify FoxEducation’s value and impact, aligned to our goal of enhancing education through technology. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved with FoxEducation, and excited to see how the company will evolve under Sdui’s stewardship”, says Felix Ohswald, co-founder and CEO of GoStudent. “Looking ahead, we will continue to harness technology to unlock student potential. This sale empowers us to focus on enhancing our AI-powered classroom, which has supported over 6 million hours of lessons in 2024, at a more rapid pace.”
Sdui Group plans to use the new funding to further invest in its platforms to make everyday life in schools and preschools even simpler.
About the Sdui Group
Since its foundation in Koblenz in 2018, the Sdui Group has developed into one of the fastest growing education technology companies in Europe. As a reliable partner, the EdTech provider supports educational institutions, providers and ministries in digitalisation and develops innovative operating systems for digital schools and preschools.
The aim of the platform is to connect teachers, educators, parents and children through intelligent functions. The Sdui Group’s solutions reduce the administrative burden, freeing up time for the organisations’ main task: to provide the best possible education. To this end, the Sdui Group offers GDPR-compliant solutions with features such as chat, translation functions, cloud, class register or AI lesson planners that are specifically tailored to the needs of schools and preschools.
The Sdui Group also includes the administration and management platform PUPIL and the learning and grade management offering Additio. The company is based in Koblenz and currently employs around 230 people. It is active in more than 70 countries. Following the acquisition of FoxEducation, a total of 22,000 educational institutions use services offered by the Sdui Group.
Further information: www.sdui.de
About FoxEducation
Founded in Vienna in 2016, FoxEducation offers digital solutions to simplify communication and administrative tasks in the education sector. In addition to the SchoolFox app for schools, the company later introduced the KidsFox platforms for preschools and kindergartens, as well as TeamFox for clubs. Today, over 9,000 institutions in the DACH region use the FoxApps. In the summer of 2021, FoxEducation became part of the Austrian company GoStudent, and the apps have since been continuously developed – including the innovative payment management tool FoxPay. Since July 2024, FoxEducation has been part of the Sdui Group. (As of July 2024)
Further information: www.foxeducation.com
About GoStudent
GoStudent is one of the world’s leading providers of tutoring and education platforms. The company was founded in Vienna in 2016 by Felix Ohswald (CEO) and Gregor Müller (COO) and has already raised more than 675 million euros from investors such as Prosus, Left Lane Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund 2. GoStudent believes that the future of education is hybrid and has expanded its offering with the acquisition of Seneca Learning, Tus Media and offline tutoring company Studienkreis. Together, these companies aim to combine the best of the online and offline worlds to realise the potential of every child. With its entire portfolio, GoStudent supports 10 million families every month.
Learn more here: www.gostudent.org
