Battery Ventures buys 40% stake in Dublin edtech firm Learnosity

Learnosity, a Dublin-based education technology start-up, has secured a new partner after Australian company 3P Learning sold its 40 per cent interest in the Irish company to Battery Ventures.

3P Learning, a listed company on the Australian Securities Exchange, sold its stake in Learnosity for AUS25 million (16.3 million) after previously valuing its shareholding at AUS46.6 million (€30.3 million).

Founded in 2007, Learnosity is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company specialising in digital learning technology. The company allows organisations to include assessment capabilities into any digital product.

Clients include some of the biggest names in education including Pearson.

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Battery has made an additional investment in Learnosity but details of this have not been disclosed.

Learnosity co-founder and chief executive Gavin Cooney said the company would use some of the proceeds from the new investment to target additional markets beyond K-12 education such as corporate learning, adult/vocational learning and test preparation. In addition, it plans to continue its global expansion and explore further growth through acquisitions.

Global ambitions

“We are a firm with global ambitions and a massive market. We could not be more excited to be partnering with Battery, a firm we believe will add significant value during our next phase of growth,” said Mr Cooney.

Battery Ventures partner Russell Fleischer is to join Learnosity's board following the transaction.

Boston-based Battery is a tech-focused investment firm that invests in the software, information technology, service, web infrastructure, mobile, consumer internet, mobile and industrial technology sectors.

Among its executives is Irishman Paul Morrissey, who is vice-president of the venture-capital firm. He was previously included on Forbes's "30 under 30" list of leading industry figures.

“Learnosity has achieved impressive growth as, essentially, a bootstrapped business. It’s a credit to the founders and the entire team, who have built an industry standard for digital-assessment technology,” said Mr Fleischer.

“With this investment, Learnosity can further promote innovation in the edtech industry with its world-class technology, and create better educational products for students around the world,” he added.

3P Learning acquired an additional 16.93 per cent interest in Learnosity to take its stake in the company to 40 per cent in early 2016.