Fri, 06 Aug 2021 | BUSINESS SALE
Tech investment firm Tenzing has sold Leeds-based educational safeguarding technology company to Australian-based Family Zone for £75.5 million. The sale represents a 5.6x return on Tenzing’s invested capital, as well as a 56 per cent Internal Rate of Return.
Tenzing initially invested in Smoothwall in 2017 and has since supported its organic and acquisitive growth. The company, which provides dedicated safeguarding technology solutions in education, is used by over 12,400 schools and around six million students in the UK and US.
The company’s acquisitive growth has been supported by a Tenzing dedicated acquisitions director, helping the firm make numerous acquisitions. Most recently, Smoothwall acquired fellow educational monitoring technology firm eSafe Global Limited.
With Tenzing’s support, Smoothwall has also revamped its business operations, grown its product suite on a Cloud infrastructure and introduced new safeguarding tools.
Tenzing co-founder and managing partner Guy Gillon said that the firm was “proud to have completed our second exit and honoured to have played a part in Smoothwall’s growth”.
Smoothwall CEO Georg Ell said: "We've hugely benefited from the injection of investment, energy and expertise from Tenzing over the last four years; there has always been a real sense of backing us as a team. Their support has enabled us to expand the solutions we offer to our clients, and it makes me incredibly proud that, under Tenzing's ownership, Smoothwall has grown to protect more than six million children.”
Family Zone MD Tim Levy added: "We're delighted to be partnering with Smoothwall. Our organisations share core values around keeping children safe, and our complementary platforms and culture create a unique and remarkable opportunity for synergies and growth on a global stage."
Read more about how Covid-19 and the rise of remote learning are spurring M&A activity in the educational technology sector in this exclusive insight.
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