UK ed-tech firm acquired for £12m

UK-headquartered higher education software firm Scientia has been acquired by Australian software-as-a-service (SaaS) company TechnologyOne in a £12 million deal. The target business provides services including timetabling and scheduling for more than 150 universities in the UK and Australia.

The sale price comes at around a 7x multiple of Scientia’s post-tax profits of £1.7 million for the year ending December 31 2019, a year in which the company reported revenue of close to £11 million and gross profits of £9.8 million.

The deal includes an initial cash payment of £6 million, with further payments based on Scientia achieving progressive earnouts until financial year 2023. The final consideration will be paid in cash generated from internal sources.

The deal is TechnologyOne’s first international acquisition and considerably boosts its market share, particularly in the UK. TechnologyOne already claims to provide its software solutions to 75 per cent of Australian higher education institutions, with Scientia reportedly having around a 50 per cent market share in the UK.

TechnologyOne CEO Edward Chung said: “This acquisition forms part of our strategic focus to deliver the deepest functionality for Higher Education and it will accelerate our growth and competitive position in the UK as well as have significant benefits in the Australian Higher Education market.”

“Scientia’s market leading product Syllabus Plus provides advanced academic timetabling and resource scheduling. Their products provide mission critical software for over 150 leading Universities across the United Kingdom, and Australia including the University of St Andrews, University of Exeter, Monash University and the University of Queensland.”

“The acquisition further expands our Global SaaS ERP solution for Higher Education. The integration of the Scientia’s advanced academic timetabling and resource scheduling capabilities, combined with our market leading Student Management, HR & Payroll, Enterprise Asset Management and Finance capabilities, will provide smarter decision-making eliminating underutilisation of space and resources that is paramount for Higher Education across the globe in a post-COVID world.”

TechnologyOne’s founder and Executive Chairman Adrian Di Marco added: “This is our company’s first international acquisition and it demonstrates our deep commitment to serving the higher education sector and the UK market.”

“The unique IP and market-leading functionality of Scientia’s product supports our vision of delivering enterprise software that is incredibly easy to use. We are excited about the opportunities this will bring to both our UK and Australian customers in the coming years.”


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