One of the investments made by Conviction Investment Partners (CIP), skills-based Total Talent SaaS platform Adepto, has been acquired by Degreed, as part of the US-based company’s global expansion plans.
CIP led a £2 million investment round in May 2019, alongside Triple Point and other investors in Adepto, which now employs more than 40 people and has a strong list of blue-chip clients including PwC, Atos and Capita.
Degreed is a workforce learning and skills tracking platform. It integrates and curates all the resources employees use to learn, in one place, including learning management systems and millions of courses, videos, article books and podcasts from thousands of sources.
Degreed raised a $35m Series C round and secured an additional credit facility earlier this year which gives them the ability to pursue acquisition targets like Adepto.
The acquisition will accelerate Degreed’s ambitious growth plans, and add enhanced skills inventories, on the job development experiences, and career mobility to the company’s learning experience platform.
Founded in 2013, Adepto has grown by 150% a year for three straight years. It has offices in London, Brisbane and New York. Adepto also partners with many of the world’s leading recruitment process outsourcing and managed staffing providers.
Its technology will give Degreed’s clients the most complete learning experience platform on the market, with formal, informal, social, user-generated, and now on the job development opportunities, all available through one simple, intuitive app.
The CIP syndicate invests exclusively in high-growth early stage companies that employ the Cloud to build a disruptive SaaS based model. The Conviction partnership is led by founding shareholder Andrew Jenkins, who has invested in disruptive technologies for 10 years, most notably Mimecast, which is now Nasdaq listed at over $2bn. Andrew is supported by Jeremy Middleton CBE, Managing Director of successful private investment company Middleton Enterprises Limited, and co-founder of home emergencies repairs business HomeServe plc, now a FTSE 250 company valued at over £4bn.
Andrew said: “Adepto and Degreed have incredible synergy and the acquisition will further enhance Degreed’s capabilities for client’s workforce planning, talent acquisition and performance management.”
Jeremy said: “We are incredibly excited for Adepto to join Degreed’s pioneering journey in the Learning Experience sector. It is a fantastic achievement for both businesses and, as Adepto shareholders and lead investors, we remain invested in the merged entity.”
