The retreat of SoftBank from its previous investment zeal is swift. General Atlantic will buy out SoftBank’s entire 15% share in Kahoot, a popular platform for users to create and use educational video games, according to an announcement made by the Norwegian startup this morning.
With a loss, SoftBank is giving up. The corporation has invested at least $215 million in the last few years. But 15% of Kahoot’s current market capitalization (10.415 billion Norwegian Kroner) is around $152 million (1,562,250,000 NOK).
Given the absence of additional investment with the buyout, this appears to be an all-secondary round. (Kahoot is confirming this for us, and we’ll update when we find out more.)
According to a statement from the business, Kahoot “plans to join with General Atlantic to accelerate future growth efforts, promote innovation, and expand its worldwide footprint in homes, schools, and enterprises.”
The purchase is announced even though Kahoot, like many other software firms, is still feeling the effects of the broad decline in technology equities and the larger technology sector. On the Oslo Stock Exchange, its shares were being traded at 70.25 NOK a year ago. Only 22.77 NOK are currently worth them.
And that includes the over 27% increase that Kahoot experienced this morning as a result of the investment/divestment news.
According to a statement from the business, Kahoot “plans to join with General Atlantic to accelerate future growth efforts, promote innovation, and expand its worldwide footprint in homes, schools, and enterprises.”
The purchase is announced even though Kahoot, like many other software firms, is still feeling the effects of the broad decline in technology equities and the larger technology sector. On the Oslo Stock Exchange, its shares were being traded at 70.25 NOK a year ago. Only 22.77 NOK are currently worth them. And that includes the over 27% increase that Kahoot experienced this morning as a result of the investment/divestment news.
We are excited to acquire a partner of General Atlantic’s level as Kahoot! pursues its objective to improve lifetime learning by developing a premier global learning and engagement platform, said Eilert Hanoa, CEO of Kahoot. “The GA team provides strong expertise in positioning industry leaders for long-term success and expanding global education technology and software enterprises. We look forward to our next phase of momentum in empowering the learning ecosystem throughout the world.”
Chris Caulkin, managing director and head of technology for EMEA at General Atlantic, continued, “We believe Kahoot has enormous potential for additional growth as digital learning solutions continue to be used throughout the work, school, and home markets.
“Kahoot is ideally positioned to scale with its beloved brand, product-centric strategy, and engaged global user base. We look forward to helping Eilert and the entire Kahoot! team in the years to ahead as they reach and engage ever more users globally.” There was obviously already a relationship between General Atlantic and SoftBank, and it may have also been a factor in this case. The two companies have collaborated on many agreements in the past.
To be fair, Kahoot has developed significantly since SB Northstar, the SoftBank Group vehicle making the investment, made its initial investment in the company in October 2020, which was over two years ago. At the time, there were 1.3 billion users (also known as “participating players”); today, there are 8 billion.
