The learning-as-a-service field will see new growth as Eduhouse and Sovelto merge and Eduhouse acquires the entire share capital of Sovelto. Eduhouse and Sovelto are operators focusing on professional training and learning platforms offering curated training packages to all types of learners, regardless of time and place. This acquisition will strengthen the position of the Finnish Eduhouse as the Nordic market leader in the LaaS field and support the company's goal of revolutionising learning in the flow of work. The goal of Eduhouse is to offer training as a streaming service to one million users by 2030.
Working life is going through constant changes. Career paths, skills and requirements are fragmented, and increasingly diverse skills and continuous competence development are required from professionals. Both the professionals themselves and different organisations need solutions to enable continuous learning in the hectic everyday life.
Eduhouse responds to these changing needs with its competence development philosophy: learning in the flow of work. The solution to the skills gap and lack of time is a model of continuous training that is adapted to the needs of the organisation and professionals as well as to their learning styles.
Instead of occasional training days, learning and development take place during working days, as a streaming service, where training is available to professionals regardless of time and place. Learning takes place in continuous impulses instead of long training sessions. You can develop your skills through a streaming service with the help of the extensive video library and podcasts as well as in the form of self-study materials and trainer-led sessions. The aim is to provide the most up-to-date and essential professional training on the market on a single platform.
Targeted and needs-identifying learning genuinely helps in improving the competitiveness of organisations. The training offered by Eduhouse increases the skills of professionals especially in three areas: business, technology and working life skills. Learning modules are adapted to the needs of the organisation and time available. The aim is to understand the learner's goals and focus on providing both the maintenance of existing skills and the development of completely new skills.
“We are going to revolutionise the professional learning offering in the Nordic countries. The LaaS market is growing fast as the service needs and supply are developing. For example, Eduhouse has already revolutionised the work-based learning of financial accounting professionals. The ever-changing regulation requires continuous competence development from them. The professionals of all the largest companies providing outsourced financial accounting services in Finland develop themselves at work with the help of Eduhouse's services. We are excited about the opportunity to increase Eduhouse's range of services and create new success stories with the help of Sovelto’s applied know-how and offering”, says Jukka Vento, CEO at Eduhouse.
Sovelto is a Finnish company founded in 1999, which focuses on information and communication technology training, consulting and learning services. Sovelto provides its customers with a training network and learning tools. With the acquisition, the services of both companies will be available to the entire customer base.
“Sovelto enables continuous work-based learning and develops forms of learning that help IT professionals and other knowledge workers succeed. Eduhouse is a pioneer in the Nordic LaaS market, and we are excited to join them in our new phase of growth. We offer a strong alternative for solving skills gap as constantly evolving technologies require a change in the learning culture. Now we will continue to promote well-being and competitiveness, with top-class resources and co-operation,” says Sanna Varpukari, Managing Director at Sovelto.
In terms of size, supply volume and coverage, Eduhouse is a unique player in the Nordic countries. Together, Eduhouse and Sovelto are in the leading position on the markets. Demand for work-based learning is growing and the LaaS market has great growth potential. For example, according to the Technology Industries in Finland, around 130,000 new experts will be needed in the
technology industry alone over the next decade. With accelerating digitalisation, lifelong learning and the need for continuous development at work will only increase. The LaaS field in the Nordic countries is expected to grow by 40% due to this development.
At the moment, the world's most prominent subscription model based LaaS operators are LinkedIn Learning and Udemy, which was recently listed with USD 4 billion valuation. Other globally known players in the industry include Coursera and edX. Eduhouse and Sovelto have started to challenge these companies in Finland, Sweden and Norway, offering the best professional content in the
world in local languages. Verdane, the European specialist growth equity investor, bought a stake in Eduhouse in 2021.
“We see Eduhouse has a strong potential to become an internationally influential LaaS company. The market for continuous learning is still in its infancy, but it is growing fast. In Finland, the sector is already quite developed, but especially in Sweden and Norway, Eduhouse’s growth per cent is in three figures. Verdane continues to support Eduhouse's strong growth through organic growth and acquisitions,” says Iikka Moilanen, Investment Professional at Verdane.
With the acquisition, the entire share capital of Sovelto will be transferred to Eduhouse. The combined net sales of the companies were approximately EUR 12 million in 2021, and net sales are expected to grow to approximately EUR 15 million during 2022. The companies operate in Finland, Sweden and Norway and have a total of 80 employees. In Finland, the companies have more than 60 employees with offices in Helsinki and Tampere. Each year, approximately 100,000 professionals use Eduhouse's LaaS services.
Further information:
Jukka Vento
CEO, Eduhouse Oy
jukka.vento@eduhouse.fi
+358 50 084 5315
Sanna Varpukari
Managing Director, Sovelto Oyj
sanna.varpukari@sovelto.fi
+358 40 762 1762