- Acquisition of Futurewhiz by investment firm NPM Capital
- Transaction further enables Futurewhiz to realize growth strategy at home and abroad
- Acquisition has no impact on core activities of existing online platforms
Amsterdam, 24. December 2020 – Futurewhiz, also trading as Squla and WRTS, today announces its acquisition by investment firm NPM Capital. NPM Capital, a Dutch investor, will buy the majority of shares of Futurewhiz from international investment firm Levine Leichtman Capital Partners. The acquisition will have no impact on the core activities of Futurewhiz’ online learning platforms for children between 3 and 18 years of age. No further details have been given about the value of this transaction.
Serge Bueters, CEO of Futurewhiz: “We are very happy to announce the acquisition of Futurewhiz by NPM Capital. We believe that with NPM Capital as a partner, we will be able to realize our growth ambitions and our mission to help as much children as possible to make progress in a fun and engaging way through our popular platforms Squla, WRTS and Scoyo. It is more important than ever that primary and secondary school students are provided with additional support in their education. With the active support of NPM Capital, we will be able to accelerate our (inter)national goals and to give extra support to millions of children in primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Poland. We are also very thankful for the support Levine Leichtman Capital Partners has given us. Together with the management, LLCP has made significant investments in the growth of our two platforms and has prepared Futurewhiz for the next phase”.
“With Futurewhiz we are able to add strong activities and well-positioned brands to our portfolio of participations,” states Bart Coopmans, Managing Director at NPM Capital. “Online learning is seamlessly aligned with our strategic investment themes and the social trends we have already observed for several years now. We believe we are able to support talented and skilled organizations and market propositions with growth capital and pave the way for a next phase in their development towards long-term growth and value creation. As mother company of Squla, Scoyo and WRTS, Futurewhiz has a strong track-record and market position. We are really looking forward to fully make use of this growth potential together with Futurewhiz”.
About Futurewhiz
Futurewhiz employs 70 people, is located in Amsterdam and operates in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Futurewhiz is the mother company of Squla en Scoyo, as well as WRTS, an online learning platform for secondary school students enabling them to learn words and concepts more efficiently and quicker. Futurewhiz was founded in the Netherlands ten years ago. With Squla, Futurewhiz was certified by B-corp recently, and is one of the frontrunners in the field of CSR and social impact. Squla is the main provider of additional interactive educational tools for primary school pupils in the Netherlands. Over 180,000 children play and practice with Squla from their homes and more than 600,000 primary school students use its tools at school. Squla is active in the Netherlands and Poland, with Squla.nl and Squla.pl. WRTS is the platform for secondary school students and helps them to prepare for tests with quizzes about words and concepts, practice tests, video and 1 to 1 support by tutor chats. Every year, over half a million students and teachers are active on WRTS.nl and WRTS.be. Scoyo.de is a German online learning platform that was launched fifteen years ago and was bought in 2020 by Futurewhiz. Scoyo offers exercise materials, based on the same format as Squla to pupils in grade 1 to 7 in Germany.
About NPM Capital
NPM Capital invests in middle market companies in the Benelux and supports companies to enter the next growth phase in their development. NPM Capital, with SHV as its sole shareholder, has sufficient capital in order to apply a long investment horizon. Currently, NPM Capital has a portfolio of 26 participations (majority as well as minority holdings, including growth capital) and focuses on the following issues of the future: Future of Energy, Everything is Digital, Feeding the World and Healthy Life.
About Levine Leichtman Capital Partners
Levine Leichtman Capital Partners is a private equity firm with a focus on middle market companies. With a track-record of over 37 years and its in-depth expertise in several industries, such as franchising, professional services, healthcare, education and technical products, LLCP implements a distinctive investment strategy that combines investments in debt and equity. LLCP has managed approximately 11 billion dollar of institutional capital since inception, spread over 14 investment funds, and has invested in more than 85 portfolio companies. Currently, LLCP manages approximately 7 billion dollar of capital, including the most recent European Fund, Levine Leichtman Capital Partners Europe II, SCSP that closed 2020 with 463 million euro committed capital – and has offices in Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, Miami, London, Stockholm and The Hague.
