Bayard, a leading youth and media publisher, acquired a majority stake in EDOKI ACADEMY – a leader in educational apps for children ages 3 to 10.
Founded in 2015 by Emmanuel Guyot, Sylvain Lumbroso and Valérie Touze, and backed by Elaia, the edtech startup is behind the “Montessori Preschool” app, with over 10 million downloads worldwide.
This strategic acquisition supports Bayard’s ambition to become a leading French company for digital media in the kids space while continuing to create cultural, creative and educational content for children, teachers, and families around the globe.
Pascal Ruffenach, CEO of Bayard, comments: “For over 50 years, our desire has been to meet kids wherever they are. Using our portfolio of well-known brands and characters, we want to accompany children in their new media usage with high-quality, innovative digital content: e-books, audiobooks, podcasts, videos, interactive games, etc. Our vision is to be a global leader in digital content for families.”
EDOKI ACADEMY is an expert in their field. It has a solid international presence and a portfolio of over 25 award-winning apps in 8 languages; its apps have cumulatively generated 20 million downloads and over 120 000 subscribers.
Emmanuel Guyot, President of Edoki Academy, comments: “Partnering with Bayard is a childhood dream come true; we all grew up reading Bayard magazines, and we share their ambition to create high-quality content that inspires and educates children. It will also allow us to expand our distribution channels and introduce our products to new families. We’re confident that together we can create a major new leading company in educational media for children.”
Elaia, the leading European Digital & Deep Tech VC firm, represented by Samantha Jerusalmy commented “We are proud to have been with the Edoki team since its creation, and we are convinced that this new chapter with Bayard will allow them to develop innovative solutions for the benefit of children and families around the world”.
