Softline, the global IT and digital transformation provider, has entered into an agreement to acquire Academy IT as it strengthens its position in the high-growth technology education sector around the world and in EdTech solutions.
The acquisition of an 85-percent stake in Academy IT will join the provider of corporate training and learning management solutions with Softline’s existing technology education and training business and accelerate the company’s growth strategy in emerging markets.
Academy IT, founded in 1993, is one of the leading training and consulting centers in Russia and the CIS. It is a registered education provider with the Project Management Institute (PMI), and currently works with over 10,000 clients in 10 Russian cities, with the majority of them being from the financial, oil & gas, and transport sectors.
The Moscow headquartered Academy IT creates, develops, and deploys bespoke corporate training solutions and has a strong track record particularly in cybersecurity training. Softline’s existing education business includes a learning center where more than 300,000 information technology specialists have trained over the past 18 years.
Talking about the acquisition, CEO of Academy IT, Igor Morozov, said, “We are very proud to be becoming a part of the Softline family. The merged business will offer customers an unprecedented level of variety and specificity in their choice of training solutions. With courses from leading vendors on digital professions and technological solutions for online education and training, Softline’s educational ecosystem has never been better equipped to meet the needs of corporate customers.”
Softline is a leading global solutions and services provider in digital transformation and cybersecurity, with its headquarters in London. The company enables, facilitates and accelerates the digital transformation of its customers’ businesses, connecting over 150,000 enterprise organizations across a comprehensive range of industries with over 6,000 best-in-class IT vendors, and delivering its own services and proprietary solutions.
With approximately 6,000 employees globally, Softline operates in about 60 countries with significant growth potential in multiple markets from Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Africa. The company addresses the entire range of its customers’ IT needs and is positioned at the center of the digital transformation megatrend.
Chief Executive Officer of Softline, Sergey Chernovolenko, said, “We are excited to soon welcome Academy IT to the team. This deal will create a market leader in technology training and will help us improve our training capabilities in this booming sector and ideally position us to pursue new international business opportunities in areas where we see significant demand.”
Chernovolenko further added, “Our mission is to guide our customers through their digital transformations, so that they are able to keep doing business as efficiently as possible in this ever-changing world. Customers around the world can now rely on Softline to deliver a one-stop shop for their bespoke technology training requirements.”
Since its inception, Softline has achieved a turnover of US$ 1.8 billion in the fiscal year of 2020, and it’s currently one of the fastest growing companies in the sector. In October 2021, the company conducted a successful initial public offering of its depositary receipts on the London and Moscow stock exchanges.
To date, Softline has collaborated with more than 2,800 education institutions in countries including Hungary, Colombia, Argentina, Ivory Coast and Russia. The company also supplies cutting-edge software to millions of students and academics around the world.
Taking the journey forward, Softline is also targeting expansion in the global education technology (EdTech) market, an industry which is forecast to grow to US$404 billion by 2025*.
