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ETS Establishes ETS Japan, Cementing the Organization’s Commitment to the Japanese Education and Learning Market

Contact: Kristen Lacaillade          Phone: 908-310-0306          Email: mediacontacts@ets.org

PRINCETON, N.J., USA (June 15, 2021) — ETS today announced that it has acquired the TOEFL® assets of the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)-Japan. The nonprofit served as the Country Master Distributor for the TOEFL ITP® tests, TOEFL® Practice Online (TPO®) tests and the Criterion® service and provided outreach services for the TOEFL iBT® test in Japan. Relevant TOEFL operations in the country for TOEFL ITP tests and TPO tests, in addition to Japan support services for the centrally administered TOEFL iBT test (including the Home Edition) and TOEFL® Essentials™ tests, will now be managed through a newly established subsidiary, ETS Japan. The acquisition was led by the organization’s private equity investment and M&A execution arm, ETS Strategic Capital. Nemoto Hitoshi, formerly of CIEE-Japan, will lead ETS Japan as Country Manager.

“Our establishment of ETS Japan further underscores ETS’s commitment to the Japanese market and our continued support of language learners in the country working to improve their English- language proficiency skills,” said Mohammad Kousha, Associate Vice President at ETS. “We look forward to continuing to deliver the high-quality, valid assessment and learning solutions we are known for through ETS Japan.”

For more than 70 years, CIEE has helped hundreds of thousands of students and educators gain the knowledge and skills necessary to live and work in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world. In 1965, CIEE established an office in Tokyo, Japan and for the last 40 years, has worked closely with ETS, administrating TOEFL tests and acting as a representative in Japan for various ETS products and services such as the TOEFL ITP, TPO, and the Criterion service. CIEE will continue to operate their study abroad centers in Tokyo and Kyoto.

“We are excited to join ETS and continue our work in providing Japanese learners access to the portfolio of TOEFL assessment products,” said Nemoto Hitoshi, country manager of ETS Japan. “Our work now as ETS Japan will continue seamlessly for our more than 500 clients and hundreds of thousands of students, providing them with the leading English-language assessments in the world.”

ETS Japan will help the organization continue as a strong partner for research and development as well as new product development initiatives in the country while also working to identify new opportunities for business expansion.

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About ETS Japan
ETS Japan, based in Tokyo, Japan, is a subsidiary of ETS headquartered in Princeton, N.J., USA. ETS Japan is the in-country arm that brings the organization’s wide-ranging expertise in education and learning to test takers and learners. The subsidiary is the Country Master Distributor for the TOEFL ITP® tests, TOEFL Practice Online® tests (TPO®) and the Criterion® service, and provides outreach services for the TOEFL iBT® tests (including TOEFL iBT® Home Edition) and the new TOEFL® Essentials™ test in Japan. With decades of experience serving learners in Japan, the staff of ETS Japan offer deep expertise and insight into delivering high-quality English language learning and assessment solutions as well as new business opportunities to organizations, institutions and individuals in the country. www.etsjapan.jp

About ETS Strategic Capital
ETS Strategic Capital serves as the private equity investment and M&A execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners sourcing transactions within both the domestic United States and internationally. The unit partners with the broader EdTech ecosystem to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct relationships with businesses internationally — especially within Europe, Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions. ETS Strategic Capital targets private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C or later; acquisitions that are middle-market in scale; and growth partnerships that may involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-affiliate or distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and technology-transfer relationships. www.ets.capital

About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. www.ets.org

ETS Strategic Capital Announces New Deals, Expands Portfolio

ETS Strategic Capital executes transactions with two innovative tech companies in further expansion and
growth of investment and acquisition portfolio


Media Contact: Kristen Lacaillade, 908-310-0306, mediacontacts@ets.org

PRINCETON, N.J. (March 11, 2021) — ETS Strategic Capital, a unit within ETS focused on growing its educational business and advancing the organization’s strategic mission impact through equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions, today announced new deals with two companies that allow for the further expansion of the group’s portfolio.


The new companies joining ETS Strategic Capital’s portfolio include:

  • MPOWER® Financing: A Washington, D.C. and Bangalore, India based FinTech lender focused on increasing access for the international and DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) student communities that are currently underserved by conventional banks. ETS Strategic Capital made a minority investment in MPOWER Financing’s most recently-closed financing round and plans to leverage its largely international connections to student borrowers in AsiaPacific regions, primarily India and China. This connection will aim to help increase synergies between student borrowers globally and ETS’s GRE® and TOEFL® programs. https://www.mpowerfinancing.com

“MPOWER is delighted to be working with ETS and exploring ways to support the millions of students who test with them globally every year. By democratizing access to financing, we hope an even greater number of qualified students around the globe will venture to study in North America,” said Manu Smadja, MPOWER Financing’s CEO and Co-founder. “As impact-oriented firms with a global outlook, our teams instantly connected and are excited to help students attain the best possible educational outcomes.”

  • Vericant: Vericant is comprised of United States, China and internationally-located teams of admissions professionals who are working to help transform the face of international admissions and assessment. Vericant aims to aid admissions officers in being able to better evaluate their candidates through 1:1 video interviews, allowing them to make informed decisions with comprehensive information. Via a cross-border M&A transaction, ETS Strategic Capital has acquired Vericant, which going forward will operate as a new subsidiary of ETS. Vericant’s services are not new to ETS – they were previously utilized in strategic collaboration as part of ETS’s TOEFL ITP® Plus for China solution, which was developed to support Chinese students while in-person TOEFL iBT® testing was suspended as a result of COVID-19. https://www.vericant.com/

“Our broader vision is to have a video interview with every application to the institutions,” said Guy Sivan, CEO of Vericant. “We have spent years focused on developing and delivering the tools, systems and expertise of our interviews-as-a-service solution to institutions and students worldwide and I can’t think of a better way to continue to expand our impact than by joining ETS.”


MPOWER Financing and Vericant join ETS Strategic Capital’s already robust portfolio that bring innovative technology, new business models and enhanced geographic coverage, as well as complimentary technological capabilities to ETS’s current business areas. The previously announced deals include those with ApplyBoard, Capti, EdAgree, Pipplet and Gradschoolmatch.

“Our newest investments and acquisitions are a reflection of our mandate to leverage external inorganic entrepreneurial high-growth tech business innovations to expand on the capabilities and align to the mission of ETS,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. “Through equity investments, growth partnerships and M&A, we continue to explore new and emerging business opportunities globally for ETS to serve learners worldwide.”

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About ETS Strategic Capital
ETS Strategic Capital serves as the private equity investment and M&A execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners sourcing transactions within both the domestic United States and internationally. The unit partners with the broader EdTech ecosystem to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct relationships with businesses internationally — especially within Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions. ETS Strategic Capital targets private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C or later; acquisitions that are middle-market in scale; and growth partnerships that may involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-affiliate or distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and technologytransfer relationships.

www.ets.capital


About ETS
At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide.

www.ets.org

Where Venture Capitalists Are Investing as Districts Shift to In – Person Education

Firms Eye Products For Families, and Those That Can Be Delivered in Multiple Environments.

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Why a Major Education Organization Jumped into the World of Venture Capital

A New Investment Fund Launched by ETS Can Support the Assessment Organization’s Bottom Line and Mission, Its Director Says

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ETS Strategic Capital Facilitates Spin-off of EdAgree from ETS and Arranges Seed Funding from ETS to Incubate the Start-up Company

Investment will drive ETS’s growth in international student experiences and recruitment

PRINCETON, N.J. (Sept. 16, 2020) — ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit of education nonprofit ETS created to grow its offerings and advance its mission, today announced that it facilitated the spin-off of EdAgree from ETS who provided the start-up company with $1 million in seed funding.

Through its user-friendly platform and partnerships with academic institutions, EdAgree seeks to optimize learning and experiential outcomes for international students in higher education. The concept for the company grew out of market research conducted by ETS’s New Product Development unit and, with the spin-off, EdAgree will become a subsidiary of ETS.

In a global education landscape in which assessment standards are constantly changing, EdAgree provides a value-add resource for international students to build essential skills and knowledge, demonstrate their proficiency and communicate their aspirations. The company then helps match these international students with universities and supports them throughout their education journey.

EdAgree validates student profile information, packages it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborates with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. As part of this, they also work with partner universities to construct predictive success algorithms that identify, for specific student profiles, intervention and support strategies that will help international students succeed.

Commenting on the spin-off and seed funding, Ralph Taylor-Smith, Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital said, “EdAgree demonstrates ETS’s entrepreneurial spirit and ability to innovate from within, and we’re confident that as its own subsidiary, with ETS seed money, the company has significant growth potential. EdAgree addresses an underserved, growing market in higher education through its new business model, and is well-positioned to diversify ETS’s offering in higher education to drive recruitment and improve experiences and outcomes of international students.”

“By working with international students and universities from recruitment through graduation, EdAgree is about the relationship, not the transaction. This is a new way of thinking about success for international students and universities and it benefits both,” added EdAgree CEO and President Marlowe Johnson. “We believe that cross-border traffic, learning and exchange is a force for good in this increasingly global world and we are building products and services in higher education to help advance this cause.”

ETS Strategic Capital’s mandate is to broaden, expand and diversify ETS’s offerings in assessment, learning and development for K-12, higher education and corporations. It is actively seeking transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies that will have a positive financial and strategic impact by bringing technology, new business models and/or geographic coverage that complement and build out ETS’s current business. EdAgree is one of ETS Strategic Capital’s first five portfolio companies.

About EdAgree

EdAgree, Inc., a subsidiary of ETS, matches international students — EdAgree Scholars — with universities and supports those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree validates student profile information, packages it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborates with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. 

https://edagree.com/

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. 

www.ets.org

ETS Announces Acquisition of Gradschoolmatch.com

Acquisition of the online portal for prospective graduate students provides an even stronger value to students and graduate institutions

PRINCETON, N.J. (Sept. 16, 2020) — ETS announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Gradschoolmatch.com, an online portal focused on assisting prospective graduate students during their graduate school search with the goal of matching the prospective student with the right graduate program. The platform was first launched in early 2013 by Emory University Professor T.J. Murphy with his graduate student and co-founder Brian Clark.

This service empowers students to research and make better decisions regarding graduate education, utilizing data-driven algorithms and institutional data. The match-algorithms, search-engine and business approach are modelled after successful “personal dating” web-driven businesses. Students provide their profile with such information as geography, exam scores, degrees and GPA, academic plans, and work experience during the registration process. Based on these criteria, the website indicates programs of interest and matches students with potential graduate programs.

“The acquisition of Gradschoolmatch is part of an ongoing initiative within ETS to expand upon our digital assets. Utilizing graduate student data within ETS, we believe we can provide more insights and value to the student life cycle journey while providing graduate institutions more data-driven solutions for their recruiting efforts. We believe that ETS’s scale can help further the growth and reach of Gradschoolmatch,” said Alberto Acereda, Executive Director of Higher Education, ETS.

“Gradschoolmatch has always been mission focused with the goal of putting people first by providing guidance to both students and institutions. The combination of ETS and Gradschoolmatch will continue along in this mission and provide even stronger value to students and graduate institutions alike,” added Murphy, Founder and CEO of Gradschoolmatch.

“The acquisition of Gradschoolmatch is part of the core growth strategy within ETS higher education and is part of the diversification strategy currently underway,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital, who executed the M&A transaction. “The newly formed ETS Strategic Capital is actively exploring global business diversification in learning, assessment and education-related technologies on behalf of ETS and its corporate subsidiaries, through Private Equity Investments, Growth Partnerships, Mergers and Acquisitions.”

About Gradschoolmatch

Gradschoolmatch.com connects prospective graduate students with individual graduate school programs. Prospective students use Gradschoolmatch to easily find advanced degree programs. Graduate program directors and recruiters are matched to, or can search for, students with precisely the credentials they are looking for and have thoughtful conversations through the website to answer questions potential students may have.

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. 

www.ets.org

ETS Strategic Capital Secures Acquisition of Pipplet

Acquisition of the language assessment company strengthens ETS’s position in corporate learning and digital-skills testing

PRINCETON, N.J. (Sept. 16, 2020) — ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit of education nonprofit ETS created to grow its business and advance its mission, today announced the acquisition of Pipplet by the ETS Global B.V. A Paris, France-based start-up, Pipplet specializes in language assessment for corporations and its evaluations are used for language audits and skills certification in employee recruitment and internal mobility.

Through digital distribution and integration with widely used HR software, Pipplet has acquired a key position in the recruitment process, especially in sectors where multilingualism and oral skills are important, such as customer service. Since 2015, Pipplet has allowed recruiters from all over the world to verify candidates’ abilities to work in a foreign language. More than 30,000 candidates have been tested in 28 different languages, from English to Vietnamese, speeding up the recruitment process for hundreds of companies, from fast-growing start-ups to large consulting groups.

Pipplet builds on ETS’s existing language assessment offerings, including TOEIC® and TOEFL® tests, which now provide digital and face-to-face testing for corporate professionals, academics and individuals worldwide. Post-acquisition, Pipplet will become a business unit of ETS subsidiary Global B.V., based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

“This cross-border acquisition of Pipplet will help expand ETS’s global presence and is part of our core growth strategy in corporate language learning and assessment services,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. “The international recognition and robustness of our existing TOEIC tests for the corporate market, combined with Pipplet’s digital innovations and online SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business model for corporate clients, will enable us to help companies globally meet the current challenges in assessing language skills, which require accurate results, consistency and accessibility at all times.”

“Pipplet has successfully built an international business meeting the language assessment needs of corporate customers around the world. As part of ETS Global B.V., we will be even better positioned to maintain and expand our network of relationships with leading companies that depend on language skills to support their business success,” added Baptiste Derongs, one of Pipplet’s co-founders.

ETS Strategic Capital’s mandate is to broaden, expand and diversify ETS’s offering in assessment, learning and development for K–12, higher education, and corporations. It is actively seeking transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies that will have a positive financial and strategic impact by bringing technology, new business models and/or geographic coverage that complement and build out ETS’s current business areas. Pipplet is one of ETS Strategic Capital’s first five portfolio companies.

About ETS and ETS Global

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, and the GRE® tests — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. 

www.ets.org

At ETS Global B.V., we bring expertise to educational and business communities around the world, including companies, language schools, academic institutions and public service organisations. ETS Global serve 80 countries across Europe, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. We offer a range of ETS products, services and learning solutions, including English-language assessments, standardized assessments, training and consulting. 

www.etsglobal.org

About the TOEIC Tests

With more than 40 years as an industry leader, the TOEIC programme has set the standard for assessing English-language communication skills needed in the workplace. The TOEIC tests are the most widely used around the world. Over 14 000 organisations across more than 160 countries, trust TOEIC scores to inform the decisions that matter. The TOEIC assessment portfolio measures all 4 language skills for a comprehensive understanding of English-language proficiency. Accurate, reliable and comparable scores can help organisations evaluate individuals with the English-language skills needed to succeed in the global workplace. Learn more about the TOEIC tests and other services provided by the TOEIC Programme.

Contact: Annabelle Junillon, Associate Director of Marketing EMEA, ajunillon@etsglobal.org

About Pipplet

Founded in 2015, Pipplet offers an innovative approach to language assessment. Based on real-life scenarios that ask candidates to express themselves orally and in writing, the Pipplet assessment makes it possible to identify all of a person’s language skills in 30 minutes, without an appointment. Its fully online, multilingual model is preferred by international recruiters who need to select candidates who can work immediately in a given language. More than 400 companies worldwide use Pipplet.

The Pipplet management team will remain in place to ensure the development of their product within ETS Global.

ETS Launches New Arm for Global Edtech Investments and Acquisitions

Over the past decade, the world’s largest educational assessment nonprofit has been testing the waters of education technology investments. Now, it is taking the plunge.

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Study Abroad EdTech Company ApplyBoard Raises $55 Million Series C Extension

Iranian brothers Massi, Meti and Martin Basiri had such difficulty applying to study in Canada, they quit their jobs in 2015 to build the Common Application equivalent for international students. Now their Waterloo, Ontario-based company ApplyBoard is the world’s largest digital hub for international student recruitment—having helped 120,000 students identify and apply for 1,200-plus schools abroad. Today the company announced $55 million in Series C extension funding from Educational Testing Service, Index Ventures, Blue Cloud Ventures and Harmonic Growth Partners at a $1.4 billion valuation.

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ETS Creates ETS Strategic Capital to Tap into New Growth Opportunities in Education

The new ETS unit will pursue strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions

PRINCETON, N.J. (Sept. 16, 2020) — ETS, the world’s largest nonprofit educational assessment and measurement organization, today announced the creation of ETS Strategic Capital, a new unit that will focus on growing the business and advancing its mission through strategic equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions.

ETS Strategic Capital will broaden, expand and diversify ETS’s offering in assessment, learning and development for K–12, higher education, and corporations. With this mandate, ETS Strategic Capital is actively seeking transactions to establish a global portfolio of innovative education companies that will have both a positive financial and strategic impact.

“We’ve reached a pivotal point in the ongoing evolution of education — there is a fundamental change in how educational services are delivered, how tools and assessments are structured, and how learners, schools, and companies are engaged and connected,” said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. “With our funding, expertise and experience in education, ETS Strategic Capital is well positioned to help emerging education companies that are addressing these gaps grow and increase their impact, while tapping into new opportunities. ETS brings value-add capabilities in assessments, research and development, global distribution, and innovative technologies to our portfolio and partner companies.”

ETS Strategic Capital currently has a portfolio of five companies that bring technology, new business models and geographic coverage, and that complement and build out ETS’s current business areas:

  • ApplyBoard: Guided by ETS Strategic Capital, ETS made an equity investment in Canadian-based ApplyBoard Inc., the world’s largest platform for international student recruitment. As part of this investment, ApplyBoard and ETS’s TOEFL® business unit, which provides the world’s premier English-language test for university study, work and immigration, are also developing a strategic growth partnership. https://www.applyboard.com/
  • Pipplet: A start-up specializing in language assessment for businesses, Paris-based Pipplet helps companies assess job candidates’ language fluency based on their practical, real-world ability to interact in a professional context. ETS’s subsidiary, ETS Global B.V., acquired Pipplet S.A.S., guided by ETS Strategic Capital. https://www.pipplet.com/en-gb/home
  • Capti (by Charmtech Labs LLC): Through the use of machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, Buffalo, N.Y.-based Capti, created by Charmtech Labs LLC, provides personalized literacy and learning support to K–12 students. Capti – dubbed a “AAA” for teachers – helps teachers accommodate, assess and accelerate reading for all their students. ETS Strategic Capital arranged a seed investment from ETS in Capti and established a strategic business partnership with ETS Research & Development (R&D) and New Product Development (NPD). Capti is licensing ETS’s ReadReady™ intellectual property in internet-driven reading diagnostics, and will work closely with ETS’s R&D and NPD teams to expand opportunities to positively impact K–12 student reading success across the United States. https://www.captivoice.com/capti-site/
  • EdAgree: Focused on the international student experience, EdAgree, Inc. is a newly formed spin-out company from ETS that will match international students with universities and support those students throughout their education journey. EdAgree plans to validate student profile information, package it for streamlined processing by admissions departments, and collaborate with universities to identify and deliver support that will optimize learning outcomes. EdAgree also will collaborate with partner universities on research efforts to optimize student success. ETS Strategic Capital arranged $1 million of seed funding from ETS to incubate the new start-up company and facilitated the spinout from ETS. https://edagree.com/
  • Gradschoolmatch: Gradschoolmatch.com is an interactive internet-driven software platform that helps prospective graduate students match with potential graduate academic programs. The match-algorithm, search-engine and business-approach are modeled after successful “personal-dating” web-driven businesses; students can post biographies, research interests, career plans and academic profiles; they can also “bookmark” a graduate program profile to “signal their interest” in learning more or send “private messages” to graduate school recruiters. Both prospective graduate students and graduate institutions may subscribe, which allows them to search by location or academic interests, tracking prospects and making contact with simplified one-click interconnectivity for matching. ETS Strategic Capital arranged the purchase of the Gradschoolmatch.com platform, and it will be incorporated into ETS’s offerings to the graduate school market. https://www.gradschoolmatch.com/

ETS Strategic Capital will serve as the private equity investment and M&A execution arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners. It will source transactions both within the domestic United States and internationally. It will partner with the broader EdTech ecosystem, to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct relationships with businesses internationally — especially within Asia Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions.

More specifically, ETS Strategic Capital will target private equity investments that are typically in Series B, C or later, where companies already have a proven product and/or market fit, initial customers, and developed business-model, and are seeking further new growth capital to scale the business; in select situations, earlier-stage investment may be possible. Acquisitions will primarily focus on middle-market scale deals, though smaller or larger acquisitions may also be possible in certain situations. ETS Strategic Capital defines growth partnerships broadly and they might involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-partner or distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and technology-transfer relationships, along with similar strategic value-add business partnerships.

Ralph Taylor-Smith, currently the Vice President of Corporate Development at ETS, will become the Managing Director of the new unit, bringing a wealth of experience in private equity investing, M&A and growth partnerships and joint ventures. ETS Strategic Capital has a growing bicoastal team based in offices in Princeton, N.J., Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley, Calif. Read more about our team.

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the TOEFL® and TOEIC® tests, the GRE® tests and The Praxis Series® assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. 

www.ets.org