COVID-19 accelerates an emerging trend into a megatrend
The global COVID-19 crisis has fuelled massive growth in the edtech industry as educational institutions re-invent themselves in terms of their business model, how to conduct daily operations and (remote) teaching.
As the pandemic accelerates an emerging trend into a megatrend that will change how we learn forever, we saw an immediate need to better serve our new customers on the Latin American market.
As a result of COVID-19 CanopyLAB’s reach has expanded dramatically in South America and Africa. We have successfully onboarded more than 100 new schools and we currently have 2500+ schools on the waitlist, which are predominantly from Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, United States Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Nigeria. “As the pandemic accelerates an emerging trend into a megatrend that will change how we learn forever, we saw an immediate need to better serve our new customers on the Latin American market. This is possible through the acquisition of Yopublico, who already has a loyal client base, the know-how, and is known for quality and excellence locally” Sahra-Josephine comments about the acquisition.
With the acquisition, CanopyLAB now has the ability to support customers through the entire digitization journey, from having only physical books to running entire degree programs online.
Prior to the acquisition of YoPublico, which is based in Lima, Peru, CanopyLAB, and Yopublico, has been collaborating on customer projects for six months. YoPublico is a publishing startup, which specializes in digitizing content for authors and universities. With the acquisition, CanopyLAB now has the ability to support customers through the entire digitization journey, from having only physical books to running entire degree programs online.
I really do miss the contact with my team, the interaction with partners, and the in-person events. To be completely honest, online events and webinars can get a bit boring and long.
Growing to compete against the big industry players
CanopyLAB has raised 2,5 Million dollars from Danish angel investors and the Danish Growth Fund and acquisition at this stage of the company’s lifecycle is quite unusual. CanopyLAB now has offices in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lima, Peru, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. On the decision to acquire Yopublico Sahra-Josephine notes “the Latin American market is particularly interesting. With the combination of increasing digitization with wider access to the Internet and low loyalty towards the existing edtech products, we are taking as big a chunk of South America as we can from our competitors. This acquisition strengthens our ability to do that successfully”.
[ …] we are taking as big a chunk of South America as we can from our competitors. This acquisition strengthens our ability to do that successfully”.
CanopyLAB is behind a social and adaptive learning platform that is being used in more than 85 different countries. Based on co-founder Sahra-Josephine Hjorth’s Ph.D. research at Aalborg University, CanopyLAB launched its product in late 2018 with a focus on corporate learning. A few months before COVID-19 hit, the market took a turn and CanopyLAB launched a second product offering for high schools and universities “we began to see traction from high schools and universities, primarily in Latin America and Africa despite the fact that we never targeted this market and decided to actively include K-12 and universities as our target customers” co-founder and CEO Sahra-Josephine Hjorth explains.
“I am incredibly excited to be able to announce the acquisition. Under the leadership of Giancarlo Mena, VP of CanopyLAB LATAM, we have the ability to help hundreds of thousands of students get access to quality education in Latin America” Sahra-Josephine concludes.
For more information please contact us at info@canopylab.com
