Quipper是一家教育科技創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，總部位于倫敦，其分部涵蓋包括印度尼西亞和泰國在內(nèi)的9個國家，它為全球150萬多名學生和150000名教師提供教育支持與幫助。
日前，日本招聘巨頭Recruit以3900萬美元收購了Quipper，至此，2015年亞洲的教育科技類公司的交易量持續(xù)增長。此次收購是一項戰(zhàn)略性舉措，使Recruit的教育水平直線上升，并擴大了其k – 12產(chǎn)品在全球的銷售渠道。
Quipper，2010年在英國建立，它最初是通過Quipper Quiz手機移動端平臺幫助初學者學習語言和數(shù)學的。隨后，2014年，Quipper推出了Quipper School以及在線學習平臺的k – 12，此平臺的教學內(nèi)容與政府認可
課程同步。
Quipper School首先在菲律賓創(chuàng)建，之后擴展到了包括印度尼西亞、泰國和墨西哥在內(nèi)的九個國家，現(xiàn)在，它為全球150萬多名學生和150000名教師提供教育支持與幫助。
2012年，Recruit因收購全球最大的工作招聘網(wǎng)站Indeed.com而聞名。Recruit一直對教育行業(yè)興趣濃厚，它們也通過兩個系統(tǒng)提供教育服務，一個是Benkyo Sapuri（課外輔導），另一個Juken Sapuri(高考輔導)為高考生提供學習輔導。
目前，Juken Sapuri以學習精要高質量數(shù)字點播的方式，及較低的月訂閱費（平均每月10每月）贏得了市場，打破了原有100億美元考試產(chǎn)業(yè)的壟斷。此次收購為它們迅速擴張的k – 12的用戶群和準備學生們后階段的高考建立了聯(lián)系。
“Recruit以商業(yè)領域的“破壞者”和創(chuàng)新者而聞名，它們對如何在科技教育領域發(fā)揮作用很在行。最重要的是，我們兩個企業(yè)對未來抱有共同的愿景。”Quipper的首席執(zhí)行官Masayuki Watanabe說到。
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Quipper 和Recruit 在教育服務領域有一個共同的理念，正如它們當前的策略一樣，強調以低價格提供高質量的服務。Recruit知道如何發(fā)展技術并使Quipper的資本增值。Recruit戰(zhàn)略突出，在過去的18個月里，它們僅在亞洲的員工就從2名增加到了60名。
“作為一個創(chuàng)業(yè)公司，Quipper靈活應變，應對了諸多挑戰(zhàn)，但它也存在局限性。Recruit大量優(yōu)質的業(yè)務資源無疑會加速我們公司的成長,”Quipper的營銷總監(jiān)Takuya Homma說到。
隨著電子教育平臺的迅速崛起，其他類似的教育平臺，如美國的Edmodo，近年來也籌集了很多資金以實現(xiàn)轉型。在數(shù)字化方面，教育部門明顯落后于其他行業(yè)，但現(xiàn)如今，主導的出版商不斷尋求學習和教育的數(shù)字化發(fā)展，該情況得到了改善。
數(shù)字化的緩慢應用不僅為創(chuàng)業(yè)公司提供了機會，也為非傳統(tǒng)企業(yè)進入教育平臺和空間提供了機會，正如馬來西亞的企業(yè)巨頭YTL集團。通過與國家教育部(MoE)的直接合作，YTL發(fā)展了Frog Education，一個虛擬學習平臺 (VLE) ,為馬來西亞10000多所學校提供教育服務。
與Edmodo還有 Frog Education一樣，Quipper School 通過云平臺來下發(fā)作業(yè)來簡化老師的備課和評估工作，發(fā)揮了巨大的作用。
游戲化的教學元素、對學生詳盡的分析、與各國國家教育部同步的
課程，以及當?shù)氐南嚓P教材和老師，使Quipper 在新興市場處于十分有利位置。
Japan’s Recruit Holdings buys edtech startup Quipper for US$39M
Edtech dealflow across Asia continues to increase in 2015 as edtech startup Quipper has just been acquired by Japan-based Recruit Holdings for US$39 million. The acquisition appears to be a strategic move that will enable Recruit’s education vertical to enhance and expand their K-12 products globally.
Founded in the UK in 2010, Quipper began with Quipper Quiz, a mobile-based quiz platform that helped learners to primarily study language and math subjects. The company then pivoted in 2014 with the launch of Quipper School, an online learning platform for the K-12 segment that features content aligned with government-approved curriculum.
Initially launched in the Philippines, Quipper School has since expanded to nine countries including Indonesia, Thailand and Mexico and now serves over 1.5 million students and 150,000 teachers.
Known for their acquisition of the world’s largest job recruitment website Indeed.com in 2012, Recruit has a strong interest in the education vertical as they also provide educational services through Benkyo Sapuri (Japanese for “study supplement”), and grade 12 university entrance exam test prep Juken Sapuri (Japanese for “entrance exam supplement”).
Juken Sapuri is currently disrupting the US$10 billion exam prep industry in Japan with quality digital on-demand content and low monthly subscription fees that are considerably cheaper than other test prep alternatives at an average cost of US$10 per month. The acquisition appears to be an attempt to provide a link between a rapidly expanding K-12 user base and their eventual need for university test prep at the later phase of secondary education.
“Recruit is famous for being a disrupter and innovator of business and has a lot of know-how on this edtech business domain as well. And above all, we share the same vision,” said Quipper’s CEO Masayuki Watanabe.
Quipper and Recruit appear to share a common approach in providing educational services as their current strategy is backed by an emphasis on relevant high-quality content at lower price points.
Recruit’s business development know-how and capital will add value to Quipper’s current capacity and strategy which has undergone a growth spurt of two employees to 60 in Asia alone over the past 18 months.
“As a startup, Quipper could be agile and make a lot of trials flexibly but there was a limit to it. With Recruit’s substantial and excellent business assets we can now surely accelerate our growth,” said Takuya Homma, Marketing Director at Quipper.
Similar education platforms such as US-based Edmodo have also raised considerable funding in recent years as the steady switch to educational digital content begins to gain more momentum. The education sector has lagged behind other sectors in digital adoption as the dominant publishers position themselves for a new era of learning and education itself becomes redefined.
The slow adoption to digital has provided opportunities for not only startups but also non-traditional players to enter the educational platform and content space as is the case with Malaysia’s corporate giant YTL Group. In direct cooperation with the national Ministry of Education (MoE) YTL has helped to develop Frog Education, a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) that provides content and communication services to over 10,000 schools in Malaysia.
Similar to Edmodo and Frog Education, Quipper School creates value by minimising teacher preparation and grading time by providing them with an easy to use cloud platform to create and distribute homework online.
High student retention rates as a result of gamified elements, more detailed data and analysis for each student, and curriculum directly aligned with MoE standards for each country in addition to local teacher input for localisation and content relevancy has put Quipper in a strong position to engage new markets.
The author is the Co-founder and Managing Director of EdTech Asia, a consultancy, information and research hub that fosters a community of education and technology enthusiasts.
HRTech China-中國人力資源科技 
2015-07-08 13:45:30