South African e-learning startup iGrow Academy has been acquired by Canadian firm Intech, which will use its licences and content for internal staff development.
iGrow Academy provided low-cost online vocational and soft skill courses licensed by South African academic institutions, and last year raised funding from a South African educational institution in order to expand marketing of its online courses.
This saw the company establish a satellite office in Toronto, Canada in September of last year, while it also expanded to the United Kingdom (UK) and Nigeria.
In Canada, the startup saw significant uptake, acquiring multiple contracts and developing an international marketing B2B arm focused on relevant soft, professional courses for corporates that wanted to upskill their workforce.
Chief executive officer (CEO) Jared Koning told Disrupt Africa iGrow Academy has shut down 80 per cent of its B2C operations to focus on this new model, one client of which was Intech. The Canadian firm has now purchased the licences and content, which it will use internally.
“Our current B2C unit is still operational on a limited basis in the UK, however we have made a significant investment with current resources into a new company based in Nigeria,” Koning said.
“iGrow Academy will cease all operations in January 2017 with all resources and current structures to be implemented into our new operation in Nigeria.”
