Lepaya, a fast-growing Dutch edtech scale-up, is acquiring UK-based Speak First, which offers communication and leadership training for managers and top executives. The acquisition, the second in a short time after Germany's vCoach, gives Lepaya's learning platform a larger scale.
With the acquisition, Lepaya aims to further accelerate innovation in the traditional training and development sector. To build the platform, the Amsterdam-based company is intensifying its investments, for which it raised 35 million euros in 2021, in specialized companies. Innovative technology such as virtual reality (vr) and coaching based on artificial intelligence (ai) is also helping to increase scalability, which René Janssen, director/co-founder of Lepaya, hopes will further consolidate the training and development sector.
Both Lepaya and Speak First target global companies such as Microsoft, L'Oréal, KPMG, ING, Dell and PwC. In 2020, Lepaya acquired Smartenup, a training company that helps professionals work better with data. Last September, it acquired vCoach, a Berlin-based specialist in ai-driven coaching.
