DevClever raises up to £10m to accelerate growth
The software and technology group will make an initial subscription for 20 million ordinary shares at 20p per share raising £4m, conditional only on shareholder approval.
It said it is anticipated that this subscription will be completed within five working days following the completion of a General Meeting to be held by DEV during February 2021.
A further subscription for 20 million ordinary shares at 30 pence per share raising £6 million will be automatically completed once the mid-market share price of DevClever has closed at or above 34 pence per share for five consecutive trading days, the group noted.
DEV plans to use the funds to support the further acceleration of its stated growth strategy, including the ongoing development of the Company's marketing efforts in India in line with the rollout and implementation strategy with NISA, and to further support the Company's distribution, alongside Lenovo, in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
“We are encouraged by the growing interest from institutional investors and their support for our ambitious growth plans,” said Chris Jeffries, Chief Executive Officer of Dev Clever.
He added, “The recent changes to the existing ICJL equity funding arrangements combined with today's equity subscription agreement will allow us to substantially accelerate our initiatives in a controlled and disciplined manner. We believe that Dev Clever has the potential to emerge as one of the clear market leaders in the EdTech space globally."
Analysts predict growth in the EdTech sector over the next 12-months as the global education systems adapt to the ‘new normal’ of remote education. Furthermore, training and recruitment is also expected to undergo a similar development with AI and VR technologies playing a more prominent role. This announcement raising up to £10m follows the existing funding with ICJL which clearly positions the company with a strong enough balance sheet to realise its expansive growth strategy across the US and India. Shares in Dev Clever have increased by over 160% in value since the beginning of November 2020 to open at 19.25p with strong early trading pushing the shares 11% higher to 21p following the announcement.
Reasons to DEV
Dev Clever Holdings is a software and technology group based in Tamworth, United Kingdom, specialising in the use of cloud-based VR and gamification technologies to deliver rich customer engagement experiences across both the education and commercial sectors.
Its educational division offers careers guidance and recruitment solutions to secondary schools, colleges, universities, apprenticeship providers and employers with digital products to recruit and develop applicants and skills within their institutions and organisations.
Through its VR Careers Experience, VICTAR, the group encourages ‘hard to reach students disengaged from the process as well as reaffirming students on their career journey.’
Focused on bridging this global skills gap, DEV offers technology designed to support schools globally and to embrace immersive technology and revolutionise career guidance programs.
Due to a new reality of distance learning in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the EdTech space has surged with analysts previously reporting an average increase in revenue of 335% according to an industry impact analysis by Rootstrap.
According to market data published by MarketsandMarkets, the EdTech and Smart Classroom Market size is expected to grow globally from $85.8 billion in 2020 to $181.3 billion by 2025.
In May this year DEV entered into an agreement with Intrinsic Capital Jersey Ltd, founded by serial entrepreneur and investor Chris Akers, to raise up to £10m (gross) through a subscription at 10p.
The fund raised in May enabled DEV to accelerate its growth plans with collaboration partners and clients whilst also funding the expansion of the Company into new territories.
The valuation multiples for EdTech Companies continues to rise as larger multinational companies acquire innovative players in the space to capture growth.
In recent weeks, the Company announced that it had entered into a five-year exclusive partnership agreement with Veative Labs (“Veative”) and the National Independent Schools Alliance (“NISA”), India’s largest governing body for budget private educational institutions.
The agreement saw all parties execute an implementation and rollout schedule from last month, which will result in Dev’s Launchyourcareer being utilised by NISA as the platform-of-choice to deliver a minimum standard of career guidance across its schools.
NISA represents over 70,000 budget private schools in India, attended by c.13 million students. Chris Jeffries, Chief Executive of Dev Clever, has described the agreement as “a significant opportunity to support the development of millions of young people in India.”
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