EY advises UNIwise (DK) on its sale to Monterro (SE)

The Nordic B2B software investor Monterro has acquired a majority stake in UNIwise, a Danish SaaS company that helps universities and higher education deliver secure, accessible and efficient digital assessments and exams. The partnership will enable UNIwise to accelerate the product development of its cloud-based platform, WISEflow, and further accelerate international growth.

Based in Aarhus, Denmark, UNIwise delivers a scalable, easy-to-use platform that is designed to support and handle the full workflow of assessment across a wide range of formative and summative assessment types. The platform, WISEflow, enables the digital transformation of the assessment and feedback cycle for students, test writers, assessors and administrators and is today trusted and used widely throughout the Nordics, the UK, Germany and other parts of Europe by well over 100 institutions.

”Universities and higher education are very interesting segments in the early stages of its digital transformation, and UNIwise has great potential to become a market leader in the digital assessment niche.” says Leif Bohlin, Managing Director at Monterro, who will serve as Chairman of the Board of UNIwise. ”The company has a modern tech platform, solid profitable growth, and very satisfied customers. We’re looking forward to partnering up with the founders and the wider team at UNIwise to accelerate the development of the company.”

The entire sales process was led by EY who ensured a coherent process. Rasmus Blok, co-founder and co-CEO of UNIwise, describes the acquisition process and the importance of a financial advisor the following way: “At UNIwise we have successfully executed a boot-strapped growth strategy since 2012 and have realized that now was the right time to look for a financial partner that could help bring our growth, the product and service to the next level. To start that journey, we decided to partner with EY due to their deep knowledge of SaaS companies and understanding of the complex nature of B2B for public clients. We have been extremely pleased with the cooperation in regard to the way they orchestrated the process, build the information memorandum and advised us all the way to the final negotiations of the deal. Ending up with Swedish Monterro as a partner is a huge and vital moment for us, in our continued journey and expansion.”

Steffen Skovfoged, also co-founder and co-CEO of UNIwise adds: “We have been impressed by the dedication and effort provided by colleagues from EY Corporate Finance throughout the process. It felt as if they were ready and available whenever we needed them, day or night. And on a few occasions where we didn’t think they would be required, they proved us wrong through insights, experience and professionalism. It has been very reassuring having them in our corner”.

Adam Prinselaar, Manager in Transactions at Monterro, commented the process in the following way: “We were introduced to the UNIwise opportunity by the EY Corporate Finance team and quickly saw the potential of the company due to its strong positioning in the market. The EY Corporate Finance team were very valuable for all parties during the transaction, by facilitating the transaction process for all stakeholders and creating trust at both ends.”

The founders of UNIwise are excited to take the company’s next steps in the growth journey with Monterro. “Monterro has an unparalleled track record of supporting the growth of Nordic software companies in similar phases, and we quickly struck a chord with Monterro’s team. We are thrilled about this partnership, and now look forward to digging in together to win the European market.” says Steffen Skovfoged. “We are customer driven and experts in our field,” says Rasmus Blok, “and with Monterro, we now have access to an organization with the technical, commercial and strategic experience and competence to take UNIWise, and the support we offer to higher education, to the next level. We’re looking forward to serving many new and happy customers.”

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