Pluribus Technologies enters a new market

Newly public tech company Pluribus Technologies (Pluribus Technologies Stock Quote, Charts, News, Analysts, Financials TSXV:PLRB) has opened up another vertical within the e-learning field with its newest acquisition, The Kesson Group.

Toronto-based Pluribus Technologies, which began trading on the TSX Venture Exchange on January 19 after a reverse takeover completed earlier this month, announced on Tuesday a binding share purchase agreement for acquiring Kesson Group, a company with education sector professional development, licensing and online tutoring software assets.

Terms of the deal have Pluribus agreeing to pay $10 million in cash and 320,439 common shares, 5,000 share purchase warrants and an unspecified earnout on future performance by Kesson. Pluribus Technologies said it expects the deal to close on or about January 27.

Also Toronto-based, Kesson has Teach Away, a recruitment and professional development platform for international educators, Klassroom, a certification and state licensing platform for US accreditation for educators and Skooli, an online learning platform with tutoring options giving K-12 students access to qualified teachers.

Pluribus, which already has five businesses in the e-learning market, says Kesson will be its first in the K-12 education field and will fit in with Pluribus’ aim of playing a role in the growing global market for online and in-classroom education. Pluribus pointed in its press release to US President Joe Biden’s $9-billion plan announced last year to address a nationwide teacher shortage and said the growing market in private and online tutoring is forecasted to hit almost $25 billion in 2021.

“Teach Away’s network of 1.5 million educators, teacher licensing pathways and Skooli online learning platform are helping to fill global demand for well-trained and effective teachers that can thrive in an increasingly digital educational environment and provide the best possible experience for students,” said Richard Adair, CEO of Pluribus Technologies, in a press release.

The acquisition would be the first as a public company for Pluribus, which currently has nine companies in its portfolio of small B2B software businesses, including a restoration and contents job management platform, a digital healthcare solutions business and an e-commerce lead collection and conversion platform.

Pluribus aims to build out its stable with an eye towards acquiring small companies and giving them the liquidity leg-up needed to take their businesses to the next level. Founded in 2018, so far Pluribus has deployed about $50 million in capital.

“Going forward, we have the balance sheet strength and capital markets currency to act on multiple opportunities in our growing pipeline of acquisition targets,” said Adair in a January 18 press release. “We intend to move forward rapidly with the same disciplined approach that saw us complete nine acquisitions since 2019, as we continue to partner with entrepreneurs to add to our portfolio of small, profitable software companies.”

Disclosure: Pluribus Technologies is an annual sponsor of Cantech Letter.