VK plans to take its educational project Skillbox public again, RBC reports citing sources. The company could become the first public company in Russia’s EdTech segment if it overtakes Skyeng, which plans an initial public offering (IPO) this year.
According to one of the interlocutors, a syndicate of underwriters for the placement has not yet been formed, but the source admitted that Skillbox’s IPO could take place in 2024.
A Skillbox representative told the publication that the company “does not exclude the possibility of an IPO to further strengthen the holding’s leading position in the Russian EdTech market,” but declined to provide details.
Finam Financial Group analyst Leonid Delitsyn believes that during the IPO Skillbox could receive a valuation of 55 billion rubles. According to him, VK is actively consolidating the Russian EdTech market and Skillbox will be able to use the funds received during the IPO to absorb competitors in promising and fast-growing segments of the online education market.
The head of the department for working with wealthy clients at Alfa Capital, Alexander Abrahamyan, suggested that an estimate of 22 to 23 billion rubles could be relatively fair.
- Skillbox was founded in 2016 by its current CEO Dmitry Krutov, Business Youth co-founder Igor Koropov (died November 2020), and Sergei Popkov (shareholder and chief designer of creative studio AIC).
- In February 2019, VK (formerly Mail.ru Group) acquired a 3.6% stake in Skillbox. The group subsequently increased its stake in the company to 10.3% and, in December 2019, to 60.3%. In August 2021, VK, in partnership with the founders of Skillbox and the private foundation of entrepreneur Alexander Galitsky, created the educational holding Skillbox Limited based on the Skillbox and GeekBrains platforms.
- As a result, control of the holding remained in the hands of VK (50.06%), 22.72% of the shares were received by the founders of Skillbox, 14.21% by the Galitsky Foundation and 13% were reserved for a long-term motivation program for employees.
- In 2020, VK allowed an initial public offering of its educational projects, including Skillbox and GeekBrains, which were then separated. But in early 2022, Forbes, citing sources, reported that the new VK shareholder “did not need” Skillbox’s IPO.
- Now Skillbox Holding Limited is in the Educational Technologies segment of the VK holding together with Geekbrains, Skillfactory, Mentorama, Lerna, Uchi.ru. Revenue in this segment for the nine months of 2023 increased by 38% year-on-year and amounted to 11.1 billion rubles.
Author:
Anastasia Marina
Source: RB
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