Swedish alternative investment firm EQT is investing in Australian SaaS company Compass for an undisclosed amount, according to an announcement on Wednesday.
EQT will make the proposed investment through its BPEA EQT Mid Market Growth Partnership (MMG) to support Compass’s ongoing growth and product development. The fund held its final close at $1.6 billion in May this year and invests in high-growth mid-market companies across Asia. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
As part of the transaction, Australia-based growth-focused PE firm Advent Partners will exit its investment in Compass, which was initiated six years ago.
Founded in 2010, Compass is a full-suite, cloud-based school management platform for the K-12 education market. Compass is used by more than 3,000 schools and over 4 million parents, teachers, and students and has recently expanded to users in Ireland and the UK.
EQT’s investment in Compass demonstrates its continued focus on both the global education and technology sectors. Thus far, it has made over 60 platform investments across these sectors, with an aggregate valuation exceeding $65 billion.
In addition to Compass, EQT’s portfolio includes Japan-based HR software provider HRBrain; and Asia-based WSO2, a provider of application development and identity and access management software to enterprises, to name a few.
“We anticipate EQT’s support will even better enable Compass to expand internationally, pursue selective M&A opportunities, and accelerate hiring to bring forward some key projects,” said group CEO and founder John de la Motte in a company statement.
The investment firm recently announced its proposed acquisition of Southeast Asian property technology platform PropertyGuru and KJ Environment and affiliated companies from Seoul-based investment firm Genesis Private Equity to establish a waste treatment platform in South Korea.
