TechnologyOne to acquire Scientia to further UK growth and leadership in higher education sector

Australian Software as a Service (SaaS) provider TechnologyOne (@TechnologyOne) has entered into an agreement for the acquisition of leading UK-based higher education software provider Scientia.

The acquisition will solidify TechnologyOne’s strength in the Higher Education market, with 75% of institutions in Australia, and 50% in the UK supported by Scientia’s solution.  The likely consideration will be GB£12 million and includes an initial payment of £6m and further payments, based on achieving progressive earnouts out to FY23. Total consideration will be in the form of cash payments funded from internal sources. The acquisition is earnings neutral for FY21. 

Edward Chung, TechnologyOne’s CEO said,

“This acquisition forms part of our strategic focus to deliver the deepest functionality for Higher Education and it will accelerate our growth and competitive position in the UK as well as have significant benefits in the Australian Higher Education market.” 

“Scientia’s market leading product Syllabus Plus provides advanced academic timetabling and resource scheduling. Their products provide mission critical software for over 150 leading Universities across the United Kingdom, and Australia including the University of St Andrews, University of Exeter, Monash University and the University of Queensland.” 

“The acquisition further expands our Global SaaS ERP solution for Higher Education. The integration of the Scientia’s advanced academic timetabling and resource scheduling capabilities, combined with our market leading Student Management, HR & Payroll, Enterprise Asset Management and Finance capabilities, will provide smarter decision-making eliminating underutilisation of space and resources that is paramount for Higher Education across the globe in a post-covid world” Mr Chung said. 

The announcement has been well received by leading universities.  

Michelle Gillespie, Registrar and Director of Student Administration and Library Services at Swinburne University of Technology said:

“The one thing that students care most about is their timetable. 

“Being able to fully integrate a schedule into the full student experience is very important, and an exciting step for those universities – like Swinburne – that use TechnologyOne’s student management system,” Ms Gillespie said.

Adrian Di Marco, TechnologyOne founder and Executive Chairman said

“This is our company’s first international acquisition and it demonstrates our deep commitment to serving the higher education sector and the UK market. 

“The unique IP and market-leading functionality of Scientia’s product supports our vision of delivering enterprise software that is incredibly easy to use. We are excited about the opportunities this will bring to both our UK and Australian customers in the coming years,” he said.