[ad_1]
The giant Softbank will own 9.69 percent of the Norwegian questionnaire company.
Kahoot is known for his trivia games. Now Softbank enters as the owner of the store. Pictured is Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.
Illustration: Vetle Halvorsen / E24, Photo: Kyodo News via AP / NTB
Published:,
The Kahoot question company has raised billions from a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group, according to a stock exchange announcement Tuesday morning.
Kahoot, which is listed on the Merkur market, has completed a share issue directed at Softbank, in which the latter will contribute NOK 1.98 billion.
The Norwegian company will issue 43 million new shares at a price of NOK 46 per share. Softbank will own these shares and will therefore obtain 9.69 percent ownership of the company.
Strong growth
Kahoot’s share price closed at NOK 49.65 on Monday. The stock has left a wild rise. The price is up 125.7 percent so far this year.
The company has been on the Merkur Market for some time, but is preparing to list on the Oslo Stock Exchange during the first quarter of 2021.
Kahoot writes that they are experiencing strong momentum as companies increasingly seek engaging, reliable, and user-friendly ways to build corporate culture, educate, and engage. At the same time, schools and teachers want to enhance the learning experience, either virtually or in the classroom.
The company writes that they intend to use Softbank’s money to fund further growth through inorganic value-creation opportunities. In other words, Kahoot is now looking into the possibility of making acquisitions and growing that way.
Before the issuance, investor Jan Haudemann-Andersen is Kahoot’s second-largest shareholder, holding a stake of almost 12 percent through the Datum company. E24 has contacted several people associated with the company, without anyone wanting to comment on it.
Major investor in technology
Brokerage firms ABG Sundal Collier, Arctic Securities and Goldman Sachs have been hired as facilitators on the issue.
Through its Vision Fund, SoftBank is known as a major investor in technology companies such as Slack, Arm, and Uber.
Softbank and Kahoot have also reached an agreement that Softbank will not own more than ten percent of the company for the next six months.
Kahoot writes that they have deviated from the right of existing shareholders to underwrite the issue and believes this is within the rules on equal treatment.
This is Softbank
Softbank Group is a Japanese conglomerate of mainly telecommunications.
They also carry out extensive investment activities through their Vision Fund and Vision Fund II. According to Crunchbase, the two funds are worth $ 100 and $ 108 billion, respectively, and have investors such as the Saudi Arabian pension fund, Apple, Microsoft, and several Japanese banks.
Vision Fund has become known for its large investments in tech companies such as Uber, Bytedance, owner of Tiktok, Slack, Arm (which are in the process of selling to Nvidia), and WeWork. However, everything has been far from rosy. In 2019, according to Bloomberg, they suffered a loss of 1.9 billion Japanese yen (equivalent to 165.2 billion Norwegian crowns) after write-offs at WeWork and Uber.
