Totara today announced that its owners have entered into a sale and purchase agreement with London headquartered growth equity investor Tenzing, under which Tenzing will acquire Totara group of companies. The operations and management of Totara will remain unchanged with Mark Ash continuing as Chief Executive Officer.
Totara is the driving force behind talent development for thousands of customers, reaching an impressive user base of around 20 million individuals across 140 countries. The business employs over 100 people in offices in the UK, New Zealand and USA. Central to its success is Totara’s Talent Experience Platform (TXP), which consists of a powerful and flexible learning management system (Totara Learn) that orchestrates, delivers, and tracks formal or compliance training, a user-friendly learning experience platform (Totara Engage) for informal or social learning, and a performance management system (Totara Perform) providing personalised plans for learning and development. TXP is an all-in-one solution that meets mission-critical workplace learning and performance requirements. It is used by some of the world’s largest brands, including Sony, Samsung, Medtronic, Amazon Alexa and Toyota.
Totara’s unique selling point lies in its ability to provide a deeply personalised service with a tailored solution for each client. TXP’s highly configurable technology architecture allows its customers to adapt the software to their unique needs, systems and workflows. The majority of Totara’s sales come through a network of over 70 value-added partners who work with clients across the globe to design and configure the software, provide integrations and customisations, and provide other services such as learning content development. These tailor-made solutions position Totara strongly in regulated industries such as government and healthcare. Notably, Totara is the trusted platform for NHS trusts in the UK and federal agencies in the USA, where it has a growing direct-to-consumer sales team.
The global LMS market is experiencing strong growth as regulation drives mandatory training and as organisations continue to invest in the skill development of their employees. It is reportedly valued at approximately $17 billion in 2022 and is forecasted to grow at an impressive 20% CAGR from 2023-30. Totara has achieved consistent 30% annual recurring revenue growth for the last ten years, and Tenzing’s investment will support the business with further global expansion, a deeper focus on target sectors and continued expansion of Totara’s product and service proposition.
Mark Ash, CEO at Totara commented: “At Totara, our mission is to enable our customers to create high-performance workplaces by transforming how organisations understand, measure, and improve talent development. With Tenzing’s strategic investment, we’re poised to scale our impact on the global stage, offering highly customisable solutions that drive innovation and growth for our clients. Together, we’ll continue to shape the future of workplace learning and development, making it more personalised, effective, and accessible than ever before.”
Carl Lavin, Investment Lead at Tenzing, added: “We are hugely excited to partner with Mark, the Totara team and Totara’s partners to help the business reach the summit of its potential. We believe that Totara’s unique, highly configurable product offering, global footprint and ambitious management team provide the basis for strong growth in the coming years”.
Tim Cooper from Five V Capital said “The transaction represents a remarkable milestone for Totara, especially for its founder, Richard Wyles. We are delighted with the outcome and the success Totara has achieved to date. Tenzing’s investment aligns with Totara’s growth trajectory and is an exciting opportunity for the business to execute on its ambitions.”
Totara is one of seventeen businesses within the Tenzing portfolio. Tenzing was advised on the investment by Osborne Clarke (Legal), EY (Buyside), EYP (Commercial), Deloitte (Financial), Baringa (Product) and Intechnica (Technology).
Totara was advised by DLA Piper (Legal), Houlihan Lokey (M&A), PwC (Financial – Tax) and CTO Labs (Technology).
About Tenzing
As a private equity investor in high-growth UK and European SMEs valued between £10m and £200m, Tenzing works with niche market leaders and challenger businesses – ones that can transform themselves and disrupt the market in which they operate. Named after Tenzing Norgay, the Nepalese mountaineer who guided Sir Edmund Hillary in the first-ever ascent of Mount Everest, his story represents the firm’s drive to support its portfolio businesses in reaching the summit of their ambitions, each and every time.
About Five V Capital
Five V Capital, a certified B Corporation, is a private equity and venture capital fund manager based in Sydney with over $1.5 billion of funds under management. Five V’s unique investment approach is underpinned by a philosophy of alignment and is reflected in the Five V Capital team being the largest investors across its funds. This alignment between team, investors, partners and management teams is a key component of Five V’s success.
Five V Capital’s current portfolio includes some of Australia and New Zealand’s leading companies, including Biopak, Sea to Summit, Orikan, 4Cabling, Automic Group, Mantel Group, Education Perfect, Openway Food Co., Penten and APP Group. For more information, please visit www.fivevcapital.com.