365 Capital – Press Release
24 August 2020
On 06 July 2020, 365 Capital signed and closed the first investment of the 365 Capital Fund alongside the founders of Academica Business College, Margareth de Wit and Pim Pollen. 365 Capital invested in two companies active in the post-graduate education space: Academica Business College and C-LiON. The companies are united under Life Long Learning holding and operate under the Academica brand name and together comprise of all activities in the education industry.
Life Long Learning holds the ambition to expand organically and in-organically to the Finance & Governance, Healthcare & Lifestyle, and Leadership ‘verticals’, offering post-graduate education, bachelor and master degrees, and re-registration courses.
Academica continues to offer organisational change programs such as High Performing Schools and Michaela Concept Schools, leadership programs under the Zenger + Folkman methodology, re-registration courses for school leaders and bachelor and master programs for (prospective) teachers and school leaders under the Academica University of Applied Sciences.
The combination will be presented to its current and prospective customers, and those further interested, in more detail at Academica’s annual congress Making Shift Happen on 25 November 2020 at the Beurs van Berlage, in Amsterdam.
Margareth de Wit (CEO) & Pim Pollen (Chief Portfolio Officer) respectively, of Life Long Learning, commented: “The Dutch education was always a pillar for the economy and flexible labor market. The last decade however the quality of education and the performance of Dutch schools have been seriously declining. Teacher education and leadership are important areas that will improve the quality of education. It is therefore that our initiative utilises evidence-based information to provide teachers and school directors with workable concepts that can make the difference.”
Hayo van Houten, Partner of 365 Capital, added: “Academica and C-LiON contribute meaningful aspects to the Education vertical, both in terms of knowledge and people. We are very excited to execute on the strategy we developed together with the Academica founders in realising the potential of the Education vertical and expanding the Life Long Learning team, while identifying and growing companies in other verticals. Furthermore, we are proud that this marks the first investment of the 365 Capital Fund, that is the result of our bottom-up strategy and focus on the Education space since inception of our fund.”
The founders of Academica Business College form the management of the combination: Margareth de Wit as Chief Executive Officer and Pim Pollen as Chief Portfolio Officer.
For further information, contact:
365 Capital – Hayo van Houten (hayo@365capital.com)
Life Long Learning – Margareth de Wit (m.dewit@academicabusiness.college)