Education & Training

The training market has been steadily transforming from traditional face-to-face learning models to blended or entirely digital experiences, a trend which has been significantly accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The emergence of a number of edtech unicorns across online tutoring (e.g. ByJus’s), language learning (e.g. Duolingo) and course creation platforms and marketplaces (sometimes known as MOOCs, e.g. Coursera or Udemy) is reflective of wider growth in the lower and mid-market.

Corporate training requirements are particularly acute in IT training, a market valued at c.£4bn across Europe and driven by a significant and widespread under-supply of digital and programming skills. Language training is another high-growth niche within the corporate training market.

Fairgrove experience

Fairgrove has worked with a number of national and international training and assessment businesses, supporting owners on testing new market opportunities and improvements to operational strategy, as well as advising private equity investors seeking fast-growing businesses.

Our experience spans a number of sectors and training niches:

  • Apprenticeships
  • Culture Training
  • Driver Training
  • Graduate Training
  • Language Training
  • Security Quality Assurance
  • Vocational Training

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“We found Fairgrove easy to work with, and their analysis of the growth opportunities in our business was extremely helpful”

CEO, Media Group

“Fairgrove got rapidly up to speed with the specifics of the market niche we operate in. Their analyses provided us with timely and concise conclusions on its position in the market, and gave us a wealth of insight to confirm our investment hypothesis”

Director, Mid-Market PE Firm