Norway’s Kahoot! bags funding from General Atlantic; plans to expand global footprint

Norwegian startup Kahoot!, a game-based learning platform, announced on Friday, September 16, that it has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm.

According to a statement from Kahoot!, existing investor SB Northstar LP is selling its entire 15 per cent investment in the firm to General Atlantic. SB Northstar LP is a fund run by a 100 per cent wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., a partner of Kahoot! since 2020.

How will General Atlantic support Kahoot!?

Founded in 1980, General Atlantic is a global growth equity firm that has provided capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies to date. The firm claims to partner with entrepreneurs and scale their businesses by combining a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, long-term investment plans, and a deep understanding of growth drivers.

Currently, General Atlantic has over $73B in assets under management, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Stamford, and Tel Aviv.

With its investment in Kahoot!, General Atlantic is expected to become the Norwegian startup’s largest shareholder. Kahoot! partnership with General Atlantic will help it to accelerate further growth initiatives, drive innovation, and expand its global footprint in homes, schools, and corporations.

Chris Caulkin, Managing Director and Head of Technology for EMEA at General Atlantic, is expected to join Kahoot!’s Board of Directors.

Caulkin says, “We believe Kahoot! has significant potential for further growth as digital learning solutions continue to be adopted across its work, school, and home markets. With its much-loved brand, product-centric approach, and engaged global user base, Kahoot! is well positioned to scale, and we look forward to supporting Eilert and the full Kahoot! team in the years to come as they reach and engage ever more users worldwide.”

Empowering everyone to unlock their full learning potential

Kahoot! provides a game-based learning platform for any individual or corporation to create, share, and play learning games for engagement. The company was founded in 2012 by Morten Versvik, Johan Brand, and Jamie Brooker, who, in a joint project with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), teamed up with Professor Alf Inge Wang and were later joined by entrepreneur Åsmund Furuseth.

Since its inception in 2013, the Kahoot! Group claims to have grown into a multifaceted offering and a portfolio of leading brands at the intersection of digital learning and audience engagement. Since its launch, the Kahoot! service has been used by 8 billion non-unique cumulative participants globally.

Kahoot! is used by organisations of all sizes, including 97 per cent of Fortune 500 companies, to level up engagement and learning. 

Its products include Kahoot 360, a collaborative platform that helps companies make knowledge sharing engaging and connect teams via engaging training, presentations, and events, in-person or remotely; Kahoot! Academy, an online creator community and marketplace for educational content; Kahoot! at School is used by approximately 9 million teachers in the classroom; and, Kahoot! at Home & Study is used by more than 18 million users as an at-home gamified learning solution.

Across its verticals, Kahoot! services recorded 28 million active users globally in the last twelve months. 

Since 2021, the Group has also included Clever, a digital classroom and single sign-on EdTech platform utilised by almost 70 per cent of K–12 schools in the US. The Kahoot! Group provides users in North America, Europe, APAC, LATAM, and MENA with substantial engagement, learning, and content solutions for home, school, and business.