Dutch edtech scale-up Lepaya acquires AI-based online coaching provider vCoach

AMSTERDAM 12 September 2022 – Dutch scale-up Lepaya, a specialist in developing ‘power skills’ through online and offline training, has acquired digital communications trainer vCoach. The German edtech start-up offers AI-powered online coaching where users get real-time feedback on their presentation and communication skills. In 2021, Lepaya secured additional investment of €35 million with the aim of further growing in new markets and strengthening its offering. This acquisition is a first step in the acceleration of that growth strategy.

Lepaya uses technology to train employees and develop both their soft and hard skills. A mix of online and offline learning programmes ensures that people learn skills effectively to boost their careers or even retrain by developing new skills. This approach to edtech is growing in popularity. Companies such as KPMG, L’Oréal, Takeaway, Mollie, HelloFresh, Flink and Picnic have now become customers in the Netherlands. In the UK and Germany, it recently signed up Evonik and BCG, as well as several scale-ups.

vCOACH provides a platform on which users can upload their own videos of presentations. These are analysed using innovative AI technology to provide feedback directly, without human intervention. This fast and continuous feedback creates a steep learning curve. The product has been awarded the HR Innovation Award from ZP Europe, one of the world’s leading HR events and is used by several large organisations. vCOACH has previously attracted funding from a number of investors, including Better Ventures. vCOACH co-founder Tobias Hölzer will join Lepaya as Head of AI.

Upskilling vital in years to come

Lepaya responds to the worldwide trend for employees to retrain and acquire skills to adapt to the changes in their work environment. Founders René Janssen and Peter Kuperus expect that this need for upskilling will apply to the vast majority of employees in the coming years. By learning transferable skills, they can increase their productivity and effectiveness in the workplace.

The company deliberately delivers a mix of online and offline training. According to Janssen, e-learning on its own is ineffective: “You learn skills by practising, not by reading about them or watching videos. What can be done online and with technology, can be done digitally, but what works better offline should be kept offline.”

Commenting on the acquisition, Lepaya founder René Janssen says: “Our vision is to apply as much technology as possible to develop and train skills in an impactful way. vCOACH fits in perfectly with this. They have developed a very valuable technology that can assess the success factors of effectively conveying a message with a smart AI algorithm.”

Stephanie Mayer, co-founder of vCOACH adds: “Our product and technology have received great feedback from customers and users. But to optimally serve large corporate customers with a holistic solution, we have to think even bigger. Lepaya’s approach and vision fits in perfectly with ours, while offering more skills and methods. A true one-stop shop for enterprise customers. We are proud that vCOACH is now part of the Lepaya platform, allowing the technology to continue to grow.”

vCOACH will soon be an integrated part of the Lepaya offering and will be available to all customers.

Ends

Media contacts:

Stephanie Dobson | The PR Network

Stephanie.Dobson@thepr.network

+44 (0)7831 623533

About Lepaya

Lepaya is a provider of power skills training that combines online and offline learning. Founded by René Janssen and Peter Kuperus in 2018 from the conviction that the right training, at the right time, focused on the right skill, makes organisations more productive, Lepaya has trained thousands of employees.

Lepaya responds to the education and training needs of Europe’s fastest-growing tech companies, such as Mollie, Takeaway and Picnic. By combining hard skills with soft skills, offered together as power skills, the Amsterdam-based company is growing faster in a market where the demand for retraining and further training continues to increase all over the world.

The company has offices in Amsterdam, Munich, Berlin, London and Stockholm and serves its customers worldwide. Last year Lepaya was selected by Techleap.nl for the new generation of the growth programme Rise, an exclusive program for serious tech players in the Netherlands. To date, Lepaya has raised €41.5 million from investors including Target Global, Mediahuis and Tablomonto.

About vCoach

vCOACH is the forefront of a new era of soft skill training: fully digital, yet highly individual with immediate impact “on the job”. Its mission is to develop scalable, yet impact-focused soft-skill coaching solutions. It aims to enable as many people as possible to acquire the skills to succeed.

vCOACH is the first fully digital training platform with individual feedback. Hence, we combine the best features of the current training landscape: our mobile-based training is as scalable and easily accessible as e-learning, yet as impactful and individual as instructor-led training – with minimal admin effort for L&D managers.