Education Technology · Profile from Education Technology Research Companion
Kahoot! ASA (Kahoot! Group)
The Norwegian game-based learning platform that turned the classroom quiz into a projector-screen game show. It grew from an NTNU research project into a free-for-teachers viral hit, listed in Oslo, used its pandemic-era share price to buy its way into family learning, language apps, workplace learning and, with Clever, the US K-12 login layer, and was then taken private in 2023–24 by a Goldman Sachs Asset Management-led consortium at a fraction of its 2021 peak value.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2012 as Mobitroll AS, Oslo, Norway; public beta launched 2013 (shown at SXSWedu, March 2013; general launch later that year)
- Founders
- Johan Brand, Jamie Brooker and Morten Versvik (product and design), with Professor Alf Inge Wang (NTNU, research origin) and Åsmund Furuseth (first CEO)
- Headquarters
- Oslo, Norway; large US presence (Clever in San Francisco; offices in Austin and elsewhere)
- Ownership / structure
- Private since January 2024. Owned via Kangaroo BidCo AS by a consortium led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) with General Atlantic, KIRKBI (the LEGO family's investment company), Glitrafjord (CEO Eilert Hanoa's vehicle) and management. Previously listed: Merkur Market / Euronext Growth Oslo (October 2019) then Oslo Børs main list (March 2021, ticker KAHOT)
- Leadership (2026)
- Eilert Hanoa, CEO (early investor from 2013 and CEO since the late 2010s; still in role per latest available reporting, verify)
- Segment and buyer
- K-12 (teachers, schools and districts), higher education, corporate learning and training, families and consumers (Kahoot!+, DragonBox, Drops), and US K-12 infrastructure (Clever)
- Scale
- Platform claims of billions of cumulative "participating players" and hundreds of millions of annual users. More than 1m paid subscriptions reported by 2021–22. Group recognized revenue ~$146m in 2022, invoiced revenue ~$168.5m (2022); 2023 revenue ~$165–180m range (reported trajectory, verify). Financials no longer published after delisting
- Capital raised / valuation / market cap
- Venture rounds 2013–2019 (Northzone among early VCs; amounts reported, not all disclosed). SoftBank private placement ~$215m (NOK 46/share, October 2020). Market cap ~NOK 49bn (~$5.8bn) on main-list debut March 2021, briefly higher in early 2021. Taken private at NOK 35/share, equity value ~NOK 17.2bn (~$1.7bn), completed January 2024
- Signature moves
- Free game-show quizzes for teachers (2013); freemium paid tiers for teachers and business (2017–18); Oslo listing (2019); acquisitions of Poio and DragonBox (2019), Actimo and Motimate (2020), Drops (2020), Whiteboard.fi and Clever (2021); SoftBank investment (2020); AI question generation (2023); take-private (2023–24). Misses: the 2021–22 share price collapse (~80% from peak), uneven integration of acquired consumer apps, slowing teacher-subscription growth after COVID
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2013
Launch Free Game Based Quizzes
Launch (free, teacher-created, game-show quiz platform)
2018
Freemium Paid Tiers Schools and Business
Pricing change (introduction and expansion of paid freemium tiers)
2019
Acquires DragonBox and Poio
Acquisition (two Norwegian consumer learning-app studios)
2019
Merkur Market Listing
IPO / listing (Merkur Market, later renamed Euronext Growth Oslo), followed by a main-list transfer in 2021
2020
Acquires Drops Language App
Acquisition (consumer language-learning app)
2020
Pandemic Surge and SoftBank Investment
Funding round (private placement by a listed company) during a demand surge
2021
Acquires Clever
Acquisition (cross-border, largest in company history)
2023
Kahoot AI Question Generator
AI launch (generative AI for quiz and content creation)
2023
Take Private GSAM General Atlantic
Take-private (recommended voluntary cash offer, then mandatory offer and compulsory acquisition)