GIC and partner buy US educational technologies provider

Sovereign wealth fund GIC has tied up with private equity firm Insight Venture Partners to buy iParadigms, which provides cloud-based educational technologies to prevent plagiarism, verify content, and evaluate student learning. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG&n
Sovereign wealth fund GIC has tied up with private equity firm Insight Venture Partners to buy iParadigms, which provides cloud-based educational technologies to prevent plagiarism, verify content, and evaluate student learning. -- PHOTO: BLOOMBERG 

SINGAPORE - Sovereign wealth fund GIC has tied up with private equity firm Insight Venture Partners to buy iParadigms, which provides cloud-based educational technologies to prevent plagiarism, verify content, and evaluate student learning.

GIC and Insight Venture Partners will pay US$752 million (S$944 million) for California-headquartered iParadigms, the company said on Tuesday.

iParadigms' flagship product is Turnitin, which is used by over 24 million students and 1.6 million educators at 10,000 institutions worldwide. It has also created iThenticate, a content verification service for research, corporate and government users.

"This partnership will provide the resources and support to accelerate our product investment plans and expand our reach into international markets," said iParadigms chairman and chief executive Chris Caren.

Insight Venture Partners' managing director Deven Parekh described the company as "an incredible business that solves some of the most persistent and universal challenges in education".

"The company, with its best-in-class education platform, is very well positioned for long-term success," added Mr Eric Wilmes, head of the North America direct investments group at GIC Special Investments.

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