Round2 Capital invests in scale-up Avallain

Vienna/ Zurich — Austrian growth finance invest­ment fund Round2 Capi­tal has inves­ted a seven-figure sum in Swiss EdTech scale-up Aval­lain. With its inno­va­tive reve­­nue-based finan­cing approach for growth-stage compa­nies, which is more acces­si­ble than bank loans and offers more favorable terms than venture capi­tal, Round2 invests in leading tech­no­logy and soft­ware scale-ups in Europe. Photo: Round2 Capi­tal manage­ment team from left to right: Stefan Nagel, Jan Hille­red, Chris­tian Czer­nich, Isabella Hermann-Schön . Award-winning e‑learning and EdTech pioneer Aval­lain is using the funds raised to expand its product offe­ring for corpo­rate use cases and to further streng­then its inter­na­tio­nal market position.

After Round2 Capi­tal further expan­ded its alre­ady two-year part­ner­ship with Munich-based cyber­se­cu­rity company Myra Secu­rity with a double-digit million invest­ment at the begin­ning of Novem­ber, mana­ging direc­tor Dr. Chris­tian Czer­nich has now announ­ced a further seven-figure finan­cing. The new member of the Round2 Capi­tal family is Swiss company Aval­lain, which provi­des cutting-edge e‑learning and EdTech solu­ti­ons for clients — such as Oxford Univer­sity Press and Natio­nal Geogra­phic — Lear­­ning-Cengage. i5invest acted as advi­sor to Aval­lain AG, which sees this measure as an important step towards scaling Avallain’s new product business.

“Aval­lain is a leading Euro­pean player in the EdTech market. With this invest­ment, we are adding a third company based in Switz­er­land to our port­fo­lio. The foun­ders — Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz — have mana­ged to build up their busi­ness inde­pendently and estab­lish an impres­sive custo­mer base — espe­ci­ally in the acade­mic market. We are exci­ted to provide the growth capi­tal to expand their products and services for the corpo­rate space,” said Chris­tian Czer­nich, CEO and Co-Foun­­der Round2 Capi­tal Part­ners. The invest­ment will be used by Aval­lain to further deve­lop and scale the “Aval­lain Magnet” product for corpo­rate educa­tion and training.

Vienna-based finan­cing provi­der Round2 Capi­tal is the pioneer of reve­­nue-based finance in Europe. Previously widely used for finan­cing tech­no­logy and soft­ware compa­nies, parti­cu­larly in the U.S., the model was adopted in Europe — by seve­ral other provi­ders in the U.K. and Germany — follo­wing its launch by Round2 in 2017. The inno­va­tive finan­cing instru­ment helps to fund the growth of compa­nies without perso­nal guaran­tees, rigid repay­ment sche­du­les or dilu­tion of owner­ship. In return, Round2 Capi­tal is provi­ded a small share from the company’s reve­nue until a prede­fi­ned cap is reached. With this approach, Round2 Capi­tal finan­ces leading Euro­pean tech­no­logy scale-ups.

About Round2 Capital
Round2 Capi­tal is a fast-growing Euro­pean invest­ment fund with €30 million in capi­tal under manage­ment. The Vienna-based company is a strong part­ner for Euro­pean scale-ups with digi­tal and sustainable busi­ness models. Since its incep­tion in 2017, Round2 Capi­tal has been pionee­ring reve­­nue-based finance in Europe and is active in seve­ral Euro­pean count­ries, with a focus on Germany, Switz­er­land, Austria and the Nordic count­ries. To date, Round2 Capi­tal has inves­ted in 13 compa­nies, with Aval­lain being the newest company in the port­fo­lio. With this third invest­ment in Switz­er­land, Round2 Capi­tal further streng­thens its market posi­tion. www.round2cap.com

Company Aval­lain
Foun­ded in 2002 by EdTech pioneers Ursula Suter and Ignatz Heinz, Aval­lain is an award-winning Swiss provi­der of EdTech and eLear­ning solu­ti­ons, working with leading brands world­wide. The company’s mission is to unleash human poten­tial through inno­va­tive and tech­­no­­logy-based educa­tion. Avallain’s team spans five conti­nents and repres­ents more than 14 nati­ons. The company is an active parti­ci­pant in the UN Global Compact and aims to advance the SDGs by achie­ving a zero carbon foot­print and contri­bu­ting to posi­tive social change in sub-Saha­ran Africa through the Aval­lain Foun­da­tion. www.avallain.com