Spaggiari acquires Esds to expand in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula
For a group that began a hundred years ago with paper-based school records, its most recent move takes it far from Parma and beyond national borders. Spaggiari, a platform company owned by Ambienta and one of the leading players in the EdTech market, has acquired E-schooling dream shaper (Esds), a group specialising in the development of software for the management of educational institutions and for learning in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. This is the first international acquisition by the Emilia-based company Spaggiari and the fourth since Ambienta took a stake in the company: a move which effectively marks the start of the internationalisation phase announced by the group and strengthens its position amongst the leading European education software platforms.
Founded in 2007, E-Schooling brings three solutions to Spaggiari: the school management platforms eSchooling and iScholar, alongside DreamShaper, which is dedicated to project-based learning – an approach to teaching built around projects. Overall, the group’s products serve over 3,000 schools and 1.5 million pupils. For Spaggiari, which works with more than 4,000 schools and reaches over 4.5 million users every day, the acquisition opens up new markets, brings expertise in artificial intelligence and adds an educational component that complements its administrative software. The founders and management of Esds will reinvest alongside Ambienta and will remain involved in the next phase of growth.
“This acquisition represents an important step in the development of the Spaggiari platform,” notes Giancarlo Beraudo, a partner at Ambienta, emphasising that the group, having consolidated its leadership in Italy, is now “well-positioned to expand its presence in international markets”. The business strategy is to build an integrated offering capable of supporting the entire educational journey, from data management and administrative processes right through to teaching and careers guidance. This is a strategy that Spaggiari had outlined in July, on the occasion of its centenary, identifying organic growth, AI and targeted acquisitions as the three drivers of this new phase.
The Esds dossier also adds an environmental dimension, in line with Ambienta’s strategy. The digitisation of educational processes reduces the use of paper in a sector that is still highly resource-intensive: according to the asset manager’s estimates, primary and secondary schools account for up to 10 per cent of European graphic paper consumption, amounting to approximately 1.2 million tonnes per year. But the core of the operation remains industrial. “Esds is highly complementary to Spaggiari,” explains CEO Nicola de Cesare: “DreamShaper expands the offering in the learning sector, whilst eSchooling and iScholar open up access to the Iberian and Latin American markets.” This is the first venture outside Italia for a group which, after a century in the Italian education sector, is now seeking to transform its national reach into a European platform.
