The acquisition of the platform, formerly known as TarGroup Media, will help Keystone to expand its reach within Europe.

“We are excited to boost our offering to German students and strengthen our footprint in the European market with studddy joining the Keystone family,” said Fredrik Högemark, CEO of Keystone Education Group.

Since 2010, together with the studddy team, founder Milan Klesper has built the market leader for domestic student recruitment within Germany and Austria, attracting over 12 million visitors each year to its 30 portals.

“We are very pleased to have found a partner in Keystone whose founding story is almost identical to ours. We have both grown from a single study portal to a multinational company focused on helping millions of young people make the right study choice every year,” Klesper added.

Co-founder Joachim Feger agreed, saying that with Keystone’s worldwide network, studddy can “now introduce prospective students to even more study options”, whether that is in Germany and Austria, abroad or with a sports scholarship at an American university.

Keystone previously acquired postgrad experts FindAUniversity and UniQuest in the UK. Its US sports placement agency, formed in October 2021, also acquired German student-athlete placement agency uniexperts in early 2022. It also operates SONOR and Blueberry agencies in the Nordics, and merged with Educations Media Group in 2021.

“For our customers – our partner universities and education providers – it means we can offer even more support so that they can reach potential students across all channels and geographies,” Feger added.

The German higher education market comprises over three million students, including 350,000 international students, the companies noted.

Högemark pointed to shared values between studddy and Keystone, backed by Nordic venture firms Viking Venture and Verdane.

“Their drive for supporting students through the recruitment process and for ensuring university classrooms are filled with the best-fit students, aligns perfectly with our vision at Keystone, making this the perfect match,” he said of Studddy.

Högemark, who took over as CEO in November 2022, recently told The PIE that Keystone is open to potential acquisitions in regions that would strengthen the company’s position in the market.

“This new partnership will improve our service as a provider of end-to-end enrolment generation solutions”

“Coupled with Keystone’s powerful global reach across student search, and through our European student recruitment agencies, this new partnership will not only strengthen our position in Europe but also improve our service as a provider of end-to-end enrolment generation solutions for the global market,” Högemark added.

“Ultimately, a highly valuable offering for institutions wanting to recruit students from within the region, both domestically and internationally.”