Education agency Yalea Education Group has acquired German agency Linguland as of October 1, in a move that will incorporate the German language travel experts into the new company named after the Swiss language learning firm, Yalea Languages.
Linguland, which was founded by Tobias Fries and Maria Castro in 2003, will continue operating with its existing management structure, according to the new company.
Functions such as strategy, marketing, and IT will be shared with Yalea, which currently operates in Switzerland and Chile.
“Our combined technology, resources and teams create a strong base for continued future growth”
Richard Gabriel, co-founder and CEO of Yalea, explained that the acquisition of Linguland is the first step towards the creation of a bigger group.
“Linguland has managed to thrive in the very mature, highly competitive German market and gain significant market shares in other countries such as Italy,” he said.
“Tobias and Maria have built a successful business from scratch, which I have a huge respect for,” Gabriel continued. “Our combined technology, resources and teams create a strong base for continued future growth.”
Maria Castro, who has been managing partner and CEO of Linguland since 2004, said she looks forward to bringing best practices and know how and customer service she has gained in 15 years at Linguland to the group.
Linguland has excelled in customer service, she said, which will continue under the new agreement to ensure that Linguland’s clients continue to be satisfied.
Tobias Fries, founding partner of Linguland, will ensure that operations are as effective as possible – cost-efficiency is vital to be successful in a mature market like Germany, he said.
“My focus will be to improve processes and operations within the Yalea Education Group, to make sure that the whole group is as efficient and cost-effective as our company has proved to be over the years. I’m looking forward to the new Linguland and Yalea future.”
Both Castro and Fries are listed along with Gabriel as founders of the new Yalea Education Group.
“Richard’s vision and creativity are really contagious and together we will secure our place as key players in the industry,” Castro added.
Yalea began in 2004, by focusing on selling Spanish language courses over the internet for the first years before adding nine more languages to its portfolio.
