Keystone Academic Solutions acquires FindAUniversity

Expanded Search Options for Students and Enhanced Student Reach and Insights for Higher Ed Institutions

Oslo, Norway – 9 February 2021

Keystone Academic Solutions (“Keystone”) has acquired FindAUniversity, uniting two of the world’s most popular higher education student search and resource platforms.

Visited by over 54 million unique prospective students each year, Keystone’s student resource portfolio includes 420 websites globally, covering 33 languages and eight higher education verticals – Masterstudies.com, Onlinestudies.com, Healthcarestudies.com, Bachelorstudies.com, MBAstudies.com, Lawstudies.com, Phdstudies.com, and Academiccourses.com.

“Keystone’s mission is to help students make one of the most important decisions of their lifetimes, namely, which higher ed programs to attend. Combining FindAUniversity under the Keystone umbrella means significantly expanded search and resource options for students,” said Erik Harrell, Chief Executive Officer of Keystone.

“For higher education institutions, this will mean greater audience reach and exposure to over 68 million unique student visitors each year. This expanded audience reach also means enhanced insights for institutions on the latest trends among prospective students,” said Harrell.  

FindAUniversity was founded in 2001 and is the leading postgraduate resource for prospective students in the United Kingdom, with over 14 million annual unique visitors to its two primary websites – FindAMasters.com and FindAPhD.com. FindAUniversity helps over 800 higher ed institutions connect with the right prospective students, including comprehensive coverage of the UK sector.

Co-founder Andy Pritchard said: “We’re extremely excited to be joining forces with Keystone. As well as providing larger student audiences to our customers, we now have the opportunity to offer students even more choices.”

“Keystone is a great cultural match for us and our 50-strong team, and we’re very much looking forward to working together,” said co-founder Andy Holliday. He continued, “We share a common mission to do everything we can to help students find the best higher ed institution for them.”

While specific acquisition terms are not being disclosed, as part of Keystone’s growth plan, over NOK 200 million (approximately USD 23 million) of debt and equity capital was raised by Keystone simultaneously with the closing of the acquisition.

Media Enquiries

Ashlee-Maree Courtney-Eman

Email: ashlee@keystoneacademic.com

Telephone: +47 475 13 692

About Keystone Academic Solutions

Keystone is trusted by more than 54 million unique prospective students every year to help them make one of the most important decisions of their lifetimes, namely, which higher ed program to attend. In turn, Keystone helps over 5000 higher ed institutions reach and communicate with prospective students in more than 190 countries via its 420 websites covering 33 languages and eight core higher ed verticals - Masterstudies.com, Onlinestudies.com, Healthcarestudies.com, Bachelorstudies.com, MBAstudies.com, Lawstudies.com, Phdstudies.com, and Academiccourse.com.

Headquartered in Oslo, Norway and backed by Viking Venture, a leading Nordic venture firm, Keystone has an international staff of more than 80 employees.

About FindAUniversity Ltd

FindAUniversity are experts in everything postgraduate. Formed in 2001 and passionate about higher education ever since, they list more than 27,000 programmes from over 800 institutions across 55 countries on their flagship websites, FindAMasters.com & FindAPhD.com. With an audience of over 14 million prospective students annually, they generate over 3.5 million enquiries and referrals for universities every year.

For prospective students, these websites are an unbeatable resource, providing not only postgraduate programme details, but also extensive study & funding advice articles, student videos, events and community forums to support students on every step of their postgraduate journey.