ParentPay Group Case Study
In 2019, ParentPay Group incorporates a suite of brands that provide a range of products and services focused on schools and parents. In 2017, the Group acquired Schoolcomms, an integrated parental engagement app for schools, which complements the ParentPay offer.
The Group further enhanced its offer to schools with the acquisition of Cypad, a developer of meal management systems for primary school caterers, at the end of 2018. This was followed by overseas expansion in January 2019 with the acquisition of WIS, a provider of school payment and parent communications solutions to schools in the Netherlands. Separately, the Group has also launched Just Education, a digital marketplace disrupting supply teacher recruitment, and nimbl, a prepaid debit card and online pocket money and budgeting tool for children.
Why the West Midlands?
Coventry provides the company with a high-quality local talent pool from which to recruit, underpinned by the number of leading colleges and universities in the West Midlands. There are 12 universities in the West Midlands, which contain a total of 50 tech-related centres of excellence and deliver over 66,000 graduates every year – of which 16,000 have finTech-related qualifications.
ParentPay currently employs 240 people across the UK and Netherlands, and with its service and technical operations centre, and the majority of its product development teams, based in a region with such a rich supply of diverse talent, the company is well placed for further growth.
Business Support in the West Midlands
Group Chief Executive of ParentPay, Clint Wilson, highlights the region’s ‘accessibility’ and ‘opportunity for growth’ as key factors in enabling the business to recruit and retain the top talent needed to help the business thrive.
For ParentPay, a pioneering innovator, operating at the intersection of edTech and finTech, employing the right staff is vital to ensuring that the business continues to innovate across all its products and services. Being headquartered in Coventry has provided the company with access to the brightest, tech-savvy graduates.
Geographically, Coventry’s location – literally in the centre of the UK – and range of transport connections, make it easily accessible both domestically and internationally, which is crucial for a high growth business with offices across the UK and overseas.
In addition, the West Midlands offers space for both businesses and families to grow where importantly, unlike in London, the cost of living is not a barrier for graduates and young families. Tech professionals can easily develop their careers in the region and this has enabled the Group to attract and retain key personnel.
Clint Wilson, CEO at ParentPay, commented:
“Since inception, we have delivered substantial organic growth, driven by increases in new customers and system adoption, rising spend per active pupil and school student population, complemented by material growth as a result of our acquisitions of Schoolcomms and Cypad. To support this progress, ParentPay recruits and retains first class employees, who play an invaluable role in maintaining the quality of our services and driving our future expansion. With our operations based in Coventry, we have excellent access to high quality graduates. In addition, the West Midlands is the largest regional tech cluster in the UK, and this underpins the current success and future development of the ParentPay Group. We’re proud to be playing a role in the digital transformation of a region with a rich heritage of innovation and productivity.”
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