The OpenLearning Ltd (ASX: OLL) share price has climbed more than 50% in the past month alone. Although, dropping 5.41% in late afternoon trade today to close at 35 cents, the overall growth is certainly exciting for shareholders.
So what's driving the OpenLearning share price? Let's take a look at the company and recent activities.
About OpenLearning
OpenLearning is a Sydney-based education software as a service (SaaS) company. It may be local, but its one of the world's largest online learning platforms and courses are delivered globally.
OpenLearning empowers education students to complete courses or degrees online. It even produces "micro-credentials" that are displayed inside the online portfolios. For students, not only is this tracking useful, but it has the power to show potential employers how their progress is going.
Launching in 2012 and hitting the ASX as an initial public offering (IPO) in 2019, OpenLearning is currently up more than 85% from IPO. A few months of sideways movement occurred before the price really started to move toward the end of last week.
Currently, OpenLearning provides educational courses to more than 2 million students in more than 180 countries. The reach is massive.
Growth factors
OpenLearning has had an exciting few months following its IPO, with a number of key developments announced.
Alibaba deal
In March this year, OpenLearning signed a deal with internet mogul Alibaba Group (NYSE: BABA). Alibaba Cloud, to be exact, was the deal maker, allowing OpenLearning to deliver options to students in mainland China. This was an exceptional deal for OpenLearning, rapidly expanding the brand.
Around the same time, OpenLearning discussed options with Alibaba to act as a 'gateway' into the market for other education providers.
High Resolves deal
High Resolve is a not-for-profit education provider with a huge global reach. It delivers education to more than 350,000 students in Australia, the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. Doing a deal with OpenLearning meant that High Resolve could deliver learning programs to high school students across the globe, leveraging the technology and processes that OpenLearning provides. School shutdowns were and still are a global concern. OpenLearning is part of the solution. It's a great partnership.
Australian Catholic University deal
This year in June, OpenLearning signed a 3-year agreement with Australian Catholic University (ACU) to provide its SaaS platform to the education provider.
ACU is an existing investor in OpenLearning. This deal helps to solidify the relationship. It's great for OpenLearning to have such a well-known brand in the education space actively backing it. No doubt for ACU, the relationship helps to put them on the innovation map as well.
Open Universities Australia deal
In July, only a month after the ACU deal, OpenLearning announced it had signed a deal with Open Universities Australia.
Australia's largest online higher education provider agreed through a memorandum of understanding that OpenLearning would provide SaaS platform services. Additionally, OpenLearning would be able to distribute its own courses within the OUA marketplace.
Foolish Takeaway
Online learning is critical today. The world was transitioning to online services long before coronavirus came along. However, this pandemic has certainly pushed technology into a growth phase that's unmatched in other industries. OpenLearning has a solid history of growth. Its has also actively pursued strategic partners along the way. Coronavirus may be a blessing in disguise for this SaaS education provider.
