-- ETS Strategic Capital executes transactions with two innovative tech 
companies in further expansion and growth of investment and acquisition 
portfolio

ETS Strategic Capital, a unit within ETS focused on growing its educational 
business and advancing the organization's strategic mission impact through 
equity investments, growth partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions, today 
announced new deals with two companies that allow for the further expansion of 
the group's portfolio.

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The new companies joining ETS Strategic Capital's portfolio include:

   -- MPOWER(R) Financing: A Washington, D.C. and Bangalore, India based
      FinTech lender focused on increasing access for the international and
      DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) student communities that
      are currently underserved by conventional banks. ETS Strategic Capital
      made a minority investment in MPOWER Financing's most recently-closed
      financing round and plans to leverage its largely international
      connections to student borrowers in Asia-Pacific regions, primarily India
      and China. This connection will aim to help increase synergies between
      student borrowers globally and ETS's GRE(R) and TOEFL(R) programs.
      https://www.mpowerfinancing.com

"MPOWER is delighted to be working with ETS and exploring ways to support the 
millions of students who test with them globally every year. By democratizing 
access to financing, we hope an even greater number of qualified students 
around the globe will venture to study in North America," said Manu Smadja, 
MPOWER Financing's CEO and Co-founder. "As impact-oriented firms with a global 
outlook, our teams instantly connected and are excited to help students attain 
the best possible educational outcomes."

   -- Vericant: Vericant is comprised of United States, China and
      internationally-located teams of admissions professionals who are working
      to help transform the face of international admissions and assessment.
      Vericant aims to aid admissions officers in being able to better evaluate
      their candidates through 1:1 video interviews, allowing them to make
      informed decisions with comprehensive information. Via a cross-border M&A
      transaction, ETS Strategic Capital has acquired Vericant, which going
      forward will operate as a new subsidiary of ETS. Vericant's services are
      not new to ETS – they were previously utilized in strategic collaboration
      as part of ETS's TOEFL ITP(R) Plus for China solution, which was
      developed to support Chinese students while in-person TOEFL iBT(R)
      testing was suspended as a result of COVID-19. https://www.vericant.com/

"Our broader vision is to have a video interview with every application to the 
institutions," said Guy Sivan, CEO of Vericant. "We have spent years focused on 
developing and delivering the tools, systems and expertise of our 
interviews-as-a-service solution to institutions and students worldwide and I 
can't think of a better way to continue to expand our impact than by joining 
ETS."

MPOWER Financing and Vericant join ETS Strategic Capital's already robust 
portfolio that bring innovative technology, new business models and enhanced 
geographic coverage, as well as complimentary technological capabilities to 
ETS's current business areas. The previously announced deals include those with 
ApplyBoard, Capti, EdAgree, Pipplet and Gradschoolmatch.

"Our newest investments and acquisitions are a reflection of our mandate to 
leverage external inorganic entrepreneurial high-growth tech business 
innovations to expand on the capabilities and align to the mission of ETS," 
said Ralph Taylor-Smith, the Managing Director of ETS Strategic Capital. 
"Through equity investments, growth partnerships and M&A, we continue to 
explore new and emerging business opportunities globally for ETS to serve 
learners worldwide."

About ETS Strategic Capital

ETS Strategic Capital serves as the private equity investment and M&A execution 
arm for ETS, its subsidiaries and its partners sourcing transactions within 
both the domestic United States and internationally. The unit partners with the 
broader EdTech ecosystem to identify and execute deals, coordinate with other 
ETS business units to identify opportunities and needs, network with 
professional services firms with education expertise, and build direct 
relationships with businesses internationally — especially within Asia Pacific, 
Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East & Africa (MENA) regions. ETS 
Strategic Capital targets private equity investments that are typically in 
Series B, C or later; acquisitions that are middle-market in scale; and growth 
partnerships that may involve joint ventures (JVs), channel-affiliate or 
distribution agreements, Intellectual Property (IP) licensing and 
technology-transfer relationships. www.ets.capital

About ETS

At ETS, we advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by 
creating assessments based on rigorous research. ETS serves individuals, 
educational institutions and government agencies by providing customized 
solutions for teacher certification, English language learning, and elementary, 
secondary and postsecondary education, and by conducting education research, 
analysis and policy studies. Founded as a nonprofit in 1947, ETS develops, 
administers and scores more than 50 million tests annually — including the 
TOEFL(R) and TOEIC(R) tests, the GRE(R) tests and The Praxis Series(R) 
assessments — in more than 180 countries, at over 9,000 locations worldwide. 
www.ets.org

SOURCE: ETS