Carmen Neghina
5 years ago

Studyportals Welcomes New Investor: David Vismans, Booking.com’s Chief Product Officer

Facebooktwitterlinkedin

Studyportals HQ

Eindhoven, 19 October 2018 – Studyportals, the global study choice platform, is excited to welcome a new investor, David Vismans, Chief Product Officer at Booking.com, who has chosen to invest an undisclosed amount in the company. The new investment comes after Studyportals’ 2017 announcement of €5M led by KEEN Venture Partners and is also aimed at supporting the company’s innovation to make education choice transparent globally.

David Vismans joined Booking.com in 2012 and is now leading all platform development as Chief Product Officer. Booking.com is a company that has radically transformed the travel industry by putting digital innovation and customer centricity at its forefront. David’s mission to support innovation, especially in emerging sectors, is what prompted him to actively support organisations such as Studyportals.

Edwin van Rest, CEO and founder of Studyportals, comments:

‘We are very fortunate to have David join our mission. Booking.com is now the largest website founded in Europe and, although there are many differences, there are also great parallels with our sector. Higher education is very complex, yet also a sector where the potential for innovation is tremendous, and Studyportals is well on its path to bring transparency to study choice, globally. David’s been through a similar process within the travel industry, and we both believe that higher education is about to undergo a similar transformation. Studyportals’ vision to digitise and democratise education choice, optimise student-university fit and equalise education opportunity globally are things we have in common.’

The announcement comes shortly after the company’s strengthening of its leadership team with three seasoned executives who are taking on the roles of Chief Commercial Officer, Director of People & Culture and Executive Vice President of Partnership Strategy respectively.

Contact: Carmen Neghina | Studyportals | +31 655 875 270 | carmen@studyportals.com

About David Vismans

As CPO of Booking.com, David Vismans oversees global, cross-platform product strategy for Booking.com. Before taking on this role, David spent four years in a number of senior positions with the Netherlands’ popular social media website, Hyves, including Head of Development, Chief Technical Officer and Director of Product Development. Hyves was bought by Dutch media and publishing group, Telegraaf Media Groep (TMG), in 2010. Earlier in his career, David worked in Amsterdam with the leading provider of GPS and navigation devices, TomTom. David has a Master of Science degree from the University of Amsterdam, where he specialised in the study of artificial intelligence. He has also undertaken several ongoing education projects, including a programme on Achieving Strategic Agility at the London Business School.

About Studyportals

Studyportals is the international study choice platform, enabling students to find and compare their study options across borders. With over 150,000 published courses from over 3,050 participating universities and over 28 million users in 2017, Studyportals is the world’s leading information source for study seekers. Studyportals has started as an international student organisation in 2009, that initially focused on the European education market. Since 2014, the organisation, headquartered in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, has grown into a performing company, constantly expanding its services, and is now also covering universities in the Americas, Oceania, and Asia. Its 200-person team includes 35 nationalities. For universities, Studyportals is a results-based channel to grow, optimise and diversify their (international) classrooms.

Studyportals has received numerous awards for its growth and social impact, including the PIEoneers Digital Innovation of the Year – Technology award in 2018, the EdTechxGlobal award in 2016 for Best Education Technology Growth company, the FD Gazelle award for #1 growth company in the Netherlands in the international category, and the ‘Change the World’ award from Entrepreneurs’ Organisation NL. For more information, visit www.studyportals.com.

 

For more updates, follow us!

Facebooktwitterlinkedinyoutubeinstagram

More Press Releases