MIG sells MDB Education to Grupo GEPA after consolidating its internationalisation

MIG, a company specialising in Martech services and solutions and organisational transformation, has sold its majority stake in edtech MDB Education to the GEPA Group, a leading digital services company for the beauty sector, with over 12 years of experience in online businesses.

Grupo GEPA was socio industrial of the project since 2018, when the first funding round opened and, now, with the sale agreement, becomes the sole shareholder.

MDB Education is the Leading EdTech in the hairdressing and beauty sector in the mundo. It boasts an active professional community of over 151,300 members from 35 countries and a global community exceeding 300,000 users. In addition to a training environment with continuous, radically experiential and personalised learning, similar to that of the Video on Demand content platforms consumed in leisure environments, MDB Education is the largest international professional industry network and a marketplace connecting users with products, services, and solutions from leading brands in the beauty sector, including L'Oréal Professionnel, ghd, Wella Professionals, Selective, and Schwarzkopf Professional.

The business idea, the technology on which the solution is based, the content, and the international expansion have all been led entirely by MIG., connecting all the know-how from its business units in Spain around the project, especially the omnichannel marketing and innovation agency Prisma, and the digital transformation consultancy Embryonic. After developing the seed project and introducing it to the Spanish market in 2016, MIG opened the first investment round in 2017 to accelerate its internationalisation in the Spanish-speaking market. Since 2018, there has been exponential growth in Latin America, which was further bolstered in 2020 with the acquisition of its English-speaking competitor, the British company HairTribe, allowing MDB Education to enter English-speaking markets with content specifically aimed at those markets. From its London headquarters, MIG has driven the development and consolidation of the business model, focusing on three areas: user acquisition in new markets, the formalisation of global agreements with key industry players, and the selection of an international partner to develop the business in its next phase.

After studying different sales options, MIG's board of directors decided in April 2022 to accept the proposal from the GEPA Group. According to one of the founding partners of MIG and, until now, CEO of MDB Education, “the agreement with GEPA was ideal from all perspectives. In addition to its solvency, sectoral expertise, and business vision, over these years it has been a reliable partner that has supported all major strategic decisions and has become involved in understanding the model. In the short term, it guarantees that clients and brands will continue to enjoy the highest standard of quality and user experience. In the medium and long term, a very ambitious project that we are sure will represent a before and after for industry professionals.”.

Gerardo Cañellas, Administrator of the GEPA Group, He valued the operation thus: “With MBD Education, we are taking another step in our project for the digitalisation and continuous training of the beauty sector. This new area will be part of our online business platform for hairdressers. On it, we connect professionals with brands and with their end customers, offering services, solutions, products, and models that help them to make their business profitable.”.

With the sale agreement to Group GEPA, MIG meets its strategic plan's objectives and disengages from the project's core once it is fully consolidated internationally.. MIG will focus on its core business activities in the arThe realm of Martech and organisational transformation for major brands and advertisers, and in organisational transformation for medium-sized companies. Through the PRISMA agency, they will continue to provide services to MDB Education as a partner for marketing, communication, UX, and technological support.