Cogna is an educational company, thus the company is responsible for providing services from basic education to higher education. With a trajectory of experience in this market, the company is recognized as one of the largest private educational organizations in Brazil and Latin America.
In the niche of in-person and distance higher education, the company has a total of more than 966 thousand students. All of this is due to the 176 own units of higher education and 1,410 accredited centers for Distance Education. When it comes to Basic Education, Cogna has more than 33 thousand students distributed across 52 own schools, 26 thousand students distributed in 121 Red Balloon units, as well as 2.1 million students served by approximately 5.6 thousand associated schools, which utilize solutions and services from Cogna.
Company Business
Cogna's operations are based on various companies, segmented according to the area of activity and the level of education. In total, there are 4 companies, all of them operating in a specific region of the country and market segment, ensuring greater reach and penetration of the company's products in the market.
The companies are:
Kroton
With over 45 years in the market, Kroton Educacional has 318 thousand in-person students and 604 thousand EAD students. Basically, it owns important educational networks, some of which you have certainly seen, studied, or at least heard of, want to see? Okay, here we go:
Pitágoras
Fama
Anhanguera
Unime
Unic
Unopar
Uniderp
Platos
Another major company that is part of Cogna Educação is the large educational network Platos. This segment of Cogna is responsible for serving the B2B market of higher education, being the main growth partner of the IES (Institutes of Higher Education) in Brazil.
In summary, the platform Platos offers a wide variety of postgraduate and undergraduate services for higher education institutions. In other words, it provides student prospecting and enrollment, especially in the EAD, market intelligence, regulatory advisory and support, academic solutions, and digital and physical content for other institutions.
Currently, Platos serves 176 IES through the concept of the EdServ Platform (educational services platform) and has about 40 contracts with third-party IES using the Saraiva Educação solution.
Know
This recognized brand in the educational field operates in the B2C segment, offering education services for basic education, such as language courses, in addition to competing for bids in the National Program for Books and Teaching Materials (PNLD), from the Ministry of Education. In total, there are 52 Own Schools or managed by contracts covering a total of 33 thousand Students.
Vasta
One of Cogna's arms is Vasta, one of the leading companies in basic education that is growing the most in Brazil. Generally speaking, it offers educational solutions and digital services of high technology to private schools that operate in the basic education segment.
Thus, it works with approximately 4.1 thousand partner schools. In this context, it operates based on the platform as a service model, also known as “Platform as a Service” (PaaS). Therefore, the expertise in high-quality education systems and solutions for continuous learning has led it to establish leading brands in Brazil, such as:
Anglo
Ético
Plurall
English Stars
Maxi
In addition, one of Vasta's subsidiary companies is the recognized Somos Educação. In turn, this company holds control of the English course network Red Balloon focusing on children and adolescents, offering exclusive methodology and materials. In total, there are more than 100 units spread across several Brazilian states.
The history of Cogna begins in 1966, when five young friends set up the pre-university course Pitágoras in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. The teaching model was so successful that in just two years, it already had a base of 600 students distributed in 13 classes.
Thus, in 1972, the first Pitágoras School for 1st and 2nd grade students was inaugurated. Shortly after, in 1974, the group began operations of its largest unit in Basic Education, the Pitágoras Cidade Jardim School.
The 1990s mark the establishment of the Rede Pitágoras, a cluster of schools committed to the continuous improvement of the quality of educational services provided. As a result, the Fundação Pitágoras was established in 1999 to enable educational projects in public and private institutions.
Then, in the first decade of the 21st century, the Pitágoras group went public on the stock exchange under the name Kroton Educacional in 2007.
As a result, the company made an important acquisition in 2010, with the purchase of IUNI Educacional, an institution that offers undergraduate and graduate programs under the brands UNIC, UNIME, and FAMA, representing the largest acquisition in the higher education sector in Brazil.
In the following year, it gained control of Faculdade Atenas Maranhense (São Luís and Imperatriz – MA), Faculdade União (Ponta Grossa – PR), and Faculdade do Sorriso. By the end of 2011, it also acquired UNOPAR, which enabled the Company to become the leader in the distance education sector in Brazil.
The company's accelerated expansion led it to make more acquisitions, now in 2012, with the purchase of Centro Universitário Cândido Rondon (Unirondon) and Uniasselvi.
In 2013, an important agreement took place between Kroton and Faculdade Anhanguera, in addition to the opening of 40 new distance learning centers for Unopar. This merger was finalized in 2014, making Kroton the largest educational company in the world in terms of market value and students.
An important step for the company's digital transformation occurred in 2015, when it acquired the company Studiare, which would be essential for the adaptive learning project in the company.
In 2017, the company inaugurated 200 new centers, totaling 1,110 educational centers at that time.
In 2018, Kroton formed a strategic partnership with Cubo Itaú, giving rise to the largest Edtech hub in America. In the same year, the creation of Saber, one of the Company's arms, occurred, in addition to the acquisition of the group Somos, considered the largest Basic Education platform in Brazil.
More recently, in 2019, a restructuring of the business at Kroton took place, dividing operations into four areas of activity within the educational segment. Thus, the brand Cogna, emerges as a holding company that positions itself as a collection of companies, as we saw earlier.
