Arco Platform (ARCE) began trading on the Nasdaq on 26 September 2018

Arco Platform Limited (Nasdaq: ARCE), a Brazilian EdTech startup that provides complete pedagogical solutions to private schools in Brazil.

• The first Brazilian company to go public on the Nasdaq
• Arco Platform priced 11.11 mln shares at $17.50, the high-end of the expected $15.50-17.50 range
• Opened for trading at $24.50.

The company raised around $220 million in a highly sought initial public offering. Shares were priced at $17.50 on Tuesday, the top of their indicated range, as investors seemed to shrug off political uncertainties over the country’s presidential election.

Arco Chief Executive Ari de Sá Cavalcante Neto said that in addition to eyeing rival learning systems, the company is likely to seek providers of services complementary to primary and secondary private schools.

As examples, he cited school management tools or apps to handle communication between teachers and children’s families and systems that teach in accordance with students’ specific needs.

In meetings with investors, Arco marketed itself more as a technology company than as an education company, as it delivers part of its learning system to schools through digital platforms.

Also key to a successful IPO was the fact that Arco kept growing in terms of the number of schools and students using its services during Brazil’s recent recession, the worst in decades.

The for-profit education company was founded in 2004 by the Sá Cavalcante family. Ten years later, U.S. private equity firm General Atlantic acquired a minority stake.