Case Study: Exit
Lalilo
HQ: San Francisco, CA, USA
Industry: Ed Tech
Size: 25-50 employees
Renaissance Learning
HQ: Wisconsin Rapids, WI, USA
Industry: Ed Tech
Size: 1000-5000 employees
Amine Mezzour, Co-founder at Lalilo
“The Lisan Finance team was very responsive and efficient. They helped us navigate through the acquisition process, making sure to brief us on all the challenges that we might face. Thanks to their support in addition to our lawyer, we were able to complete the deal without a banker. It brought me great comfort knowing they had our best interests in mind and saved me a lot of time all along the process.”
Lynn Danko, CFO at Renaissance Learning
“Lisan Finance provided all the required financial information needed to complete our acquisition of Lalilo in the best possible conditions. They continue to be a key resource to our finance team throughout our integration process.”
Client Situation
Lalilo is a French-based start-up, founded in 2017. A growing Edtech company, Lalilo provides digital learning solutions for K through second grade students. Their business model focuses on targeting schools and government organizations. Noticeably they had a large contract with the French Ministry of National Education.
Shortly after Lalilo closed their funding round lead by Partech for over five million dollars, their US revenue started to rapidly increase, and they strategically orchestrated a shift in HQ from Paris to San Francisco. They had two independent accountants, both in France and the US, with a lack of reporting at the group level. When they received a term sheet from Renaissance, they sought out the help of Lisan Finance to provide the financial information that was required. Lisan Finance was immediately operational and built the consolidated financial statements swiftly, meeting all the requirements of the acquirer. In doing so, Lisan Finance ensured a smooth and organized due diligence process. Lisan Finance then took the lead as the acting CFO throughout the entire length of the process.
Impact & Results
Through clear, accurate, and timely services, Lisan Finance was able to create value for all parties. Lisan Finance ensured the whole acquisition process went smoothly from start to finish, giving both the buyer and the seller access to key financial information. They also coordinated with all parties involved to facilitate the communication and meeting the deadlines. Lisan Finance additionally to this date, still manage the post-merger integration and finance operations of Lalilo France.
Methodology & Achievements
January 2021
February 2021
March 2021
April 2021 - Ongoing
1.) Acting as CFO and main point of contact for strategic finance & tax matters before and after acquisition
2.) Preparation of consolidated financial statements in US format for the past 3 years in less than two weeks
3.) Complete accounting review and restatement of monthly revenue recognition and cutoffs
4.) Update of the data room to support financial & tax due diligences
5.) Working capital and price adjustments simulations and negotiation
6.) Review of SPA financial terms, definitions and disclosures, in coordination with lawyers
7.) Supervision of year-end financial audits and tax returns under tight deadlines to meet the exit requirements
8.) Assistance on French public grants and R&D tax credits, evaluating impact of new ownership on eligibility
9.) Supervised work from both local CPA’s in France and USA
10.) Post-merger integration, working closely with Renaissance team to provide monthly reporting according to their group requirements and migration to Netsuite