OpenLearning Limited (ASX: OLL) has secured a strategic investment from CE Nexus to accelerate its growth in the Philippines.
The A$153,037 placement deepens the company’s partnership with C&E Publishing, which is already a major reseller and customer of OpenLearning’s AI-powered learning management system.
OpenLearning said the new funding will bolster sales and marketing initiatives in a market where the company has signed more than A$1.8 million in SaaS contracts this year.
Growing Traction in the Philippines
CE Nexus, a division of leading Philippine publisher C&E, will subscribe for 3,559,000 new shares at $0.043 per share—a 4.9% premium to the last closing price, and a 4.9 discount to the 15-day volume-weighted average price.
OpenLearning said the investment was not undertaken due to any funding requirement but to strengthen long-term alignment with a partner distributing its LMS across more than 1,000 institutions nationwide.
CE Nexus chief operating officer Eric Eugenio said the partnership reflects a shared belief in transformative, human-centred learning that would create “experiences that are not only innovative and inclusive but truly life-changing.”
OpenLearning has recorded 15 consecutive quarters of year-on-year SaaS revenue growth supported by organisations adopting its generative AI-enabled learning tools, and the company sees the Philippines as a significant opportunity with nearly 2,000 higher education institutions and approximately 3.4 million tertiary students.
Chief executive officer Adam Brimo said CE Nexus’ investment would support further expansion across Southeast Asia, and “reflects strong confidence in OpenLearning’s growth prospects in the Philippines”.
Field Ready African Partnership
Days before announcing the CE Nexus investment, OpenLearning signed a landmark three-year SaaS and referral agreement with Field Ready SSA, a major education-to-employment provider in Africa.
Field Ready will use OpenLearning’s LMS for a minimum of 20,000 students per year, with contracted SaaS fees of about A$372,000 over the term.
The partnership also includes a referral agreement enabling Field Ready to introduce OpenLearning to African universities, as well as a course marketplace arrangement that offers revenue upside for both organisations.
Field Ready will migrate from its existing LMS to OpenLearning, citing the platform’s generative AI tools, scalability, and flexibility as key reasons for the switch.
Founder Phil Andrews said the agreement will help equip young people “with the skills they need for employment in high-demand industries” and position Field Ready as a regional hub within OpenLearning’s global ecosystem.
Multi-Sided Education Marketplace
OpenLearning will support the transition ahead of a planned go-live on 1 March 2026, with integration focused on blended learning, competency-based training, and advanced reporting via Microsoft Power BI.
The combined SaaS, referral, and course distribution framework represents a first-of-its-kind model for the company and strengthens its multi-sided education marketplace.
The company highlighted that Field Ready’s distribution capability will enable faster expansion across Africa without establishing local operations.
Mr Brimo said the agreements reinforce OpenLearning’s long-term marketplace strategy, and demonstrate the platform’s competitiveness in winning enterprise customers from incumbent providers.
