{"id":4620,"date":"2013-12-13T14:57:02","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T14:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.studyabroad101.com\/?p=4620"},"modified":"2025-04-07T03:47:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T07:47:22","slug":"abroad101-acquired-by-ledra-capital-and-education-entrepreneur-mark-shay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.studyabroad101.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/abroad101-acquired-by-ledra-capital-and-education-entrepreneur-mark-shay\/","title":{"rendered":"Abroad101 Acquired by Ledra Capital and Education Entrepreneur Mark Shay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pioneering Study Abroad review website to expand;<\/ins> <\/ins>focus on transparency and outcomes assessment<\/i><\/strong><\/h1>\n

<\/i>New York, NY (December 13, 2013) – Abroad101<\/a>, the world\u2019s first and largest study abroad review website, has been acquired from the Westonian Group by Ledra Capital and\u00a0education entrepreneur Mark Shay, a\u00a0team with deep expertise in international higher education and technology.<\/p>\n

With more than 20,700 reviews of 7,700 programs, Abroad101\u00a0is the leading student review site for study abroad programs. It\u00a0provides a free service for universities and students to rate, review and rank\u00a0student experiences in study abroad programs. \u00a0Abroad101\u00a0grew from one partnership at Tufts University in 2007 to more than 215 college partnerships\u00a0today. The company was founded by Adam Miller, Mike\u00a0Stone and Mark Lurie; MIT, Tufts and Harvard graduates, respectively.<\/p>\n

Abroad101 is being acquired by Mark Shay and Ledra Capital, both of whom have been on the Advisory Board of the Westonian Group, the owner of Abroad101, since 2008. Mark Shay was a co-founder of EDU Directories, a successful educational directory business that included the industry-leading StudyAbroad.com. Ledra has played an essential role for over thirty years in building the University of Nicosia system, the leading English language university system in southern Europe. Ledra actively supports technology that increases accessibility to higher education, including the free Abroad Office study abroad office administration software.<\/div>\n
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“Our goal has always been to increase transparency in the study abroad\u00a0field and help students research their options more thoroughly,” said Adam\u00a0Miller, Co-Founder and Chairman of Abroad101. \u00a0“I am delighted to know that Abroad101 will be in good hands for\u00a0the long-term.\u201d<\/div>\n
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“We congratulate Adam Miller, Mike Stone, Mark Lurie\u00a0and the whole Abroad101 team in their success in establishing the\u00a0company as a leader in the field,\u201d\u00a0said Mark Shay. \u201cAs accountability and outcomes assessment become\u00a0more important in higher education, I look forward to working with host universities\u00a0to help Abroad101 be at the forefront of this movement.”<\/div>\n
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\u00a0\u201cWe are pleased that we can help support the mission of\u00a0Abroad101 to empower universities and students. We have been breaking down the\u00a0barriers to international education for over thirty years and are a natural\u00a0long-term home for Abroad101,\u201d said Antonis Polemitis, Managing Partner at\u00a0Ledra Capital. \u201cI am excited about Mark Shay joining this effort\u00a0as he brings decades of expertise in the education\u00a0abroad space.\u201d<\/div>\n
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“As study abroad becomes integral to every college\u00a0student’s experience and more options are offered to students each year, a tool\u00a0like Abroad101 helps guide both the student and his or her academic advisor,\u201d\u00a0said Michael N. DiMauro from the American Institute for Foreign Study,\u00a0one of the largest study abroad providers in the U.S. And\u00a0a long standing Abroad101\u00a0partner. \u201cWe are now able to demonstrate our\u00a0excellent student outcomes to universities, which has been a very effective tool\u00a0for us. I look forward to working with the new Abroad101 team.”<\/div>\n
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Financial terms of the transaction were\u00a0not announced. Miller, Stone and Lurie will be leaving Abroad101 to pursue new startup\u00a0opportunities. Abroad101 indicated that near-term operational plans for the\u00a0business would be announced shortly.<\/div>\n
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About Abroad101<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
Abroad101\u2019s mission is to promote global citizenship by\u00a0fostering the most meaningful study abroad experience for all students through\u00a0technology innovation.\u00a0\u00a0Abroad101\u00a0empowers universities with its free market-leading online evaluation tool and\u00a0provides an advertising and student recruitment platform to global program\u00a0providers through its website StudyAbroad101.com and back-end subscriber tools. \u00a0Abroad101 grew from one partnership at\u00a0Tufts University in 2007 to more than 215 college partnerships today.\u00a0\u00a0Abroad101 is a 2010 winner of the\u00a0MassChallenge Global Startup Competition. To learn\u00a0more, visit www.studyabroad101.com. <http:\/\/www.studyabroad101.com.><\/div>\n
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About Ledra Capital<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
Ledra Capital is a privately-held group of companies and foundations whose\u00a0underlying mission has been to expand accessibility to higher education. It\u00a0helped found the first university and medical school in Cyprus and, today,\u00a0holds trusteeships or investments in leading tertiary educational institutions\u00a0that serve nearly 10,000 students annually. It is an active investor in\u00a0technology, real estate and business services that support its overall\u00a0educational mission.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pioneering Study Abroad review website to expand; focus on transparency and outcomes assessment New York, NY (December 13, 2013) – Abroad101, the world\u2019s first and largest study abroad review website, has been acquired from the Westonian Group by Ledra Capital … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[681],"class_list":["post-4620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","author-sarahhanley"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t