Baker McKenzie Advises Benesse on Business Alliance Agreement with SkyHive

Baker McKenzie advised Benesse Holdings, Inc. (“Benesse”) in connection with its capital and business alliance agreement with SkyHive Technologies Holdings Inc. (“SkyHive”). Through this alliance, Benesse will become a core partner of SkyHive in the Japanese market.

Benesse, founded in 1955, has developed domestic and global education, nursing care, childcare and daily living businesses aligned with people’s life stages. SkyHive, founded in 2017, is an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled global human resources information company. It operates one of the world’s largest real-time labor market information platforms and enables one-stop reskilling* through the use of AI. With a proven track record of success around the world, SkyHive’s users include the Canadian government, the European Union and New York City.

Benesse will be able to leverage SkyHive’s AI technology to provide companies with a one-stop employee skill visualization and analysis service. Benesse will also gain insight into reskilling-related management strategies and will have the chance to provide learning content, including Udemy**, thereby strengthening support for corporate human capital management and SkyHive’s worldwide expertise in organizational transformation.

The Baker McKenzie lead partner on the transaction was Kiyoshi Endo of the Corporate/M&A Group, assisted by senior associates Kenta Nobe and Eric Li and associate Riri Sasaki.

Kiyoshi commented, “We are honored to be involved in a project that could help solve the problem of Japan’s shrinking labor force by combining SkyHive’s AI-based global data with Benesse’s deep educational knowledge and strong business development capabilities. We will continue to work together with our clients to find optimal DX solutions.”

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*To learn new skills in a new field or role.
**Udemy is an online learning platform operated by Udemy, Inc.