SOP

What SOP does

SOP Mobility-Online GmbH is an Austrian-headquartered software company that has operated since 2002 in higher-education internationalization, launching its flagship Mobility-Online platform in 2007 as a Java-based, multi-database SaaS suite for managing international student and staff mobility, partnerships, applications, budgets, and Erasmus+ reporting. The platform is offered cloud-hosted on ISO-certified servers in Vienna (with AWS available in select regions) or on-premise, with Single Sign-On support for LDAP, Shibboleth, Active Directory, CAS, Cosign, and eduGAIN, plus eIDAS-compliant European eID login. It is fully compliant with the EU Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) standard and GDPR, and serves nearly 500 institutional clients across roughly 30+ countries, with marquee customers including University of Helsinki, University of Edinburgh, HEC Paris, IMT Atlantique, Universidad de Lima, and the Association Européenne des Conservatoires network.

The commercial model combines annual SaaS subscriptions (with tiered, quote-based pricing for the main platform, dedicated instances, and on-premise deployments), professional services for implementation, training, and project management, and a freemium Connect Edition that onboards smaller institutions and seeds upgrade pipelines. Specialized editions extend the footprint to global internship consortia (Placement Edition) and to eTwinning school cooperation projects. Distribution is enterprise field sales executed through conference presence at EAIE, NAFSA, APAIE, and CAEI; community engagement via an annual user event with 300+ attendees; and direct website inquiries in German, English, French, and Spanish.

The company is privately held and, since April 2025, is part of the Simovative group (a Flex Capital portfolio company), which pairs Mobility-Online with Simovative's AcademyFIVE campus management system. SOP continues to operate as an independent legal entity under its founding leadership, with Daniela Thalhammer as CEO and offices in Vienna (HQ), Wiener Neustadt, Bremen, and Madrid. The strategic combination positions SOP to capture broader wallet share per institution and pursue inorganic expansion under Flex Capital's growth-investor mandate.

Name

SOP

Legal name

SOP Mobility-Online GmbH

Website

https://sop.co.at

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SOP Mobility-Online GmbH provides SaaS software for digitalizing international mobility, recruitment, and cooperation at higher education institutions globally. Its Mobility-Online platform automates Erasmus+ workflows, serves nearly 500 universities, and integrates with EU EWP compliance standards.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Mobility Software

NAICS

Computer Systems Design and Related Services (54151), Computer Systems Design and Related Services (5415)

SIC

Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Corporate Traveler Compliance & Mobility Management (Work Permits, Assignments) (THALAPAJ)

akta.pro secondary industry

SIM/eSIM, Mobile Connectivity & Student Tech Setup (EDAIANAG)

Keywords

• Mobility management software
• Higher education software
• Erasmus+ compliance platform
• Student exchange management
• International office software

Headquarters

HQ city

Amstetten

HQ country

Austria

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Mobility-Online SaaS Subscription: Annual subscription model for cloud-hosted Mobility-Online platform with tiered support levels. Institutions pay for access to the platform with options for dedicated instances or shared clusters.
2. Mobility-Online Connect Edition (Freemium): Free platform for EWP compliance offered to lower-resource institutions. Serves as entry point and lead generation for paid platform upgrades.
3. Professional Services: Implementation, configuration, training, and ongoing project management services. Customized training programs offered at Vienna offices, client locations, or online.
4. On-premise Licensing: Software installation on institutional servers with annual maintenance and support fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

SOP Mobility-Online GmbH develops and sells the Mobility-Online SaaS platform that helps universities and higher education institutions digitally manage the full lifecycle of international student and staff mobility — applications, communication, documentation, partnership agreements, budget, accommodation, crisis management, and Erasmus+ and EWP-compliant reporting. The portfolio is extended by the free Mobility-Online Connect Edition (EWP data exchange for smaller institutions), Mobility-Online Placement Edition (consortium internship management), Global-Connect (internationalization portal), and eTwinning-Online (school cooperation management).

Product overview

SOP (SOP Mobility-Online GmbH) offers a suite of web-based software solutions for international mobility management, primarily serving higher education institutions worldwide. The core product is Mobility-Online, a SaaS platform launched in 2007 for managing all aspects of international student, staff, and trainee exchange programs, including Erasmus+ workflows, partnership management, admissions, marketing, crisis management, accommodation, and reporting. Two specialized editions extend the portfolio: Mobility-Online | Connect Edition is a free platform enabling smaller institutions to achieve Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) data exchange and compliance; and Mobility-Online | Placement Edition is a specialized solution for consortia and organizations managing global internship mobility. SOP also provides eTwinning-Online for schools. The full portfolio is delivered as cloud-hosted SaaS (EU-based, ISO-certified servers) or on-premise, and supports SSO integration with institutional identity systems.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mobility-Online: Main solution for managing all aspects of international exchange, developed for International Offices worldwide with high flexibility and efficiency
• Mobility-Online Connect Edition
• Mobility-Online Placement Edition
• Global-Connect
• eTwinning-Online

Products and services

• Mobility-Online SaaS platform for higher education institutions to manage international student and staff mobility, partnership agreements, admissions, communication, financial management, crisis management, accommodation and reporting for exchange programs including Erasmus+. In service since 2007 with nearly 500 institutional clients worldwide.
• Mobility-Online Connect Edition Free EWP-compliant platform designed for smaller institutions to facilitate automated exchange of institutional data, partner contacts, bilateral agreements and candidate information required for digital Erasmus+ program management, ensuring compliance with mandatory EWP standards.
• Mobility-Online Placement Edition Specialized software for consortia and organizations managing global internship and trainee mobility, with tailored features to optimize internship processes including placement management, communication, financial management, consortium management and reporting.
• eTwinning-Online School cooperation management software enabling schools to manage projects, applications and recognition in a paperless digital environment, with features including application management, communication, financial management, reporting and data management for European eTwinning initiatives.
• Global-Connect SaaS platform with intuitive user interface and central data access to promote global engagement of higher education institutions, extending the SOP portfolio beyond EWP compliance into internationalization and global partnerships.

Quantifiable outcome

• University of Helsinki manages approximately 1,000 incoming/outgoing students and 100 staff annually without Mobility-Online being unsustainable
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration14 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• SimovativecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 April 2025Strategic partnership creating comprehensive European higher education software platform. SOP's Mobility-Online complements Simovative's AcademyFIVE campus management system. Joint platform offers integrated solutions for higher education institutions. Both companies operate under Flex Capital portfolio. SOP continues as independent legal entity with unchanged management team.
• Nottingham Trent University (NTU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint webinar on Erasmus+ 2027 reentry for UK institutions. NTU presented readiness cycle approach; SOP provided Mobility-Online platform demonstration. Collaborative effort to guide UK sector back to Erasmus program.
• INDIREminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerItalian National Institute for Documentation, Innovation and Educational Research (INDIRE) organizes ESCI Day Italy 2026. SOP participates as exhibitor presenting EWP-compliant products Mobility-Online and Mobility-Connect.
• Association Européenne des Conservatoires (AEC)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean association of conservatories, music academies, and music universities. Nearly 100 member institutions in 21 countries adopted Mobility-Online for exchange program coordination through this partnership.
• Judith Alt (Simovative)minorOthersCEO of Simovative GmbH; accompanies SOP development at group level and supports strategic direction.
• Torsten Fürbringer (Simovative)minorOthersCEO of Simovative GmbH; accompanies SOP development at group level and supports strategic direction.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Workday: Global enterprise SaaS incumbent offering Workday Student, a cloud SIS that increasingly bundles student lifecycle capabilities including international student management. Represents the broad-incumbent threat to best-of-breed mobility software.
• Ellucian: Dominant SIS provider in higher education (Banner, Colleague, PowerCampus) with broad student lifecycle functionality. Comparable as a bundled alternative where institutions could consolidate mobility into the core SIS.
• PowerSchool: Major K-12 and broader education software platform offering student information and operational systems. A broad education-tech incumbent with potential to expand mobility-adjacent workflows for higher-ed customers.

Direct peers

• Symplicity: Provider of higher education platforms including a study abroad and student mobility module. Closely comparable to SOP on target market (university international offices) and product surface (mobility workflow management).
• Simovative: German provider of AcademyFIVE campus management software for European universities and now SOP's strategic partner under shared Flex Capital ownership. Directly comparable in higher-ed IT modernization focus and overlapping European International Office buyer.
• Terra Dotta: Leading US-based SaaS provider of international student mobility and study abroad management software for higher education institutions. Most directly comparable competitor to Mobility-Online, targeting the same International Office buyer with similar EWP-adjacent workflows.

Others

• StudyPortals: Global study choice and international student recruitment platform connecting prospective students to universities. Adjacent ecosystem player serving the same higher-ed internationalization market but focused on marketing/lead-gen rather than mobility operations.
• ApplyBoard: Platform facilitating international student applications to universities and colleges. Thematically adjacent to Mobility-Online's internationalization use case but oriented to admissions funnel rather than post-admission exchange/mobility management.

Emerging players

• Slate (Technolutions): Higher-ed CRM and admissions platform used by university international offices for international student recruitment and application processing. Partial overlap on the admissions/mobility front end but lighter on operational exchange and Erasmus+ workflows.
• Adventus: Provider of international student recruitment and application management software for universities. Partially overlaps with Mobility-Online's application processing and mobility workflows, though more focused on recruitment than ongoing exchange management.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@mobility-onlinesop8281

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SOP