With a new quarter upon us and just a few months left until the end of the year, now is a great time to pause and reflect on the deals that took place in the corporate training industry last quarter.
In Q3, the market saw continued activity in segments like learning technologies, leadership and sales training, reflecting the continued need for solutions in those areas. Last quarter’s deals also included investments in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered tools and platforms, a trend we expect to continue as companies look to integrate AI into their training processes.
Read on for the deals we took note of last quarter.
Learning Technologies
As learning management system (LMS) and other learning technology providers continue to advance their offerings, it’s not surprising that the learning tech segment of the market saw multiple deals last quarter:
- MPS Interactive Systems, a global B2B learning company, announced a strategic investment in learning and development (L&D) solutions provider, Liberate Learning. According to the press release, the collaboration “is set to drive forward Liberate Learning’s mission to provide superior educational technology services and solutions to the APAC market.”
- Pryor Learning, a learning solutions and learning management system (LMS) provider, secured a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount from Trive Capital and Epic Partners.
- LMS365, an AI-powered learning platform integrated with Microsoft 365, acquired Weekly10, a UK-based performance and engagement management company.
- Administrate, a leading enterprise training operations platform, raised $6.4 million from existing investors Archangels, Mercia and the Scottish Investment Bank, and welcomed Hambro Perks as a new capital partner. “Funds will be deployed to support the company’s rapid growth and continue to meet the needs of its diverse and growing North American enterprise customer base,” the press release states.
Leadership Training
In the leadership training segment of the market:
- TiER1 Performance acquired THRUUE, a culture, strategy, and leadership consulting firm serving commercial and not-for-profit clients. In the press release, Greg Harmeyer, TiER1 Performance’s CEO, says, “We were attracted to THRUUE’s history of accelerating business results for clients. THRUUE’s differentiator is their ability to measure an organization’s culture and shape solutions informed by data. We see significant potential by combining our organizations’ services for many of the clients we collectively serve.”
- Monark, a SaaS platform that offers “on-demand leadership development for a new generation” closed a $1.5 million seed financing round. The round was led by Storytime Capital, with participation from The51, Archangel and UCeed. Monark leverages generative AI and machine learning (ML)-powered personalization to offer interactive leadership training and individual performance optimization for first-time managers.
- Leadership development consultancy Jamesson Solutions purchased three business and leadership simulations and one personality assessment instrument.
Sales Training
The sales training segment of the market also saw some activity this quarter, reflecting Training Industry’s “State of the Sales Training Market” report’s claim that this market segment will see growth over the course of 2023.
Here are the deals we took note of:
- SBI, a go-to-market growth advisory, announced the acquisition of Sales Readiness Group (SRG), a leading sales training company.
- TrueLink Capital announced the acquisition of Richardson Sales Performance, a global leader in sales training and performance improvement. (Read more about the acquisition in this column).
- Gainsight, a leading customer success platform, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Northpass, a customer education LMS provider.
- The Capability Group, owner of Imparta Inc. and Imparta Ltd., and a global leader in performance improvement for customer-facing teams, announced the acquisition of sales training company VantagePoint Performance. In the press release, Michelle Vazzana, VantagePoint Performance’s chief strategy officer, says, “VantagePoint is honored to become part of the international powerhouse Imparta. The synergies in this acquisition are direct and powerful, and our combined thought leadership and solutions cement us as a leader in this important industry.”
Other Deals by Market Segment
Workforce Development
- Intertek Group plc (“Intertek”), a total quality assurance provider to a range of industries worldwide, announced that it has acquired PlayerLync Holdings, Inc. (“PlayerLync”), a leading SaaS-based platform providing high-quality training and learning content to front-line workers.
Performance Management
- Confirm, a platform designed to transform performance reviews to help people leaders make fairer, faster and data-driven talent decisions, announced that it has raised $6.2 million in Series A funding, bringing its total investment to $11.4 million. The round was led by Spero Ventures with participation from SHRMLabs, Elefund, Gaingels, Black Angel Group and several existing customers.
Measurement
- Cognota, a LearnOps platform that lets L&D teams manage end-to-end operations and measure ROI, secured $5.5 million in Series A funding. The round was led by Grotech Ventures with participation from IDEA Fund Partners, BDC Capital, Generation Ventures, CEAS Investments, Tyton Partners and notable investors Neal Dempsey and Jay Steinfeld. The funding round follows Cognota’s $1.9 million funding round it secured earlier this year.
