BOSTON — July 1, 2021 — Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE: SKIL) (“Skillsoft” or the “Company”), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today announced it has acquired Pluma, Inc. (“Pluma”), a leading digital professional development and executive-quality coaching platform, for approximately $22 million in cash. The acquisition deepens Skillsoft’s Leadership Development portfolio, adds a new modality to its blended learning model, and marks the Company’s entry into individualized coaching.
Personalized coaching is an area of growing global demand as organizations seek to foster critical leadership competencies while adapting to the rapidly changing ways their leaders work, learn, and grow in the digital economy. The International Coaching Federation estimates that the number of leadership coach practitioners increased by 33% globally between 2015 and 2019, with the number of leaders using coaches rising by 46%.
Pluma’s responsive SaaS solution accelerates the professional growth and development of leaders through personalized introspective coaching, assessments, and action plans designed to drive behavioral change. The experience is delivered via in-app messaging and video sessions, tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization while driving engagement, enablement, and measurable improvement. Pluma’s global network comprises hundreds of executive coaches across six continents speaking more than 20 languages. Pluma will be integrated into Skillsoft’s AI-driven, immersive Percipio platform, and the Company’s existing customers will gain access to Pluma’s highly skilled coaches and their expertise.
“We are committed to accelerating our growth by acquiring businesses with comprehensive, industry-leading content and solutions that will benefit our current and future customers,” said Jeffery R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft. “The shift from classroom to digital and blended learning has continued to increase demand for personalized virtual coaching to help companies address leadership blind spots and develop talent. Pluma’s solution quickly addresses gaps and achieves meaningful, quantifiable improvement with a highly scalable model. We are excited to bring Pluma’s innovative solution to our customers around the world.”
Alexandra Connell, Pluma’s Co-Founder and CEO, said, “With its award-winning Percipio platform and global enterprise customer base serving approximately 70% of the Fortune 1000, Skillsoft is the ideal partner for Pluma. Combined, we will make leadership development far more accessible by moving one-on-one leadership coaching beyond the executive levels to managers and individual contributors within companies. We believe that our customers will also benefit from Skillsoft’s blended learning model and industry-leading content, and we look forward to accelerating our vision for the future of leadership development together with Skillsoft.”
About Skillsoft
Skillsoft (NYSE: SKIL) is a global leader in corporate digital learning, serving approximately 70% of the Fortune 1000, customers in over 160 countries and more than 45 million learners globally. Skillsoft provides enterprise-grade solutions for learning to prepare companies and their learners for the future of work. The Company’s solutions are an advantage for the entire enterprise, enabling organizations to overcome critical skill gaps, drive demonstrable behavior-change and unlock the potential in their greatest assets – their people. Skillsoft offers the world’s most comprehensive suite of premium, authorized, and original content, including the broadest and deepest library of technology & developer curricula, and multiple learning modalities that dramatically increase learner engagement and retention. Skillsoft’s offerings are anchored in Percipio, its award-winning, AI-driven, immersive learning platform designed to make learning easier, more accessible and more effective. Learn more at www.skillsoft.com.
About Pluma
Founded in 2015, Pluma’s customizable digital platform offers executive-quality coaching that is personal, scalable, actionable and measurable. At Pluma, we are committed to leading with authenticity, and providing outstanding service. Pluma partners with Fortune 1000 clients and global enterprises including Adobe, Dropbox, and Gap Inc. to support and develop their employees so they can thrive as leaders.
