BOSTON — Dec. 15, 2021 — Esme Learning Solutions, a global leader in online professional development has announced a further $15 million in new funding to support the edtech company’s rapid global expansion.
Previous investors, Adit Ventures are committing a further $10 million with leading edtech solution providers, ThriveDX making a strategic investment of $5 million. The new investment will help Esme Learning Solutions expand its existing portfolio of courses with partners such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Said Business School, University of Oxford, Cambridge Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, and Imperial College Business School. It will also invest in technology and data analytics to further improve learner experiences. The funding round follows Esme Learning Solutions’ acquisition of AI collaboration platform Riff Analytics earlier in the year.
Interest in skills-based, online credentials, strongly tied to career progression has seen rapid growth, evidenced by Esme Learning Solutions’ growing portfolio of courses with top tier universities. These include the renowned Oxford Digital Finance Executive series, anchored by Oxford Fintech Programme & Oxford Blockchain Strategy Programme from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, classes in entrepreneurship and RegTech from Cambridge Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge and a family of classes on digital innovation from MIT such as AI Leadership. It has also recently launched a new offering with Imperial College Business School around artificial intelligence startups. The company serves 1,500 organizations in more than 95 countries.
The new round of funding will support an expanding marketing footprint, accelerating product innovation, and enhancing research & development on new formats of courses to meet the demands of the time-poor executives as well as new modes of learning to build better learner outcomes. Esme Learning Solutions is the industry leader for learning outcomes, with a collaborative learning experience that delivers 23% higher grades over learners who simply viewed and read the materials, as well as 3300% higher completion rates than typical online courses (source: Esme Learning Solutions).
Digital transformation has compelled individuals, organizations and governments to consider what type of upskilling and reskilling is necessary to remain relevant and innovative; Esme Learning Solutions is uniquely positioned to meet this growing demand with an AI-powered system that delivers dramatically better outcomes for learners and corporations.
David Shrier, CEO of Esme Learning Solution commented: “This new investment will enable Esme Learning Solutions to continue to drive innovation and growth in the online executive education market, enhance the student experience and ensure that we meet the challenges and opportunities of this sector over the coming years. We are grateful for the continued support of Adit Ventures and welcome the strategic opportunities and value that ThriveDX will bring as we scale.”
Michael Block, Managing Director of Adit Ventures added: “We’ve been delighted to see the progress Esme Learning Solutions has made since our initial investment last year and believe that additional investment at this point will help supercharge growth and returns for our investors. The edtech sector is rich with opportunity and we look forward to seeing what David, Beth Porter, co-founder and COO and the Esme team can create over the next few years.”
Dan Vigdor, Founder and Executive Chairman of ThriveDX concluded: “As a leading edtech and cyber training solution provider, we’ve been watching the progress of Esme Learning Solutions with great interest. Their online courses enjoy almost 100% completion rates and great feedback from partners and students alike, with industry-leading net promoter scores, bolstered by the unparalleled credentials of the leadership and academic teams. We believe the time is right for us to start a strategic partnership together with Esme, an organization that shares the same values of putting the learner’s experience and outcome at the forefront, as the demand for online learning continues to grow. This move will enable ThriveDX to accelerate its mission of answering the talent gap challenge every company is facing, by training a pipeline of talent to keep pace with the real-time changes in technology.”
About Esme Learning Solutions
Esme Learning Solutions is transforming the future of digital learning through AI. Esme Learning Solutions courses leverage over 15 years of cognitive science research on group collaboration, and they deliver an immersive executive education experience with some of the top universities in the world. Each course blends high-quality video, live simulations, interactive media, and small group exercises with top learning design principles that contribute to Esme Learning’s industry-leading 97% course pass rate. Executives gain soft and hard skills to advance their careers, instructed by leading luminaries and experts in frontier fields, such as fintech, cybersecurity, AI leadership, and health ventures. In 2021 they acquired collaboration platform, Riff Platform, combining forces to meet the learning needs of the next generation of business leaders. Backed by Adit Ventures, Esme Learning Solutions is what’s next for education.
