NEW YORK & PARIS & LONDON — Jan. 11, 2022 — 360Learning — the global collaborative learning SaaS leader — is today announcing it has acquired the UK’s leading and top-rated learning management system (LMS), Looop.
Founded by Ben Muzzell and Dan Gray in 2014, Looop has become a leader in learning and development (L&D) automation, recognized for its unrivalled user and customer experience. It shares 360Learning’s vision to transform corporate learning into a strategic function that drives business impact and was founded on the belief that the future of workplace development lies in reaching staff where they are. Instead of taking people out of their day jobs to improve their skills, Looop harnesses the power of technology to embed learning into their workflows.
This innovative approach has powered the company to rapid user and revenue growth year on year. It has seen the firm become the go-to L&D partner for the world’s most progressive companies, and employees from Klarna, Monzo, Financial Times, Cazoo, and ASOS now trust Looop’s data-driven technology to empower them and drive performance. This has enabled the company to reach cash flow positivity, an annual growth rate of 100%, and a projected ARR of $6.5 million by end of 2022.
Looop’s LMS consistently achieves the highest overall satisfaction ratings on eLearning platforms including Capterra (4.9/5), G2 (4.9/5), and eLearning Industry (97%). Its focus on simplicity and delivering a seamless integration into existing corporate training programs via its world-class UX has seen the platform be compared to “electricity” by clients. It’s this passion for improving the learning journey through its smooth integration that makes Looop the perfect first acquisition in 360Learning’s mission to bring collaborative learning to L&D departments across the world.
Both companies share a vision for performance-focused collaborative learning that helps companies adapt and succeed in the face of unprecedented shifts in remote work, employee turnover, and a looming skills shortage. With companies looking to increase their corporate education spending in a bid to stem the Great Resignation, the LMS industry is expected to grow from $15.8 billion in 2021 to $37.9 billion by 2026. Both companies believe that best-in-class technology is the key to creating a positive, premium user experience, and that data-driven decision making is key to unlocking the transformation of the industry to the benefit of businesses around the world.
Progressive L&D leadership meets innovative L&D technology
At the heart of Looop’s success is a team with more than 100+ years of industry experience, which includes renowned educator, podcaster and thought leader David James as Chief Learning Officer, and former COO of LMS platform Docebo, Josh Squires as SVP of Growth.
Having seen first-hand the pain points and damage that poor L&D processes can have on business, staff morale and productivity, Ben and his team built an LMS designed to free L&D teams from repetitive, manual work. Using data-driven automation, teams can create resources with as much (or as little) rich content as they like, sourced from wherever they like, delivered when they’re needed.
In the same way, 360Learning’s collaborative learning approach is focused on making it easy to leverage internal subject matter experts to develop learning programs at scale, all while relieving the burden of L&D teams from having to monitor and update thousands of courses. The platform empowers learners to build their own skills, create courses in as few as 17 minutes and share knowledge throughout the business.
Since launch, 360Learning customers, from the likes of LVMH, Aircall, Toyota and Appen, have created more than 3 million courses (with an average 95% Relevance Score) and the platform is helping them reshape company cultures, increase new hire time-to-productivity, free up billable days and ultimately increase sales.
The company’s success and growth recently saw 360Learning commit to using its latest $200M funding round to invest in M&A. Just a month later the company is putting it in motion with today’s acquisition of Looop. This acquisition also marks the first major step towards 360Learning’s ambitions to increase its penetration in the UK, and help reach new audiences across Asia, North & South America, and Europe.
A combined approach that benefits all
360Learning is acquiring Looop for $20 million, in a mixture of cash and shares. The acquisition will not have any immediate impact on each of the current businesses and customers have been assured that the two teams have a shared commitment toward maintaining a seamless user experience for customers as they move forward.
Nick Hernandez, founder and CEO of 360Learning, said: “Together, 360Learning and Looop will build a new era of collaborative learning where subject matter experts are fully utilized, L&D workflows are fully automated, and L&D professionals go from admins to true collaborative operators with a laser focus on data-driven performance. Our respective teams’ shared passion for transformational technology, simple UX and customer success will help bring about this new era. One that will be built on the incredible customer satisfaction scores we’ve both already achieved, and the rapid growth we’ve both already experienced.”
Ben Muzzell, founder and CEO of Looop, said: “We started Looop because L&D deserved better than the outdated technology they were being burdened with. They needed tools to be true collaborators, not just administrators, so that’s what we built, and that’s what we’ve seen work fantastically well. 360Learning saw the same need at the same time, and to now join forces with combined resources, complementary approaches, and a shared belief in Collaborative Learning is unbelievably exciting.”
David James, Looop’s Chief Learning Officer, said: “I joined Looop as Chief Learning Officer because Looop was the first LMS I had seen that truly focused on learner performance and not the old, ineffective, top-down L&D approach that I knew first hand didn’t work. I’ve been beating the drum of collaborative, progressive L&D ever since, and now as L&D grapples with the triple hit of remote work, the Great Resignation, and the looming skills shortage I’ll be beating the same drum even harder — this time with the resources, technology, and support of 360Learning. It’s both an incredible opportunity and incredibly timely.”
About 360Learning
360Learning empowers Learning and Development teams to drive culture and growth through Collaborative Learning. Our learning platform combines collaborative tools with the power of an LMS, enabling high-growth companies to unlock learning based on collective expertise instead of top-down knowledge. 360Learning is the easiest way to onboard new employees, train customer-facing teams, and develop professional skills — all from one place.
About Looop
Looop helps L&D teams scale their impact by automating routine jobs so they can focus on performance, not admin. Looop delivers resources to learners’ inbox, phone, and team chat in automated campaigns; allows teams to create effective resources using pre-built templates; and provides automated feedback through surveys and resource ratings. It’s a force multiplier for L&D teams who in turn become a force multiplier for business performance across the organization.
