Pluralsight’s Acquisition Spree Continues
In the past eight months, Pluralsight has spent just under $100 million to acquire four online learning companies.
Pluralsight, a Salt Lake City-based curator of online education and training tools for the tech and creative space, announced this morning it has acquired Oklahoma-based Digital-Tutors for $45 million. The deal will allow PluralSight to add Digital-Tutors’ 1,500 media and design courses to its already extensive library for professional developers.
Pluralsight has been on an acquisition spree ever since it raised $27.5 million from Insight Venture Partners early last year. In the past eight months, the company has spent just under $100 million to purchase the following four companies:
PeepCode
Date: July, 24, 2013
Terms: Undisclosed
Based in Seattle, PeepCode was one of the first online training resources for open-source developers. PluralSight acquired PeepCode’s wide array of online video tutorials on Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Node.js, Unix, and Git.
As part of the deal, PeepCode founder Geoffrey Grosenbach was named Pluralsight’s Vice President of Open Source.
Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard’s statement on the PeepCode acquisition:
“PeepCode is one of the most respected names in open-source development, with clients such as GitHub, AT&T and Yammer. Up until now, Pluralsight’s customer base has mostly revolved around Microsoft-oriented enterprises. This acquisition gives Pluralsight the content — and the brains behind it — that has become the go-to learning resource for serious open-source programmers.”
TrainSignal
Date: August 6, 2013
Terms: $23.6 million
Based in Chicago, TrainSignal provided online training to IT professionals, offering a wide range of computer training courses covering Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, CompTIA, VMware, and more.
Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard’s statement on the TrainSignal acquisition:
“With this acquisition, Pluralsight has cemented its position as the industry leader in online training for serious software developers and IT pros. The Pluralsight library now covers the entire training spectrum, providing a rich learning environment for individuals, academic institutions and small, medium and large enterprises. Pluralsight has become the ultimate one-stop shop for software developers, IT pros, and every professional under the CTO and CIO umbrella.”
Tekpub
Date: October 31, 2013
Terms: Undisclosed
Founded in 2009, Tekpub provided high-quality technical screencasts on C#, Ruby, and JavaScript to programmers of different skill levels.
As part of the deal, Tekpub co-founder Rob Conrey continues to author training courses on Microsoft and open source technologies.
Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard’s statement on the Tekpub acquisition:
“We’ve been big fans of Rob and Tekpub for a long time and are thrilled to welcome him to the rapidly growing Pluralsight family. .Tekpub is beloved in the industry for pushing the boundaries of screencasting, and we anticipate both Tekpub and Pluralsight customers will be delighted that they don’t have to choose one or the other anymore,” Skonnard said, noting that current Tekpub subscribers will have access to Pluralsight’s library of 1,100 courses immediately. The acquisition reinforces Pluralsight as the go-to online destination for all programming and IT training needs.”
Digital-Tutors
Date: April 9, 2014
Terms: $45 Million
Based in Oklahoma, Digital-Tutors created 1,500 online courses tailored to tech-oriented creative professionals.
As part of the deal, Digital-Tutors founder and CEO Piyush Patel will be staying on to produce more creative training videos in the future.
Pluralsight CEO Aaron Skonnard’s statement on the Digital-Tutors acquisition:
“The trends in the space are starting to really develop more clearly for investors as well as for customers in the market. The [massive open online courses] have gotten a lot of attention but people are struggling to see how a lot of them make money. The companies that have a very solid financial grounding and good ideas are starting to group together.”
Published 4/9/2014