Dive Brief:
- Degreed raised $75 million in capital to enhance its upskilling and career-long learning platform, it announced recently.
- The company said the influx of capital will help it continue to build skills products, machine learning and data science capabilities. The company reports it also will continue to focus on user experience as it grows its international reach. It plans to enhance skills measurement and insights features to help employers better track and assess learning within their workforces, Degreed said.
- Over the past year, the platform has grown 100% in revenue and doubled its sales and client experience teams, according to the company announcement. With a recent merger and integration with its chief competitor Pathgather, the company said it added 100 new clients and increased its Net Promoter score. One-fifth of the company's revenue comes from outside the U.S., Degreed said.
Dive Insight:
With last year's acquisition of Pathgather and the entry of a new CEO, Degreed has started to grow the company's payroll and market share. A partnership with Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning in March of this year led to the development of a customized learning platform, which pairs Harvard Business Publishing's content and Degreed's UX. Such high-profile partnerships signal how essential learning platforms are to overcoming employers' personnel challenges.
Online learning continues to grow as more organizations and workers look to upskill quickly and effectively through consistent and compelling content. Whether as a tool to attract, retain or reskill employees in preparation for the future of work, learning has been rebranded as an employee benefit by some employers. Workers largely agree that establishing a career path within their organization is important to them, and research indicates many find it frustrating when their career feels like a "treadmill going nowhere." Employers may have to consider what method will engage them most — whether its VR or self-service learning online.
