The online technology training service Pluralsight has raised a whopping $135 million in new financing as it looks to consolidate its position as a major player in personal and professional continuing information technology education. “We believe in the vision we have of democratizing professional education,” says Pluralsight chief executive Aaron Skonnard, and apparently the company’s investors do too. Insight Venture Partners led the big Series B round, which included participation from the highly secretive Silicon Valley-based multi-family office investment firm ICONIQ Capital and Sorenson Capital. The new round gives the company a valuation close to $1 billion, according to Skonnard.
In the largest-ever venture financing round for a Utah company, online technology education company Pluralsight LLC has raised $135 million. Aaron Skonnard, the company’s co-founder and chief executive, said the company seeks to “democratize tech education” and ensure that tech professionals and job seekers have the hard skills employers demand. Insight Venture Partners, ICONIQ Capital and Sorenson Capital Partners led the Series B investment in the e-learning startup, which is based outside Salt Lake City. According to Dow Jones VentureSource, only two other companies in the state have raised more than $100 million in a single round of venture funding before, both earlier this year: Domo Inc. and InsideSales.com Inc. Mr. Skonnard said Pluralsight was able to attract the new funding thanks to his company’s revenue and user growth in the last two years, as well as increasing appetite in the market for “quality distance learning, content and skilled tech workers.” Domestically, according to the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness, states plan to spend $1.39 billion on workforce development programs this year. Internationally, Global Industry Analysts Inc. predict, the market for e-learning overall should hit $107 billion by 2015.
