{"id":44389,"date":"2019-10-22T06:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-10-22T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/?post_type=articles&p=44389"},"modified":"2019-10-24T12:24:56","modified_gmt":"2019-10-24T16:24:56","slug":"ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-third-quarter-of-2019","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/learning-services-and-outsourcing\/ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-third-quarter-of-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"M&A in Corporate Training: Investments and Acquisitions of the Third Quarter of 2019"},"author":27,"featured_media":44390,"template":"","tags":[2469,2339,3604,3401,1472,2338],"class_list":["post-44389","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-acquisition","tag-acquisitions","tag-funding","tag-investment","tag-ma","tag-mergers","global_topic_tax-compliance","global_topic_tax-content-development","global_topic_tax-it-and-technical-training","global_topic_tax-leadership","global_topic_tax-learning-services-and-outsourcing","global_topic_tax-learning-technologies","global_topic_tax-performance-management","global_topic_tax-sales"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"","file_attachment":null,"gated_content":"","form_instruction_header":"To access the full article, please fill out the form below:","pardot_html_embed":"","author_override":true,"author_name":"Taryn Oesch, CPTM","author_image":42036,"author_bio":"Taryn Oesch is the award-winning managing editor for digital content at Training Industry, Inc. and co-host of The Business of Learning, the Training Industry podcast<\/a>.","excerpt":"We are almost at the end of the year. As we do every quarter, let\u2019s take a look at the mergers, acquisitions and investments that happened over July, August and September 2019.","main_content":"We are almost at the end of the year. As we do every quarter, let\u2019s take a look at the mergers, acquisitions and investments that happened over July, August and September 2019.\r\n\r\nCompliance and Health Care Training<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTo improve safety in the workplace using wearable technologies, RealWear closed its $80 million Series B funding round<\/a>, led by Teradyne, Inc., in July. Its total funding to date is over $100 million. Later that month, Vector Solutions acquired IndustrySafe<\/a>, a safety management software provider, in its third acquisition of the year. In August, EdApp, a microlearning platform, announced a $4.25 million investment from SafetyCulture<\/a>, a safety and quality inspection software company. Finally, in September, Waud Capital Partners announced \u201ca strategic partnership\u201d with Health & Safety Institute<\/a>, a compliance and safety training platform company.\r\n\r\nHelping organizations manage compliance content and training, in July, ThinkHR and Mammoth HR merged<\/a> and announced an investment from Guidepost Growth Equity in the combined company. Also that month, Thomson Reuters acquired HighQ<\/a>, a collaboration and knowledge management platform for the legal and regulatory market, and compliance training company Media Partners<\/a> closed a $5.6 million Series A-1 funding round, led by Byron Group LLC.\r\n\r\nIn the health care industry, Press Ganey Associates announced its acquisition<\/a> by private equity funds and investment partners in July. Press Ganey provides a suite of health care performance improvement solutions. The following month, NextStep Interactive, a startup that trains displaced workers for health care careers<\/a>, announced a $3 million investment from multiple education and impact investors. Also that month, Surgent, provider of continuing education and exam preparation courses, acquired Pharmaceutical Education Consultants, Inc.<\/a>, and Kaplan acquired health care test preparation assets<\/a> from Becker Professional Education. Finally, Afya, a Brazilian medical education group, announced an initial public offering<\/a> of 13,744,210 Class A common shares at $19 per share.\r\n\r\nContent Development and E-Learning<\/strong>\r\n\r\nCompetentum, a full-stack training content development and learning platform company, was acquired by EPAM Systems, Inc. in July. Later in the quarter, TiER1 Performance, which provides services including performance management and learning and development (L&D), acquired Bottom-Line Performance, a custom training development company.\r\n\r\nIn the online training segment of the market, Leeds Equity announced an investment in Scaled Agile, Inc.,<\/a> which offers courses and certification for enterprise agility. Blue Canoe Learning received<\/a> a $500,000 convertible note from Qualcomm Ventures for its English as a second language (ESL) mobile app<\/a>. BTS, a \u201cglobal strategy implementation firm,\u201d acquired Swiss Virtual Business School (SwissVBS)<\/a>, a digital learning company, and online publishing company Holloway raised $4.6 million in seed funding. Finally, Coursera acquired Rhyme Softworks, \u201can online platform for hands-on projects.\u201d<\/a>\r\n\r\nIT and Technical Training<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAs always, technical training is in high demand in the digital economy. This quarter, coding school Ironhack announced<\/a> a $4 million investment from JME Venture Capital, bringing its total funding to $7 million, and bootcamp<\/a> Career Karma raised a $1.5 million seed round. Pathstream, which creates technical education programs<\/a> with Silicon Valley tech firms, and Kenzie Academy, a \u201ccollege alternative providing job-focused technology training to middle America,\u201d<\/a> both closed Series A rounds \u2014 Pathstream of $12 million and Kenzie Academy of $7.8 million. WhiteHat, which provides apprenticeship programs<\/a> for professional services and digital roles, announced $16 million in funding<\/a>. Finally, CompTIA, the global technology trade association, acquired Metacog, Inc., an assessment, certification and training company<\/a>.\r\n\r\nLeadership Training and Development<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe leadership training market<\/a> is one of the fastest-growing segments of the training industry, and this quarter was no exception when it came to funding and acquisitions:\r\n