{"id":8011,"date":"2017-07-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stagingweb.trainingindustry.com\/articles\/ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-second-quarter-of-2017\/"},"modified":"2017-10-20T10:18:04","modified_gmt":"2017-10-20T14:18:04","slug":"ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-second-quarter-of-2017","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/trainingindustry.com\/articles\/learning-services-and-outsourcing\/ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-second-quarter-of-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"M&#038;A in Corporate Training: Investments and Acquisitions of the Second Quarter of 2017"},"author":2,"featured_media":11303,"template":"","tags":[1472,983,102],"class_list":["post-8011","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ma","tag-training-companies","tag-training-suppliers","global_topic_tax-learning-services-and-outsourcing"],"acf":{"sponsored":false,"gated":false,"gated_content_type":"content","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":"","author_bio":"Taryn Oesch is an editor at Training Industry, Inc.","excerpt":"It\u2019s officially summer, and between beach vacations and road trips, now is a good time to reflect on some of the major deals that took place in the training industry during the second quarter of 2017.","main_content":"It\u2019s officially summer, and between beach vacations and road trips, now is a good time to reflect on some of the major deals that took place in the training industry during the second quarter of 2017. This quarter saw several investments in e-learning and learning technology companies, as well as deals in leadership development, sales training, and workforce and technical education. Here\u2019s a roundup of some of the key deals.\r\n\r\n<b>Leadership Development Acquisitions<\/b>\r\n\r\nWork Institute merged with Scarlett Leadership Institute in April. Now operating under the Work Institute brand, the combined company provides exit and stay interviews; engagement, onboarding and recruitment studies; custom consulting; and custom programs and courses for mid- and senior-level leaders. In May, Franklin Covey acquired Robert Gregory Partners to add learning program support and executive coaching services to Franklin Covey\u2019s leadership and sales training content.\r\n\r\n<b>Learning Technologies and E-Learning<\/b>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"\/articles\/outsourcing\/ma-in-corporate-training-investments-and-acquisitions-of-the-first-quarter-of-2017\/\">Last quarter saw<\/a> significant activity in learning technologies and online training, and this quarter followed the same trend. In April, Everfi received the first investment of The Rise Fund, a $2 billion fund co-founded by Bono. The Rise Fund focuses on investments in sectors it believes will make the greatest global impact \u2013 including education \u2013 and led the $190 million Series D funding round in the e-learning business, which acquired Workplace Answers earlier that month to expand compliance training offerings.","full_width":false,"content_band":[{"acf_fc_layout":"social_callout","blockquote":"Last quarter saw significant activity in learning technologies and online training, and this quarter followed the same trend."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content_area","wysiwyg":"Other e-learning investments included a Series A investment in HT2 Labs by City &amp; Guilds Group. HT2 Labs calls itself \u201cthe R&amp;D Company for workplace digital learning\u201d and includes Red Panda, a personal learning hub; Curatr, a social learning platform; and Learning Locker, a <a href=\"\/glossary\/learning-record-store-lrs\/\">learning record store<\/a>. CreativeLive raised $25 million, part of which it will use to scale its new enterprise offering, and Coursera closed a $64 million Series D funding round, part of which it, too, will use to expand its enterprise business.\r\n\r\nIn April, GP Strategies acquired Emantras, adding the e-learning content developer to its Learning Solutions business, and Blackstone and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired Ascend Learning, which provides online content to students, educational institutions and businesses. 2U, Inc. acquired GetSmarter in May, enhancing its partnerships with universities to offer online training to professionals, and CallidusCloud acquired Learning Heroes in June, enhancing its mobile learning platform with Learning Heroes\u2019 \u201cbite-sized, fun and mobile learning content.\u201d Relias, a health care e-learning company, made two acquisitions this quarter to expand its analytics offerings: Care Management Technologies in April and WhiteCloud Analytics in June.\r\n\r\nIn April, Purdue University acquired Kaplan University, creating what it describes as \u201ca new public university that will further expand access to higher education.\u201d The program will primarily offer online courses but will also have locations across the country.\r\n\r\nThis quarter also saw several funding rounds and acquisitions among edtech companies, including Saba Software\u2019s acquisition of Halogen Software in May for about $9.64 per share. Together, the companies say they \u201cplan to deliver a new vision for talent management \u2013 one that combines people-centric learning, engagement, and performance in new ways, enabling organizations to meet their employees on new terms, and transform the employee experience.\u201d They\u2019ve already <a href=\"\/articles\/learning-technologies\/feedback-on-the-go-mobile-apps-enable-continuous-performance-check-ins\/\">launched a new Halogen app<\/a> for mobile coaching. In April, the LearnLaunch accelerator program announced its seventh edtech cohort, which included Creatr, a knowledge and mentoring platform for creative professionals; LearnBolt, a mobile training business; and The Wealth Factory, which designs financial literacy games.\r\n\r\nReflecting the popularity of social learning, VideoKen raised $1 million from angel investors in April \u201cto ramp up the artificial intelligence capabilities\u201d of its video-based social learning platform, and Gnowbe raised $1.7 million for its mobile learning platform, which leverages microlearning, social learning and gamification to support training.\r\n\r\n<b>Sales Training, Coaching and Enablement<\/b>\r\n\r\nEarly in the quarter, Sales Bootcamp acquired Inside Sales Bootcamp. <a href=\"\/articles\/sales\/preparing-new-sales-reps-for-success-the-importance-of-on-the-job-training-and-coaching\/\">The company offers<\/a> an online sales bootcamp and partners with technology companies to provide fellowships to its graduates. In May, SalesHood closed a Series A funding round for its mobile platform, which uses video-based microlearning content and social learning to improve sales productivity, and People.ai raised a $7 million Series A funding round for its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered sales management platform. Vista Equity Partners also acquired Xactly that month, for about $564 million. Xactly provides cloud-based compensation solutions for sales organizations as well as Xactly Inspire, a sales coaching platform. Finally, in June, SAVO acquired KnowledgeTree and now boasts that it\u2019s \u201cthe only company offering a complete solution in the sales enablement industry.\u201d\r\n\r\n<b>Workforce Development and Technical Training<\/b>\r\n\r\nThere were several acquisitions in the workforce development space this quarter, including International Institute for Learning\u2019s acquisition of Orbital Training and Consulting, which provides corporate training in lean thinking, Six Sigma, business process improvement, project management and other skills; Hallcon Corporation\u2019s acquisition of Transportation Certification Services, Inc. and Rail Temps, Inc.; and Health &amp; Safety Institute\u2019s acquisition of CLMI Safety Training. Viridis Learning also raised investment capital for its mission of \u201cexpanding economic mobility around the world, ending the global skills gap, and leading in 21<sup>st<\/sup> century workforce development.\u201d\r\n\r\nIn June, CVC Capital Partners Fund VI agreed to acquire QA Group, including QA Learning, a professional training business; QA Apprenticeships; QA Consulting, its technical project support business; and QA Higher Education, which provides undergraduate and postgraduate degree programs through partnerships with universities. Also, that month Academy XI raised a $1.7 million Series A funding round for its training programs in design and new technologies."},{"acf_fc_layout":"social_callout","blockquote":"What trends do you predict in the second half of 2017?"}],"tice_sponsors":"","custom_dfp_keywords":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>M&amp;A in Corporate Training: Investments and Acquisitions of the Second Quarter of 2017 - Training Industry<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Training Industry - by Training Industry. Published on TrainingIndustry.com, Articles, research and tools for the L&amp;D professional. 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