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Pluralsight, LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustrySaaS
Founded2004 (2004)
Founder
Headquarters
Draper, Utah
,
US
Key people
Erin Gajdalo (CEO)
ProductsTechnology learning platform
RevenueIncrease $500.2 million (2019)[1]
OwnerBlue Owl Capital
Number of employees
1,700
Websitewww.pluralsight.com

Pluralsight, LLC is an American privately held online education company that offers a variety of video training courses for software developers, IT administrators, and creative professionals through its website.[2] Founded in 2004 by Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion, and Bill Williams,[3] the company has its headquarters in Draper, Utah. As of July 2018, it uses more than 1,400 subject-matter experts as authors, and offers more than 7,000 courses in its catalog.[4][5][6] Since first moving its courses online in 2007, the company has expanded, developing a full enterprise platform, and adding skills assessment modules.[7]

History

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Former Pluralsight headquarters in Farmington, Utah

Pluralsight was founded in 2004 as a classroom training company that involved sending an instructor to a business or training event. By 2007, the company shifted its emphasis to online video training.[3]

In April 2018, Pluralsight filed for an initial public offering.[8][9] On May 17, 2018, the company opened on the NASDAQ exchange at a $15 share price, and closed its first day of trading at $20.[10][11]

In 2020, Pluralsight had 18,000 corporate clients which includes 70% of Fortune 500 companies.[6]

In December 2020, Pluralsight announced it would be acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners for $3.5 billion. Regulatory approval is expected in the first half of 2021, and Pluralsight would no longer be publicly traded.[12]

In April 2021, Vista Equity Partners successfully completed its acquisition of Pluralsight for $22.50 per share.[13]

In May 2024, Vista Equity Partners announced they had written off the entire value of Pluralsight.[14]

Business model

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Through a subscription business model, Pluralsight provides online professional tech training to individual and business customers.[5] The company pays its course authors a royalty, based on how often their videos are viewed. In 2013, author Scott Allen became the first of its authors to earn over $1 million in royalties from his courses.[15]

The company also offers a complete SaaS platform for its enterprise users.[16]

Pluralsight was reportedly working with roughly 40% of Fortune 500 companies in 2017[7] and with 70% by 2019. That year, business-to-business sales accounted for 86% of the company's billings.[17]

In 2017, the company announced its participation in the Pledge 1% movement—a global initiative to encourage corporate philanthropy by asking companies to commit 1% of their efforts towards nonprofit organizations. The company launched Pluralsight One in September 2017, with the goal of improving technology education in the nonprofit sector.[18]

Venture funding

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When Pluralsight first started, its four founders each contributed $5,000. For the first nine years, the company and its founders received no outside funding.[19]

In December 2012, the company raised $27.5 million in Series A funding from Insight Venture Partners.[3] On March 18, 2014, it received an additional $2.5 million in Series A Funding.[citation needed] On August 27, 2014, it received $135 million in Series B funding from Insight Venture Partners, ICONIQ Capital, and Sorenson Capital—reported at the time to be the largest venture funding round ever received by a Utah company.[20] Co-founder and CEO Aaron Skonnard stated that after this round of funding, the company's valuation had increased from less than $100 million in 2012 to nearly $1 billion.[21]

In December 2016, the company raised an additional $30 million in a Series C round that valued the company over $1 billion.[22] The round included funding from existing investors Insight Venture Partners and Iconiq Capital.[23]

Acquisitions

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For most of its history, Pluralsight grew its author base and course catalog from within. Starting in 2013, it has acquired a number of e-learning and education companies to bolster its technology, course offerings, and executive leadership.

On July 24, 2013, it acquired PeepCode, a provider of open source training to developers, for an undisclosed amount. This added about 100 new courses in the Open Source category to Pluralsight's course catalog, expanding it beyond its traditional realm of offerings focused mainly on developers who worked on Microsoft technologies.[24][25] On August 5, it acquired Chicago-based TrainSignal, a company providing training for Information technology personnel, for $23.6 million. It absorbed 35 TrainSignal employees, and maintained its office in Chicago as a satellite.[26][27] On October 31, Pluralsight acquired Tekpub, producer of a series of screencasts on new development technologies, for an undisclosed amount. Co-founder Rob Conery joined Pluralsight, and continues to produce training videos under its brand. Other authors from Tekpub, including Jon Skeet and Scott Hanselman, also became Pluralsight authors.[28]

On April 9, 2014, Pluralsight announced it acquired Digital-Tutors, a company providing training for creative professionals, for $45 million. This acquisition expanded the company's training catalog to more than 3000 titles, broadening its topic coverage to media and design. Approximately 30 employees from Digital-Tutors joined Pluralsight. Pluralsight maintained the former Digital-Tutors headquarters in Oklahoma City as a satellite office.[29] On November 19, Pluralsight announced it had acquired Smarterer, an online skills assessment platform, for $75 million. Based in Boston, Smarterer was founded in 2010 and was backed by Google Ventures, among others.[30] Smarterer founder and CEO Dave Balter stated that his entire 18-person staff would remain with the company.[31]

On January 26, 2015, Pluralsight announced its acquisition of Orlando-based Code School, an online training site offering video courses and exercise-based lessons related to entry-level and intermediate coding and programming.[32] It was reported that the acquisition was for $36 million. Code School's office, and its team of 39 full-time employees, remain open in Orlando.[33] On July 9, Pluralsight announced its acquisition of HackHands for an undisclosed amount.[34] Founded in 2013, San Francisco-based HackHands provides on-demand live assistance for technology learners via video and audio chat, instant messaging, and screen sharing. The HackHands acquisition marked Pluralsight's seventh deal in two years.[35]

On July 19, 2016, Pluralsight announced it had acquired Train Simple,[36] a video training company with a focus on Adobe software.[37]

On May 1, 2019, Pluralsight announced its acquisition of GitPrime, a developer team productivity tool, for $170 million in cash.[38]

On October 14, 2020, Pluralsight acquired DevelopIntelligence. This acquisition added the ability to deliver Instructor-led training.

On January 12, 2021, Pluralsight announced the acquisition of Next Tech, a San Diego, California provider of cloud-based computing environments, enabling the authoring and hosting of labs in software development, data science, and machine learning for an undisclosed amount.[39]

On June 2, 2021, Pluralsight announced the acquisition of A Cloud Guru, an Austin, Texas provider of an interactive, online learning platform designed to help IT professionals re-skill in cloud technology.[40] The transaction was closed on July 8, 2021.[41]

Partnerships and community involvement

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In October 2012, Microsoft and Pluralsight announced a partnership making Pluralsight courses available to MSDN subscribers and through its DreamSpark, BizSpark, WebsiteSpark, and Engineer Excellence programs.[3][42] The customized "Pluralsight Starter Subscription" consisted of several Visual Studio 2012 courses. In November 2014, the two companies partnered again, giving MSDN subscribers a 12-month access to a selection of Pluralsight's courses.[43]

In May 2013, Pluralsight launched a free programming coding bootcamp for kids ages 10 and up to help teach coding in school.[44]

In 2014, Pluralsight partnered with the state of Utah's Office of Economic Development to offer Utah K–12 teachers a free one-year subscription to their training library. Utah Governor Gary Herbert valued the donation between $5 million and $10 million.[45][46][47]

Pluralsight also partnered with LaunchCode in November 2014 to help candidates secure jobs in technology by offering one year of free access to the Pluralsight course library.[48] In December 2014, the company supported the "Hour of Code" movement by hosting an hour of code for a week. More than 200 students across the state participated.[49]

In 2017, Pluralsight announced partnerships with Microsoft,[50] Adobe,[51] and Oracle,[52] to expand their offerings and course availability.

In September 2017, during a panel discussion with Ivanka Trump about increasing access to STEM-related programs in public schools, Pluralsight pledged $10 million as part of a private-sector contribution reaching over $300 million. Other participants include Amazon, Google, General Motors, and Facebook.[53]

In 2017, Google announced, in association with Pluralsight, 100,000 scholarships to help developers gain access to advanced learning curriculum in emerging technologies, including mobile and web development, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud platforms in India.[54]

In 2020, Pluralsight partnered with Google and Andela for a developer skills program available to all countries in Africa. The program, Google Africa Developer Scholarship, offers all participants free access to Pluralsight's training courses.[55]

References

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  1. ^ "Pluralsight Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End 2019 Results". 12 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Pluralsight LLC: Private Company Information - Businessweek". Businessweek. Archived from the original on November 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  3. ^ a b c d Perez, Sarah (3 January 2013). "Developer Training Platform Pluralsight Raises $27.5 Million From Insight Venture Partners To Expand Its Online Catalog - TechCrunch". TechCrunch.
  4. ^ "Pluralsight: Foresight Is Not 20/20". Seeking Alpha. 2018-07-31. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  5. ^ a b Karol, Gabrielle. "Pluralsight Raises $135M to Help Grow Enterprise Customer Base - Fox Small Business Center". Fox Business Network.
  6. ^ a b Komiya, Kantaro. "Online Learning Is Booming. That Will Help Boost Pluralsight Stock, Analysts Say". www.barrons.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  7. ^ a b Bonasio, Alice. "How doing good can help CIOs do better". CIO. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  8. ^ Peterson, Becky (2018-04-02). "Pluralsight, an online learning startup for coders, has confidentially filed for an IPO". Business Insider. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  9. ^ Harris, Ainsley (2018-04-02). "Ed-Tech Unicorn Pluralsight Just Filed Confidentially For An IPO". Fast Company. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  10. ^ Konrad, Alex. "Utah Ed Tech Leader Pluralsight Pops 33% In First-Day Trading, Keeping Window Open For Software IPOs". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  11. ^ Duprey, Rich (2018-12-14). "The 7 Best-Performing Tech IPOs of 2018 -". The Motley Fool. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  12. ^ "Vista acquires IT education platform Pluralsight for $3.5B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  13. ^ "Vista Equity Partners Completes Acquisition of Pluralsight". SeekingAlpha. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  14. ^ Primack, Dan (May 21, 2024). "Vista Equity writes off PluralSight value, after $3.5 billion buyout". Axios. Retrieved June 5, 2024.
  15. ^ Lacy, Sarah (2013-07-08). "Lessons from the first millionaire online teacher". PandoDaily.
  16. ^ Carey, Scott. "How Pluralsight's SaaS Training Platform Plans To Close The Skills Gap". ComputerworldUK. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  17. ^ DeFrancesco, Robert. "Pluralsight Deploys Machine Learning To Tackle The $24 Billion Tech Training Industry". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  18. ^ Raymond, Art (2018-08-30). "World's youngest Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai tells Utahns how to 'eradicate terror'". DeseretNews.com. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
  19. ^ Rawle, Christopher (2015-02-04). "The Rise of Pluralsight". Beehive Startups.
  20. ^ Kolodny, Lora (2014-08-27). "E-learning Co. Pluralsight Raises $135M in Record Round for Utah". The Wall Street Journal.
  21. ^ Kim, Eugene. "Pluralsight Is Worth Almost A Billion Dollars - Business Insider". Business Insider.
  22. ^ Levy, Ari (2016-12-12). "Riding Salesforce and Amazon's cloud to $1 billion". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  23. ^ "En Route to IPO, Pluralsight Raises Additional $30 Million - EdSurge News". EdSurge. 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  24. ^ Perez, Sarah (24 July 2013). "Developer Training Platform Pluralsight Acquires PeepCode To Expand Into Open-Source Content - TechCrunch". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  25. ^ "Learn-to-code company Pluralsight acquires 2 competitors for $23M". VentureBeat. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
  26. ^ Carr, David (2013-08-05). "Pluralsight Buys TrainSignal, Broadens IT Training Lineup". InformationWeek.
  27. ^ Lowe, Scott. "TrainSignal Acquired By Pluralsight in $23.6 Million Deal - SiliconANGLE". Silicon Angle. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  28. ^ DeAmicis, Carmel (2013-10-30). "Developers are becoming jacks of all trades". PandoDaily. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
  29. ^ Shieber, Jonathan (2014-04-09). "PluralSight Buys Digital-Tutors For $45 Million To Add Media Software Training". TechCrunch.
  30. ^ Castellanos, Sara (2014-11-19). "Skills test software startup Smarterer acquired for $75M". The Business Journals.
  31. ^ Balter, Dave (2014-11-20). "I Sold My Google-backed Startup for $75 Million Yesterday--and I'm Scared to Death". Inc.
  32. ^ O'Connell, Ainsley (2015-01-27). "Pluralsight Continues Its Acquisition Spree, Dropping $36 Million On Code School". Fast Company.
  33. ^ Perez, Sarah (2015-01-26). "Online Learning Service Pluralsight Acquires Code School For $36 Million". Tech Crunch.
  34. ^ Kokalitcheva, Kia. "This company is adding on-demand help to win the online education race". Fortune. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  35. ^ Weber, Harrison (9 July 2015). "Pluralsight snaps up HackHands to offer budding coders real-time support". VentureBeat. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  36. ^ Haggin, Patience (2016-07-19). "Ed-Tech Startup Pluralsight Acquires Train Simple, Latest in Buying Spree". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  37. ^ "Pluralsight's Eighth Acquisition in 3 Years, Train Simple, Focuses on Adobe Software - EdSurge News". EdSurge. 2016-07-19. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  38. ^ "Pluralsight will acquire GitPrime for $170M". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-02.
  39. ^ "Pluralsight Acquires Next Tech to Accelerate Skills Development Through Hands-On Experiences". GlobeNewswire. 12 January 2021.
  40. ^ "Pluralsight to Acquire A Cloud Guru to Accelerate Solving the Single Biggest Challenge in IT Today: The Growing Cloud Skills Gap". Pluralsight (Press release). 2 June 2021.
  41. ^ "Pluralsight Completes Acquisition of A Cloud Guru to Accelerate its Push to Solve the Growing Cloud Skills Gap". PR Newswire. July 8, 2021.
  42. ^ Harry, Brian (2012-10-11). "MSDN subscribers worldwide get Pluralsight Starter Subscription - Brian Harry's blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs". MSDN.
  43. ^ Askilsrud, Cathrine (2014-11-12). "New MSDN e-learning Benefit: Pluralsight Training". Channel 9.
  44. ^ Carney, Michael (2013-05-09). "Pluralsight turns philanthropic, launches free coding bootcamp in Utah public schools". PandoDaily.
  45. ^ "Get A+ Skills With A Free Year Of Online Education". State of Utah.
  46. ^ Metcalf, Dan. "The Davis Clipper - Pluralsight a tech business magnet for Davis County". The Davis Clipper. Retrieved 2014-09-12.
  47. ^ "Pluralsight Opens New Headquarters, Launches GOED Initiative". 2014-08-04. Archived from the original on 2014-12-30.
  48. ^ Gallagher, Jim (2014-11-07). "Pluralsight teams with LaunchCode". St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
  49. ^ Mills, Glen (2014-12-08). "Governor Herbert teams up with high tech industry to develop the next generation". Good4Utah.com.
  50. ^ "Microsoft Partners with Pluralsight to Bring Technology Learning Platform to Visual Studio - WinBuzzer". WinBuzzer. 2017-03-08. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  51. ^ "Pluralsight launches new courses for Adobe Marketing, Analytics Cloud". Business Standard India. 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  52. ^ Rowe, Sam Del (2017-03-01). "Oracle and Pluralsight Announce Partnership". CRM Magazine. Retrieved 2017-10-20.
  53. ^ "Businesses Give $300M Toward K-12 Computer Science Education". www.voanews.com. Retrieved 2017-11-06.
  54. ^ "Google partners with Pluralsight and Udacity to train Indians in emerging technology". The Drum. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  55. ^ "Andela, Google, Pluralsight launch Africa wide program to benefit 30,000 software engineers". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
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