Thoma Bravo-controlled Instructure Holdings Inc. (NYSE: INST) returned to the secondary market yesterday after the company that owns Canvas LMS priced its initial public offering of 12.5 million shares at $20 apiece — meaning the company estimates it will raise $250 million, mostly intended to cut its debt of $778 million in the long term. Executives of the company rang the opening bell at the NYSE today, as shown in the pictures and video below. The registration statement was filed at the SEC on July 21, 2021. The offering is expected to close on July 26, 2021. The stock closed at $20.69, after a gain of 4.90% on its first day of trading. The market capitalization was 2.95 billion. It was a successful debut for Thoma Bravo, the investment equity company that took Instructure private last year in a deal valued at $2 billion. The Salt Lake City, Utah – based start-up first went public four years ago. The finance company will own 88% of the stock after the offering, or 87% if the overallotment option is exercised in full. Instructure granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1.8 million shares at the IPO price. During the first three months of 2021, Instructure had revenue of $94.0 million and a net loss of $33.1 million, according to the filing. It’s officially official: #INST is on the @NYSE. Congratulations to all employees, customers, partners, and educators around the world. pic.twitter.com/VjBA5GLbnr — Instructure (@Instructure) July 22, 2021 Big moment for Instructure today. We are now publicly-traded on the @NYSE. We're so excited about this next step and what this means for our customers, employees, and entire education family. pic.twitter.com/1JgTF5jCle — Instructure (@Instructure) July 22, 2021 Today @Instructure rings the Opening Bell to celebrate its IPO 🔔 We're excited to welcome them into our #NYSECommunity 🏛 $INST pic.twitter.com/uftezbvn34 — NYSE 🏛 (@NYSE) July 22, 2021 • IBL News, July 14, 2021: Instructure / Canvas LMS Details Its IPO: A Valuation of $2.9 Billion Expected
Pluralsight.com (NASDAQ: PS) announced yesterday it is purchasing skills development platform A Cloud Guru (ACG), for an undisclosed amount. Recently acquired by equity investor Vista Equity Partners, Silicon Slopes, Utah-based Pluralsight is reinforcing its course offering on cloud technologies. A Cloud Guru achieved a leading position in the niche of certification courses, hands-on labs and sandboxes, exams, and quizzes. This move follows its conclusion that "the vast majority of IT decision-makers believe that the shortage of cloud skills is their number one challenge." Sam Kroonenburg, Co-founder and CEO, A Cloud Guru, said "we’ve taken different but complementary approaches, proven to resonate strongly with customers who want depth and breadth in tech education." "Technology is the number one differentiator for all businesses and the technical skills of your team is what determines success or failure. Nowhere is that more apparent than with cloud technologies," said Aaron Skonnard, Co-founder and CEO of Pluralsight. We are excited to announce our planned acquisition of @acloudguru–the leader in hands-on cloud skills development. Together we will teach the world to cloud! And solve one of the biggest challenges in IT today. Read more: https://t.co/ttASnVOeXX https://t.co/jyf8nVi8y3 — Pluralsight (@pluralsight) June 2, 2021
Udacity announced last week the launch of a new version of its AWS Machine Learning Foundations course with AWS (Amazon Web Services). It's two months, free course for beginners with little to no experience in the area. The class is taught by two AWS engineers. In addition, 425 students who successfully complete the course will be selected to receive a full scholarship for the entire AWS Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree program. "The goal for this program is to remove barriers to skills training in machine learning, and to cultivate the next generation of Machine Learning (ML) leaders from underrepresented backgrounds, including Women, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and People of Color," said LaDavia Drane, Global Head of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity at AWS. According to the World Economic Forum, by 2025, 97 million new roles in Machine learning may emerge. Launched in 2019, The AWS Machine Learning Foundations course has been updated with several new modules, including an introduction to Reinforcement Learning (RL) with AWS DeepRacer, generative AI with AWS DeepComposer, and computer vision with AWS DeepLens. Students will also have the opportunity to further advance skills with the AWS DeepRacer League. In addition, the AWS Machine Learning Engineer Nanodegree, one of Udacity's most popular courses, includes updated content covering advanced machine learning techniques and algorithms, and expert-led tutorials on how to quickly build, train, and deploy ML models in the cloud and at the edge with Amazon SageMaker, a fully managed ML service for data scientists and developers.
Norwegian EdTech game-based platform Kahoot! announced yesterday the acquisition of Clever Inc, a California-based platform widely used by U.S. K-12 schools. The final pricing will be between $435 and $500 million, depending on Clever's performance this year. By purchasing Clever, which will keep its brand, Kahoot will dramatically increase its presence in the U.S. market. Founded in 2012, Clever claims to have served 20 million students monthly, that is, half of all U.S. students in 2020 in 89,000 schools. The company provides a popular single-sign-on network that simplifies accessible learning. It has partnered with 600 application developers, including Khan Academy, McGraw Hill, Zoom, and Google Classroom. Its billed revenues are around $44 million. Tyler Bosmeny, CEO and co-founder of Clever, said, "being part of the Kahoot! the family will give us the opportunity to continue our mission and accelerate our plans to serve international markets." Eilert Hanoa, CEO at Kahoot!, pointed out, "we are improving our offerings with Kahoot! at Work towards enterprises with Kahoot! Spirit and our acquisitions of Actimo and Motimate, the acquisition of Clever will strengthen our offerings towards schools, districts, and families in Kahoot! at School and Kahoot! at Home."
Training and career development EdTech startup Degreed raised $153 million in Series D funding valuing it at $1.4 billion. The investment, which was co-led by Sapphire Ventures and Riverwood Capital, will be used for global expansion and pursue acquisitions — the company said. Existing investors that participated in the round included Signal Peak Ventures, Owl Ventures, GSV Ventures, and AllianceBernstein Holding LP. To date, Pleasanton, California–based Degreed has raised $335 million. This big fundraising came along with the announcement of a new CEO: Dan Levin, former COO of Box will succeed Chris McCarthy — who steps down as CEO after eight years since the company was founded. He will remain seated on Degreed's Board of Directors. In 2020, Degreed more than doubled its active user base and increased its team by 50%, to 600 employees, across six continents. Skill recognizes skill. We’re excited to announce a fresh $153 million in Series D funding to help us solidify Degreed as the most innovative upskilling platform. Thank you to our clients, existing investors, and new investors for the incredible support. https://t.co/sl85UKGbOH pic.twitter.com/NZxZbayMgr — Degreed (@degreed) April 13, 2021
