Learning experience platform Degreed has acquired Pathgather, a company that offers a similar platform. The merger comes after Degreed raised $42 million and named a new CEO in March.
Degreed plans to combine technologies from both companies and create a single platform. The new business will have more than 200 clients, over 4 million licensed users and nearly $100 million in funding, according to a company press release.
“This combination makes us the unequivocal leader in learning experience platforms,” Chris McCarthy, CEO of Degreed, stated in the release. “Corporate learning budgets are shifting fast, and LXPs have emerged as the new operating system for employees’ training and development. Pathgather and Degreed defined this market. Now, together, we have the products, expertise, relationships and war chest we need to triple innovation and dramatically accelerate our growth.”
All Pathgather employees, including CEO Eric Duffy, will join Degreed, creating a new team with more than 230 people — the largest in the industry. Industry analysts predict the acquisition will accelerate Degreed’s growth.
“The learner experience is fundamental to learner engagement and knowledge retention, which is why the learning experience market is growing at around 150 to 200 percent per year — far outpacing the growth of any other category in the corporate learning market,” industry expert Josh Bersin said in the press release.
