Dive Brief:
- Online course provider Simplilearn has acquired Market Motive in a move that will expand access to the latter's digital marketing courses to a much larger audience.
- EdSurge reports that Simplilearn acquired the smaller company for $10 million and plans to offer its courses in search engine optimization and web analytics to its existing audience of business professionals.
- Market Motive hopes Simplilearn’s scalability will help it shrink the skills gap that has left more than a million unfilled positions in an economy with 22 million people who are underemployed, according to the article.
Dive Insight:
Simplilearn launched in 2010 as an online course provider and has served more than 400,000 students since then. Tech Crunch reported in April, after Simplilearn raised an additional $15 million in funding, that the company’s most popular courses already included digital marketing. The Market Motive acquisition will give the company an opportunity to augment current offerings, creating greater depth in the subject area.
According to EdSurge, Simplilearn is looking to partner with a number of corporations by the end of the year, offering workforce development options for employees. Colleges and universities are also pushing their way into this sphere, competing for contracts with corporations interested in building out the skills of their own workers.