Udemy announced on Monday that it has acquired online leadership development platform CorpU. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed but the addition will expand Udemy’s offerings and beef up its corporate footprint.
Companies like CVS Health, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Rite Aid use the CorpU platform to upskill employees with the help of experts from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professional Education and University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
The COVID-19 pandemic precipitated the need for new approaches to workforce development, Udemy Business president Greg Brown explained.
“As a result of this fast-paced change coupled with a shift to hybrid work environments, businesses are actively searching for the best ways to develop leaders and employees in a global, scalable, and accessible way,” Brown said.
“CorpU is a powerful addition to strengthen our Udemy Business offering for organizations by elevating leadership development capabilities and helping customers achieve critical business outcomes.”
In a statement, both companies said CorpU “delivers cohort-based immersive learning experiences and access to world-class experts” while attempting to deliver courses that foster “innovation, leadership, and business agility.”
CorpU uses virtual environments to tailor lessons to each new cohort of students and attempts to harness “the value of group learning, executive and peer coaching and experiential learning activities that tie back to business results.”
Alan Todd, founder and general manager at CorpU, said companies are struggling to deliver facilitated and immersive training virtually despite the need for leadership development.
He called Udemy the “ideal partner for CorpU” and said the companies have the chance to “help organizations everywhere prepare for the future and provide leaders with the tools, knowledge, and capabilities to propel their businesses forward.”
Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy, said companies will benefit from Udemy’s real-world instructors and CorpU’s experienced professors and peer-to-peer learning capabilities, allowing them to “build agility and resilience in teams to take on today’s toughest challenges.”
“We believe that CorpU will allow Udemy to help companies go further in upskilling initiatives and deepen collaboration and leadership capabilities through immersive learning experiences,” Coccari said.
