- Auspicious Holdings entered the learning market through its acquisition of DBLX, a digital custom content, platform, and consulting business. DBLX CEO and co-founder Nicky Hoyland joined Auspicious in a group role as Global Chief Innovation Officer while retaining responsibility for the growth of DBLX. In addition, former Santander UK learning management executive Rob Ashcroft joined Auspicious as Chief Learning Officer, where he will help DBLX build out its learning consultancy and employee experience offer.
- Pacifica Hotels selected learning management and talent development software provider Schoox to manage learning and development for employees across its full portfolio of properties.
- Alchemist, a UK-based learning and development business specializing in leadership development and sales training, acquired RAIN Group, a sales training company headquartered in Boston, MA.
- Professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) acquired Jubilant, an HR technology consultancy focused on implementing and supporting human capital management, payroll, and workforce management systems. The addition of Jubilant’s team will enhance EY US HR’s technology delivery capabilities.
- The Learning Forum Executive Council Network, a research and networking organization catering to senior executives, and Intrepid by VitalSource, a cohort-based learning platform to connect, practice, and upskill, formed a partnership to provide an exclusive, dedicated community for Learning leaders to collaborate and drive the future of corporate training and development. This new peer-driven space, available by invitation to senior Learning and Talent leaders and powered by the Intrepid platform, will enable leaders to engage in discussions, share thought leadership and best practices, and crowdsource ideas. It will feature on-demand content created and curated by Intrepid members on topics such as governance, time to value, and surging skills.
- Ziplines Education, a career accelerator focused on upskilling digital-first learners and earners at all levels, acquired Clicked, an on-demand, active-learning career network. Clicked’s work simulations will integrate into Ziplines’ programs and scale across the company’s university partner network to enhance professional learning and better serve adult learners for the evolving workforce. Ziplines will integrate Clicked’s hands-on learning experiences into the Salesforce Administration Certificate Course.
- S. private equity company General Atlantic reached a deal to acquire Learning Technologies Group (LTG), a global leader in workplace digital training solutions.
- Obrizum, an advanced artificial intelligence and analytics company, formed a strategic partnership with educational technology developer Anthology to deliver hyper-personalized adaptive learning and next-generation insights to millions of students and educators using the Blackboard learning management system.
- Lightcast, a global leader in labor market analytics, talent intelligence, and skills insights, partnered with Guild, an education and skilling solution for building talent, to integrate Lightcast skills intelligence within Guild Talent Advantage, Guild’s expanded product suite. Through Guild’s platform, employers can access skills data reporting for employees who are enrolled in or have completed a program through Guild’s Learning Marketplace. This reporting gives employers consistent and clear visibility into the skills employees are gaining through their Guild program. In other news, Lightcast announced that its Talent Transform solution is now available on SAP Store, the online marketplace for SAP and partner offerings. The integration with SAP Talent Intelligence Hub (TIH) and Job Profile Builder delivers real-time market-driven skill insights to joint Lightcast and SAP customers.
- Learning management system (LMS) provider LearnUpon and Planhat, an end-to-end customer management platform, formed a strategic partnership to help customer experience teams blend customer data and on-point customer education to impact customer onboarding, adoption, retention, and growth. With this collaboration, LearnUpon and Planhat aim to help businesses build a customer experience ecosystem that allows for seamless data exchange and automated delivery of targeted education throughout every stage of the customer journey. In separate news, LearnUpon announced its certified integration as a HubSpot App Partner. This certified integration allows customers to connect their CRM with LearnUpon’s LMS, enabling them to build a customer training academy and incorporate customer education into targeted learning.
- American Society of Administrative Professionals (ASAP)acquired All Things Admin, a provider of professional digital training, resources, and guidance for administrative professionals worldwide. This partnership allows ASAP to continue to provide its members with professional development and education on topics such as process improvement best practices, leadership development, and productivity.
- Mindstone, a global training platform and community focused on the practical use of AI for non-technical staff, and learning company Pearson partnered to launch Pearson’s new Generative AI Certification program. This collaboration combines Pearson’s expertise in education and certification with Mindstone’s proficiency in practical AI application, creating a comprehensive solution for AI upskilling across industries. The certification will be evaluated every six months to keep pace with innovation and AI trends.
- Fixer Advisory Group, a partner and advisor to executives, founders, and leaders in the retail, luxury, and consumer industries, announced the launch of The Founders Program | Powered By Fixer, in collaboration with Academia Cerebra, a global higher education academy with an immersive learning methodology. The program is tailored to serve brands that have been operating for at least two years in the fashion, beauty, consumer goods, lifestyle, luxury, accessories, wellness, or related technology industries. Over a six-month period, the Fixer team will share its experience in building and sustaining top brands, focusing on key pillars of Strategy & Leadership, Financial Planning, Revenue, People & Culture, Legal, and Fundraising & Capital. Founders also will receive one-to-one mentorship by seasoned industry experts, exclusive exposure to investors and financing partners at the program’s capstone showcase event, and community-building with like-minded founders.
- SME unveiled a new program, Ready to Hire, in partnership with global edtech company Cengage Group that builds sustainable talent pipelines by providing manufacturers with access to qualified pre-screened, pre-trained, pre-market talent. Ready to Hire handles sourcing, screening, training, and onboarding talent. It guarantees retention for all referred candidates up to three months from the hire date.
- Organizational advisory firm McChrystal Group and Intact Technology, a ServiceNow Elite Partner, joined forces to transform federal HR talent management. The collaboration combines McChrystal Group’s Talent Management Framework with Intact’s expertise in the strategy and governance of the ServiceNow platform to create technology-enabled solutions that address federal recruiting and retention challenges.
- 3t, a UK-based leader in safety-critical sector training, acquired Middle East energy training business GTSC from Al Mansoori Specialized Engineering. This deal follows 3t’s acquisition of ALL STOP! in the U.S. and is the company’s seventh acquisition. 3t is backed by specialist private equity firm
- Global talent advisory firm ZRG acquired Bravanti, an advisory firm specializing in services such as executive coaching, executive team coaching, developing leaders, and outplacement/career transition services. The acquisition comes on the heels of ZRG’s completing the acquisition of Linked4HR Solutions’ Executive Interim & HR Advisory Services in the Middle East and Africa regions, and Jamesbeck, a specialist in talent management in the financial services field. ZRG is backed by private equity investor RFE Investment Partners.
New Training Partnerships and Alliances (January 2025)
The latest training industry mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, and more.
