Leader in learning Pearson on Monday announced that it acquired Credly in a deal that valued it at $200 million.
Having already owned a 20% stake in the digital workforce credentialing company, Pearson said the deal will expand its presence in the workforce training sector.
“The Credly acquisition is another important step in accelerating our strategy in the workforce skills market and in building connectivity across the entire Pearson portfolio. The growing skills gap is putting enormous pressure on the labor market, making verified credentials more essential than ever before,” said Andy Bird, CEO of Pearson.
Credly will join Pearson’s other recent acquisition — Faethm — at the heart of its Workforce Skills division, with both complementing the company’s expertise in reskilling and workforce learning.
Credly offers an easy-to-use platform for organizations, companies and educational institutions to award employees and workers trusted digital credentials that verify their skills and help connect them with the right opportunities. The company’s talent mobility solutions help businesses recruit, engage and develop their workforce, with a skills-based approach to talent management that operates at enterprise scale.
More than 2,000 organizations use Credly and, since its inception, Credly has issued 50 million credentials to 25 million consumers, making it the world’s largest professional credentialing marketplace.
“This exciting move combines Credly’s expertise in the skills economy with the global scale, learning expertise and financial strength of Pearson,” said Jonathan Finkelstein, founder and CEO of Credly. “Joining forces accelerates the realization of our vision to build a world where every person can achieve their full potential based on their verified skills and where organizations can make better human capital decisions and build more equitable workforces using trusted information about what people know and can do.”
