Pluralsight, a subscription-based SaaS platform that provides web-based training for software engineers has filed for an Initial Public Offering. The terms of the IPO remained confidential at the time of filing.
Pluralsight charges companies a subscription-based licensing fee but also incentivizes content generation by paying royalties to instructors who post courses on the platform. As of 2013, at least one instructor had earned over $1 million in royalties from his courses and instructors continue to post new material regularly.
The company is no stranger to outside investment, or to boot-strapping for that matter. For the first nine years of its existence, Pluralsight received no outside funding at all. It has received numerous rounds of funding since then, including $27.5 million in Series A funding from Insight Venture Partners, and $135 million in Series B funding from a group again led by Insight Venture Partners. Pluralsight closed on its Series C round, an additional $30 million that was said to boost the company’s value to over $1 billion.
In the midst of rounds of funding, the company sought to acquire other Ed Tech firms that would expand its leadership capabilities in the sector and diversify its technological portfolio. Pluralsight acquired companies like Tekpub, Digital-Tutors, Smarterer, Code School and TrainSignal to expand its roster of course authors and branch out into new areas of instruction. Many of the companies remained intact and continue to be contributing partners to the Pluralsight to this day.
In 2017 the company partnered with tech industry heavyweights like Oracle, Microsoft and Adobe to increase course offerings and access to more students.
Pluralsight has also been involved in a number of community building in the tech industry since its inception including a partnership with Microsoft, a free programming bootcamp for kids and LaunchCode, an initiative to help newcomers find work in the tech industry through a year of free Pluralsight training.
The company was founded in 2004 by Aaron Skonnard, Keith Brown, Fritz Onion and Bill Williams and is based in Farmington, Utah.
According to Skonnard, the company’s current CEO, as of September 2017, about 40% of Fortune 500 Companies license and employ Pluralsight technology.
