Accenture announced today that it will acquire the Udacity learning platform as part of an effort to build a learning platform focused on the growing interest in AI. While the company did not specify how much it paid for Udacity, it also announced a $1 billion investment to build a technology learning platform it calls LearnVantage.
While it could also offer more general technology training, the company made clear that it is particularly interested in offering training to get workers up to speed with AI. "The rise of generative AI represents one of the most transformative changes in the way work is done and is driving a growing need for companies to train and upskill people in cloud, data and AI as they build their digital core and reinvent their companies,” Kishore Durg, global leader of Accenture LearnVantage in a statement.
As for Udacity, founded in 2011, it made the usual kind of statements a company makes when it is acquired by a much larger organization like Accenture. That is, you believe you can reach more people and help them gain skills as part of a larger entity. It goes without saying, but there was rumors earlier this year that the company was in talks with Indian edtech company Upgrad with an asking price of $80 million. Apparently, the deal fell through and Accenture ended up buying them.
Still, if the rumored $80 million price tag was correct, it was a precipitous drop in value for a company that raised nearly $300 million. according to pitchbook and sported a valuation of $2015 billion in XNUMX.
As usual, the deal is subject to regulatory review and antitrust oversight.
