Summit Partners invests $56m in Dublin-based LearnUpon

Summit Partners has invested $56m in LearnUpon, a Dublin-based corporate education technology provider.

The investment is LearnUpon’s largest capital infusion since the company was formed in 2012, according to Brendan Noud, the company’s co-founder and chief executive. It had previously raised $1.5m through small seed rounds led by angel investors, friends and family and with participation from Enterprise Ireland, a government organization that helps fund Irish companies.

LearnUpon provides educational tools to businesses for applications that include employee development, customer education and compliance training. It has over 1,000 customers and has been consistently increasing its revenue by more than 50% year-over-year for the past 12 quarters, according to a press release.

The total global market for corporate learning management technology is expected to reach $12.48bn by 2024, representing a 23% compounded annual growth rate, according to a recent report from market research provider Technavio.

“Almost every company—if they didn’t have a need before—they will have a need going forward post-Covid,” Antony Clavel , a principal at Summit, said of the investment. “Training that would have happened in conference rooms is no longer viable.”

LearnUpon’s customers, 70% of which are based in the US, include amateur football governing body USA Football, customer service software provider Zendesk and digital travel company Booking.com.

The company plans to use the capital from Summit to invest in expanding its customer support team and increasing hiring. LearnUpon has already grown this year, increasing the size of its team from 120 to 180 people, with many more expected to be brought on board following the funding, according to Noud

Summit declined to name which of its funds would provide capital for the investment. The global growth firm recently raised two new funds this past June. Summit Partners Europe Growth Equity Fund III closed with €1.1bn, and Summit Partners Venture Capital Fund V closed with $1bn, WSJ Pro Private Equitypreviously reported. The third European growth fund exceeded the size of its predecessor, which closed at $700m in 2017.

Source: Private Equity News