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- Pluralsight
Pluralsight Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Pluralsight was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.5B in December 2020, a 7.4x multiple on $472M of revenue.
Pluralsight acquisition price
$3.5B
Acquired by Vista Equity Partners · Dec 2020
Pluralsight revenue at acquisition
$472M
Last twelve months · Dec 2020
Pluralsight revenue multiple at acquisition
7.4x
EV/Revenue · Dec 2020
Pluralsight EBITDA multiple at acquisition
28.5x
EV/EBITDA · Dec 2020
About Pluralsight
Pluralsight is a digital skills platform offering 7,000 technology courses for developers, IT administrators, and cybersecurity experts. Skill paths cover AWS, Azure, and DevOps certifications with hands-on labs and assessments. Draper-headquartered in Utah and founded in 2004, Pluralsight assesses proficiency for 1,500 enterprises including Microsoft and Cisco across 150 countries. Acquired by Vista Equity Partners in 2021, it emphasizes role-based learning tracks.
Founded
2004
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Revenue
$132M (Dec 2016)
Valuation
$1B (Dec 2016)
Pluralsight Acquisition
Pluralsight was acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $3.5B on 13 December 2020.
The acquisition price implies a 7.4x revenue and 28.5x EBITDA multiple on $472M of revenue.
Before the acquisition Pluralsight had raised $193M across 3 funding rounds.
Pluralsight is a Utah-based technology education platform founded in 2004 that provides online training courses on technology, design, and business skills. The company operated a subscription-based model with a library of over 7,500 courses and served more than 17,000 customers, including 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Pluralsight went public in May 2018 at $15 per share and raised over $300 million in its IPO. On December 13, 2020, Vista Equity Partners announced a definitive agreement to acquire all outstanding shares of Pluralsight common stock for $20.26 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $3.5 billion. The purchase price represented a 25 percent premium to the company's volume weighted average closing stock price for the 30 trading days prior to announcement. Vista partnered with institutional co-investors including Partners Group on the acquisition. The transaction was expected to close in the first half of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions and shareholder approval. Upon completion, Pluralsight became a privately held company and ceased trading on public markets. The acquisition was driven by Vista's expertise in enterprise software and technology-enabled businesses, with leadership citing the ability to accelerate growth and strategic vision through Vista's ecosystem of portfolio companies.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Dec 2020 | PE buyout | $3.5B | 7.4x | 28.5x |
Pluralsight Valuation
Pluralsight is currently valued at $1B, based on its Series C in December 2016.
The $30M round was led by ICONIQ Capital and Insight Partners.
Pluralsight's valuation has moved from $1B at its Series B in August 2014 to $1B in December 2016, across 2 priced rounds.
Pluralsight valuation by funding round
Revenue multiple| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2016 | Series C | $1B | 7.6x |
| Aug 2014 | Series B | $1B | 10.0x |
Pluralsight Revenue
Pluralsight's latest recorded revenue is $132M, as of its Series C in December 2016. At a $1B valuation, that implies a 7.6x revenue multiple.
Revenue grew from $100M in August 2014 to $132M in December 2016, while the revenue multiple moved from 10.0x to 7.6x.
Pluralsight revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2016 | $132M | $1B | 7.6x | Series C |
| Aug 2014 | $100M | $1B | 10.0x | Series B |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
Pluralsight Funding History
Pluralsight has raised a total of $193M across 3 funding rounds.
Pluralsight's first fundraising round was a $28M Series A in January 2013. The most recent completed round was a $30M Series C in December 2016.
Pluralsight funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 2016 | Series C | ICONIQ Capital (lead); Insight Partners (lead) | $30M | $1B | Pluralsight is an online learning platform providing over 5,000 technical, design, and business courses for technology professionals and enterprises. Founded in 2004, the company bootstrapped profitably for nearly a decade before raising venture funding starting in 2013. In December 2016, Pluralsight closed a $30 million Series C round led by existing investors Insight Venture Partners and ICONIQ Capital. The company used this funding to expand its enterprise learning solutions, develop platform intelligence, pay off acquisition debt, and hire additional sales staff. As of 2016, Pluralsight generated $131.8 million in revenue, growing to $166.8 million in 2017, representing 26.5% year-over-year growth. Billings from business customers grew 55% in 2017 to $163 million. Prior to the December 2016 round, Pluralsight had raised $135 million in Series B funding in August 2014 at a post-money valuation of $1 billion. The company's valuation at the December 2016 Series C round was not publicly disclosed. Pluralsight went public in June 2018, raising $310.5 million through its IPO at $15 per share. |
| Aug 2014 | Series B | Insight Partners (lead); ICONIQ Capital; Felicis; Sorenson Capital; GSV Ventures | $135M | $1B | Pluralsight, an online technology training platform offering a library of over 3,000 courses for professionals, businesses, and institutions, raised $135 million in an August 27, 2014 Series B round led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from ICONIQ Capital and Sorenson Capital. This brought total funding to nearly $165 million following a prior $27.5 million round in 2013. The post-money valuation approached $1 billion, with CEO Aaron Skonnard stating the pre-money was in the high sevens (hundreds of millions), rounding up after the investment. The funds were allocated to accelerate enterprise customer growth, develop new content, enhance features, and pursue acquisitions, having already spent over $70 million on deals the prior year. Pluralsight targeted enterprise expansion, with enterprise customers comprising about two-thirds of its base, including Microsoft, Dell, Intel, Disney, Bank of America, and Thomson Reuters, alongside over 6,000 companies total. Financially, Pluralsight projected $85-100 million in revenue for 2014, following rapid growth from $5 million in 2011, $16 million in 2012, and $38 million in 2013. Pricing included $29/month for individuals and $300 per-seat per-year for businesses. The company had bootstrapped profitably since 2004 before venture funding. This round positioned Pluralsight as one of Utah's largest private investments, supporting its vision as a standard for tech training and certification in corporate environments. |
| Jan 2013 | Series A | Insight Partners (lead) | $28M | - | Pluralsight, founded in 2004 as a classroom-based training company for software developers, pivoted in 2008 to an online subscription model and achieved profitable growth bootstrapped until receiving its first outside investment of $27.5 million from Insight Venture Partners on January 3, 2013. The funding, announced via PR Newswire and covered by TechCrunch and VC News Daily, was aimed at accelerating expansion of its course library, particularly in areas like Salesforce, Microsoft technologies, Java, Android, iOS, social platforms, and cloud services such as AWS and Azure, while also supporting hiring to scale the business globally. CEO Aaron Skonnard emphasized the investment as a major leap to enhance content quality, breadth, and depth for developers worldwide, building on Pluralsight's established reputation for timely and relevant courses unmatched by peers. By December 2012, ahead of the round, the company's valuation was less than $100 million according to Skonnard in a 2014 Business Insider interview. Revenue grew rapidly in the lead-up to and during 2013: $5 million in 2011, $16 million in 2012, and $38 million in 2013, as reported by CEO Skonnard. The company bootstrapped profitably prior to this investment, positioning it for further enterprise-focused growth. This round preceded a larger $135 million Series B in August 2014 led by Insight Partners with ICONIQ Capital and Sorenson Capital participation, bringing total funding to nearly $165 million and valuing Pluralsight at close to $1 billion at that time per EdSurge and Pluralsight's press release. The 2013 funding fueled library expansion to over 3,000 courses by 2014. |
Who has invested in Pluralsight?
5 investors have backed Pluralsight across its funding rounds, including Insight Partners, ICONIQ Capital, Felicis, GSV Ventures and Sorenson Capital.
Lead investors include ICONIQ Capital and Insight Partners.
Pluralsight Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Lead | Jan 2013 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Aug 2014 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Aug 2014 | ||
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Pluralsight
Pluralsight has acquired 9 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Pluralsight was on June 2nd 2021. Pluralsight acquired A Cloud Guru for $2B.
Latest Acquisitions by Pluralsight
| Description | A Cloud Guru is an Austin-headquartered online training platform specializing in cloud certifications for Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. It offers interactive courses, hands-on labs, and exam simulators used by over two million professionals worldwide. Acquired by Pluralsight in 2020, the platform delivers content through a subscription model with video lessons from certified instructors. A Cloud Guru partners with cloud providers for official exam prep materials and operates learning paths tailored to roles like solutions architect and data engineer. | Next Tech is a cloud-based integrated development environment allowing secure execution of code and Linux applications in browsers. Users run untrusted programs via WebAssembly sandboxes without local installations, supporting languages from Python to Rust. Targeted at educators and developers, the platform hosts collaborative sessions and integrates Git for version control. Founded in 2022, it powers online coding bootcamps and hackathons globally. | DevelopIntelligence is a Phoenix-headquartered provider of engineering upskilling programs. The company delivers customized courses in Java, React, AWS, and DevOps for enterprises including Cisco and Dell. Its platform tracks progress for 250,000 learners annually through hands-on labs and assessments. Acquired by Pluralsight in 2021, DevelopIntelligence operates globally with content in 12 languages. | GitPrime is a software engineering intelligence platform that analyzes data from Git repositories, Jira tickets, and pull requests. It delivers metrics on cycle time, deployment frequency, and team productivity through dashboards. Engineering leaders use insights to optimize processes and align initiatives with business outcomes. Founded in 2015 and based in Durango, Colorado, GitPrime was acquired by LinearB in 2021, expanding its observability tools. | |
| HQ Country | |||||
| HQ City | - | San Francisco, CA | Louisville, KY | Durango, CO | |
| Deal Date | 2 Jun 2021 | 12 Jan 2021 | 14 Oct 2020 | 1 May 2019 | |
| Valuation | $2B | $25M | $49M | $170M | |
| EV/Revenue | |||||
| EV/EBITDA | |||||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Pluralsight acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||||
Investments by Pluralsight
Pluralsight has invested in 1 company to date.
Latest investment by Pluralsight was on December 11th 2014. Pluralsight invested in Grow in their $2M Seed round.
Latest Investments by Pluralsight
| Description | Grow is a business intelligence dashboard software for small and medium enterprises headquartered in Orem, Utah. Founded in 2014, it integrates data from QuickBooks, Salesforce, Zendesk, databases, and spreadsheets to create customizable dashboards in minutes. The platform equips teams with real-time metrics for decision-making across sales, operations, and customer service. |
| HQ Country | |
| HQ City | Salt Lake City, UT |
| Deal Date | 11 Dec 2014 |
| Round | Seed |
| Raised | $2M |
| Investors | Peterson Ventures; Kickstart; Haxee Ventures; BYU Cougar Capital; Aaron Skonnard; Pelion Venture Partners |
| Valuation | undisclosed |
| EV/Revenue | |
| EV/EBITDA | |
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Pluralsight investments and their VC round multiples. Start Free Trial | |
Pluralsight Competitors
Pluralsight competitors include listed companies like Stride and East Buy, and private ones like GoStudent, Eruditus Executive Education, Age of Learning and Outschool.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $107M | $16M | $3.4B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $2.5B | $580M | $3.4B | 1.2x | ||
| Publicly listed | $850M | $98M | $3.4B | 2.8x | ||
| Private | $399M | - | $3.1B | 7.8x | ||
| Private | $100M | - | $3B | - | ||
| Private | $100M | - | $3B | 30.0x |
Pluralsight Public Comps
Pluralsight is no longer listed, but its public comps include Stride, East Buy, Fibra Educa, Bright Horizons Family, Grand Canyon Education, Covista, COL Global, McGraw Hill, John Wiley & Sons and Graham Holdings.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $2.5B | $580M | 1.2x | 1.2x | 5.1x | 4.8x | |||
| $850M | $98M | 3.0x | 2.8x | 26.3x | 22.4x | |||
| $269M | - | 15.2x | 15.2x | - | - | |||
| $2.9B | $408M | 1.8x | 1.7x | 12.6x | 10.2x | |||
| $1.1B | $306M | 3.4x | 3.3x | 12.4x | 10.0x | |||
| $2B | $462M | 2.5x | 2.4x | 10.4x | 9.1x | |||
| $247M | ($78M) | 10.8x | 8.9x | (34.3x) | (2053.7x) | |||
| $2.1B | $613M | 2.4x | 2.3x | 8.1x | 6.5x | |||
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Common questions about Pluralsight
| When was Pluralsight founded? | Pluralsight was founded in 2004. |
| Where is Pluralsight headquartered? | Pluralsight is headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, United States. |
| Is Pluralsight publicly listed? | No, Pluralsight was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in December 2020. |
| Who acquired Pluralsight? | Pluralsight was acquired by Vista Equity Partners in December 2020. |
| How much was Pluralsight acquired for? | Pluralsight was acquired for $3.5B in December 2020, a 7.4x revenue multiple. |
| What is Pluralsight's valuation? | Pluralsight was last valued at $1B in its Series C in December 2016. |
| How much funding has Pluralsight raised? | Pluralsight has raised $193M across 3 funding rounds. |
| What was Pluralsight's last funding round? | Pluralsight's last funding round was a $30M Series C in December 2016, led by ICONIQ Capital and Insight Partners. |
| Who are Pluralsight's investors? | Pluralsight's investors include Insight Partners, ICONIQ Capital, Felicis, Sorenson Capital and GSV Ventures. |
| What is Pluralsight's revenue? | Pluralsight's latest recorded revenue is $132M (December 2016). |
| What is Pluralsight's revenue multiple? | Pluralsight's latest valuation implies a 7.6x revenue multiple ($1B valuation on $132M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to Pluralsight? | Companies comparable to Pluralsight include GoStudent, Stride, East Buy, Eruditus Executive Education, Age of Learning and Outschool. |
| How many companies has Pluralsight acquired? | Pluralsight has acquired 9 companies, including A Cloud Guru, Next Tech, DevelopIntelligence, GitPrime and Train Simple. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Pluralsight? | The $2B acquisition of A Cloud Guru in June 2021 is the largest acquisition Pluralsight has made to date. |
| How many companies has Pluralsight invested in? | Pluralsight has invested in 1 company, including Grow. |
| What was Pluralsight's last investment? | In December 2014, Pluralsight invested in Grow's $2M seed round alongside Peterson Ventures, Kickstart, Haxee Ventures and 3 other investors. |
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