Investments: Bertelsmann Buys a Stake in Online Education Provider Udacity

From the Bertelsmann Announcement:

Bertelsmann is expanding its activities in the fast-growing education business with a transaction in the United States: The international media company is acquiring a stake in the online education provider Udacity by contributing a significant portion of its Series C round financing.
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Udacity was founded in Silicon Valley in 2011 by the German computer scientist Sebastian Thrun and offers online vocational training courses with a focus on technology and IT. Some 2.8 million students from 119 countries currently partake of Udacity’s offerings. Together with various partners, the company develops online courses to build a bridge between the content of classical education on the one hand, and skills that are needed or to be developed in the workplace on the other. The company works with prominent companies such as Google, Facebook, Coursera and Salesforce.com to build courses. In addition to courses, Udacity’s range of services also includes projects at the end of the classes and certification upon completion. The company’s investors include the venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Charles River Ventures.

Penguin Random House is a division of Bertelsmann.
See Also: U.S. online-education company Udacity raises $35 million for ‘nanodegrees’

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