Benzinga | Jun 30, 2021 04:17PM EDT

Skillsoft Acquires Pluma For $22M To 'Expand Leadership Development Capabilities'

Skillsoft Corp. (NYSE:SKIL) ("Skillsoft" or the "Company"), a global leader in corporate digital learning, today announced it has acquired Pluma, Inc. ("Pluma"), a leading digital professional development and executive-quality coaching platform, for approximately $22 million in cash. The acquisition deepens Skillsoft's Leadership Development portfolio, adds a new modality to its blended learning model, and marks the Company's entry into individualized coaching.

Personalized coaching is an area of growing global demand as organizations seek to foster critical leadership competencies while adapting to the rapidly changing ways their leaders work, learn, and grow in the digital economy. The International Coaching Federation estimates that the number of leadership coach practitioners increased by 33% globally between 2015 and 2019, with the number of leaders using coaches rising by 46%.

Pluma's responsive SaaS solution accelerates the professional growth and development of leaders through personalized introspective coaching, assessments, and action plans designed to drive behavioral change. The experience is delivered via in-app messaging and video sessions, tailored to meet the specific needs of an organization while driving engagement, enablement, and measurable improvement. Pluma's global network comprises hundreds of executive coaches across six continents speaking more than 20 languages. Pluma will be integrated into Skillsoft's AI-driven, immersive Percipio platform, and the Company's existing customers will gain access to Pluma's highly skilled coaches and their expertise.

"We are committed to accelerating our growth by acquiring businesses with comprehensive, industry-leading content and solutions that will benefit our current and future customers," said Jeffery R. Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft. "The shift from classroom to digital and blended learning has continued to increase demand for personalized virtual coaching to help companies address leadership blind spots and develop talent. Pluma's solution quickly addresses gaps and achieves meaningful, quantifiable improvement with a highly scalable model. We are excited to bring Pluma's innovative solution to our customers around the world."

Alexandra Connell, Pluma's Co-Founder and CEO, said, "With its award-winning Percipio platform and global enterprise customer base serving approximately 70% of the Fortune 1000, Skillsoft is the ideal partner for Pluma. Combined, we will make leadership development far more accessible by moving one-on-one leadership coaching beyond the executive levels to managers and individual contributors within companies. We believe that our customers will also benefit from Skillsoft's blended learning model and industry-leading content, and we look forward to accelerating our vision for the future of leadership development together with Skillsoft."