Degreed, a US-based employee development platform operator backed by educational services provider Kaplan, secured $153m in series D equity funding on Tuesday.
The round was co-led by venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures and private equity firm Riverwood Capital and included Alliance Bernstein, Signal Peak Ventures, Owl Ventures, GSV Ventures, Founders Circle, Contour Investment Partners, Section Partners and Firework Ventures.
The series D round totalled $183m with the inclusion of debt financing, and it valued the company at $1.4bn.
Degreed operates an online platform that lets users integrate and manage their online career development and learning resources, providing them with real-time insights into the progression of their skills.
The proceeds of the round will enable Degreed to expand globally, make strategic acquisitions, strengthen product development and improve its data infrastructure.
Kaplan supplied $150,000 of convertible debt financing for the company through its participation in the 2013 Kaplan Edtech Accelerator. Techstars, which manages the programme, provided another $20,000.
The corporate also participated in a $1.8m seed round for Degreed later the same year together with a number of angel investors.
Degreed collected $32m of funding across a 2015 series A round led by Signal Peak with participation from Peak Ventures, and a 2016 series B led by Jump Capital that included Signal Peak, Rethink Education and GSV Ventures.
Owl Ventures and Jump Capital then co-led a $42m round for the company in 2018 that was backed by Founders Circle, GSV and Signal Peak.
Signal Peak, Owl Ventures, Jump Capital, GSV and AllianceBernstein’s Growth Stage Capital subsidiary provided $35m of equity funding for Degree in mid-2019, with AllianceBernstein also supplying a $40m venture debt facility. It added $32m in a June 2020 round led by Owl Ventures.