Educational content provider Kaplan has participated in a $16m series B round for US-based leadership education platform developer ExecOnline.
NewSpring Growth Capital, the growth equity arm of investment firm NewSpring Capital, led the round, which included venture capital firms Osage Venture Partners and New Atlantic Ventures as well as private investor Thomas Lehrman.
Founded in 2012, ExecOnline offers university-certified leadership programs through partnerships with business schools and universities such as Yale, Columbia, MIT-Sloan, Berkeley-Haas, IMD and Wharton.
The capital will be used to expand the range of enterprise-focused leadership initiatives provided by ExecOnline, and to scale its sales and marketing abilities. It works with about 150 large enterprises at present.
ExecOnline has now raised a total of $23.6m in equity financing. Kaplan’s corporate venturing unit, Kaplan Ventures, contributed to the company’s last round in 2014, in which it raised $5m from investors also including Osage Venture Partners, New Atlantic Ventures and Militello Capital.