Flexible employee learning platform provider Learnsoft raises $16.7M

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Employee learning software provider Learnsoft Technology Group said today it has closed on a $16.7 million Series A round of funding led by Elsewhere Partners and hired a new chief executive to lead it through its next phase of operational and product growth.

Learnsoft is the creator of a software-as-a-service platform that enables companies in highly regulated industries to deliver employee learning in a compliant way, via a branded, user-friendly interface.

The platform provides various information technology and business skills training programs through a “project-driven” approach that aims to optimize employee productivity. Incorporating both web-based and instructor-led training, Learnsoft also provides techniques for assessing employee competency and identifying skills gaps. Moreover, by integrating with auxiliary human resources systems, the platform can automate curriculum assignments and tracking, while churning out regular reports on each employee’s progress that meet industry-specific compliance regulations.

According to Learnsoft, its flexible learning platform helps to eliminate the time-consuming onboarding, programming and administration processes that plague HR departments, making it possible for employees to learn on the go, while providing managers with real-time status updates.

Learnsoft seems to think there will be a lot of interest in its platform. It argues that traditional learning management systems for enterprises are too rigid and time-intensive to properly support the needs of modern organizations. Even more so in complex industries like healthcare and government, where both organizational and regulatory demands are evolving rapidly.

“Every workplace is in the midst of a complete revolution – employee recruitment, onboarding, management, training and professional development can no longer take a stagnant, one-size-fits-all approach,” said Chris Pacitti, founder and partner of Elsewhere Partners. “We see an enormous opportunity for Learnsoft to lead a new era of change-ready, compliant enterprise training systems that allow organizations to easily adapt training programs.”

In order to seize that opportunity, Learnsoft has announced a change of leadership with the appointment of “seasoned technology leader” Robbie Abt as its new CEO. The company said Abt has a long track record of successfully scaling growth-stage companies in the healthcare technology space.

“With the infusion of strategic growth capital, we are now well positioned to scale and meet rising demand without compromising on our service promise,” Abt said. “I look forward to working with the expansive Elsewhere Partners network and the Learnsoft team to continue to meet the training and compliance needs of complex organizations in a single, advanced platform.”

Constellation Research Inc. analyst Holger Mueller said the world’s economy is faced with a massive skills gap and that advanced learning management systems are necessary to address this at the enterprise level. “It’s good to see venture capital investment coming into the space,” he said. “Learnsoft is getting the capital it needs to improve its learning capabilities and that should make a difference to enterprises and learners alike.”

Learnsoft founder Kishor Amberkar, reportedly the “brains” behind the company who originally developed its learning platform, will stay on as the company’s president and chief technology officer, working alongside Abt. Together, the two leaders will look to scale Learnsoft’s platform by growing its workforce, accelerating adoption of its platform and expanding into new industry verticals.

Image: Learnsoft