Portfolion is a CEE-focused multi-stage investor with a flexible fund structure that allows it to back companies from or before 1st client until the end of their journey. The fund manager has backed some of the CEE region’s most successful companies including SEON, Novakid, Tresorit, Packhelp, and Starschema.

PortfoLion Capital Partners

Lead Ventures is a Budapest-based venture capital firm, specialist of financing scale-ups in Central Europe. Its mission is to support the region’s most promising ventures with capital, experience and a wide-ranging professional network, enabling them to transform their industry with innovation.  Lead Ventures provides equity financing to companies in their scale-up phase, the typical ticket size is between EUR 2-10 million. Lead Ventures is searching for dynamic teams with a unique story, outstanding growth potential and solutions tested and validated by the market. The firm seeks to invest in companies operating in the mobility, energy and sustainability as well as b2b services and software sectors, however, Lead Ventures is open to support teams active in other areas as well. Lead Ventures has EUR 100 million under management invested by MOL, the most successful energy company in CEE, and two financial institutions specialised in supporting the startup ecosystem - the Hungarian Development Bank (MFB) and Eximbank.

Lead Ventures

Integral Venture Partners is an Independently owned private equity and growth capital investments firm.

Integral Venture Partners

Codecool

Codecool's mission is to solve the digital talent shortage for businesses and to provide new digital careers for individuals simultaneously.  For Individuals:  - Project- and mastery-based experiential education to acquire new digital skills, with the curriculum directly shaped by businesses  - Learning management technology platform supporting the digital reskilling journey  - Financing solution with a post-payment system to enable reskilling for anyone For Businesses: - New sourcing channel for high-quality digital talent, with transparent learning profile and assessment history  - Tailored reskilling and development of individuals for your businesses' needs - Try-and-hire model, providing a pool of candidates  to try on the job before finalising roles We don’t do half-baked solutions, quick fixes or shortcuts. Our curriculum is designed so students become well-versed in mainstream programming languages such as Python, Java and Javascript, while gaining sound knowledge of GIT, various databases and agile software development methods like SCRUM. Heading towards mastery-based learning methods, students can progress at their own pace, only moving on to the next stage once they know everything at their current level. We know how much soft skills matter in the workplace, be it a buzzing start-up or a high-profile tech giant. That’s why our English-language curriculum is practice-based from day one. Students in their training are working on real-life team projects in the classroom and perfecting their skills through self-instructed assignments at home. Our mentors act as learning facilitators or guiding sherpas as we like to think of them, rather than traditional disseminators of knowledge. We make sure that students learn all the ropes needed in the workplace, from working well in a team to managing their time and solving whatever problem comes their way.  We strive to keep up with the needs of the market and never stop evaluating and refining our teaching methods, course content and hiring practices.

<div><p>Founded in 2014 by Balazs Vinnai and József Boda, Codecool provides a 4-month front-end developer course, a 12-month full-stack programming course, and an IT Talent Hub for employers seeking to hire developers and IT specialists. As of March 2021, the company had produced more than 1,000 graduates across five schools in Hungary, Romania, and Poland and reported more than 300 corporate partners.</p></div>

Modern tools to train and motivate staff, and bridge emerging skill gaps.

EdTech: Corporate Learning

<div><p>Codecool's mission is to solve the digital talent shortage for businesses and to provide new digital careers for individuals simultaneously.  For Individuals: - Project- and mastery-based experiential education to acquire new digital skills, with the curriculum directly shaped by businesses  - Learning management technology platform supporting the digital reskilling journey  - Financing solution with a post-payment system to enable reskilling for anyone. For Businesses: - New sourcing channel for high-quality digital talent, with transparent learning profile and assessment history  - Tailored reskilling and development of individuals for your businesses' needs - Try-and-hire model, providing a pool of candidates to try on the job before finalising roles. We don’t do half-baked solutions, quick fixes or shortcuts. Our curriculum is designed so students become well-versed in mainstream programming languages such as Python, Java and Javascript, while gaining sound knowledge of GIT, various databases and agile software development methods like SCRUM. Heading towards mastery-based learning methods, students can progress at their own pace, only moving on to the next stage once they know everything at their current level. We know how much soft skills matter in the workplace, be it a buzzing start-up or a high-profile tech giant. That’s why our English-language curriculum is practice-based from day one. Students in their training are working on real-life team projects in the classroom and perfecting their skills through self-instructed assignments at home. Our mentors act as learning facilitators or guiding sherpas as we like to think of them, rather than traditional disseminators of knowledge. We make sure that students learn all the ropes needed in the workplace, from working well in a team to managing their time and solving whatever problem comes their way.  We strive to keep up with the needs of the market and never stop evaluating and refining our teaching methods, course content and hiring practices.</p></div>

Educational technology plays a pivotal role in driving and enabling the revolution in post-secondary learning

Higher EdTech

<div>
  <p>
    Founded in 2014 by Balazs Vinnai and József Boda, Codecool provides a 4-month front-end developer course, a 12-month full-stack programming course, and an IT Talent Hub for employers seeking to hire developers and IT specialists. As of March 2021, the company had produced more than 1,000 graduates across five schools in Hungary, Romania, and Poland and reported more than 300 corporate partners.
  </p>
  <p>
    The company is one of 26 partners in the European Software Skills Alliance, which has committed to a four-year, European Commission-funded project to address the digital skills gap in Europe. The Alliance plans to develop a new software development skills strategy and curriculum for the EU.
  </p>
  <p>
    In September 2022, 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13039">
      <u>the company merged with Poland-based Software Development Academy (SDA),</u>
    </a>
     an IT learning academy, to create a technology training and sourcing hub in Central Europe. The combined company offers skilling, upskilling, and reskilling courses to individuals, companies, and government organizations. It is expected to train 15,000–20,000 individuals annually in the areas of software development, testing, and cybersecurity. The training will be conducted in partnership with ~400 local and international brands in Central Europe. It had more than 300 employees, 17 digital reskilling pathways, and a network of 1,600 mentors. Furthermore, it had a market presence in eight countries. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials </b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In March 2021, Codecool raised EUR 7 million (USD 8.3 million) in a Series C funding round to further develop its corporate reskilling and upskilling courses and also open two new campuses in Central Europe in 2021. The company aims to operate more than ten campuses by 2025.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Coursera is a massive open online course provider (MOOC) founded in 2012 by Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera partners with universities and organizations to offer classes, courses, specialization programs, projects, certificates, degree programs, and workforce development products. The platform hosts classes from more than 200 universities and contains a suite of video lectures, auto-graded homework assignments, and discussion forums.&nbsp;
  </p>
  <p>
    Launched in 2016, Coursera for Business is the company's enterprise platform; Coursera for Government and Nonprofits, introduced in 2017, offers skill development courses for government and nonprofit workforces; and Coursera for Campus allows universities to offer online education to students, alumni, faculty, and staff. As of August 2021, the Coursera platform was being used by about 87 million learners, with Coursera for Business being used by more than 2,300 organizations and 550,000 enterprise learners as of September 2020.
  </p>
  <p>
    In April 2021, Coursera announced that it was testing a new program that allows learners to create courses by making its Guided Project teaching tool available to its learner community. In August 2021, the company announced a new fee structure for universities where fees paid to Coursera progressively reduce from 40% to 25% of total online tuition fees. The company also launched a Leadership Academy within Coursera for Business, to provide soft skills training to corporate leaders. &ldquo;LevelSets,&rdquo; an assessment tool with over 20 different machine learning-based skill assessments, was launched in November 2021 to enable learners to determine their current proficiency in business, technology, and data skills. More recently, in May 2022, the company launched Clips, a learning program that comprises 200,000+ videos for skill development for companies and universities. Additionally, the company released new tools, including personalized schedules, data-driven deadlines, lecture summaries, and adobe-guided projects. In conjunction with the release of new features, the company announced the launch of Career Academy for institutions, a career training program for learners that provide entry-level professional certification from notable corporations such as&nbsp; Google, IBM, and Meta.&nbsp;
    In February 2024, Coursera launched the Generative AI (GenAI) Academy in the UAE, partnering with top universities and companies like Microsoft and Google, to train executives and employees in AI skills.&nbsp;
  </p>
  <p>
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Key customers and partnerships</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    Coursera continues to deploy collaborations to introduce new courses and expand its audience. The company selected Persona, a provider of identity verification infrastructure, as its identity verification partner to ensure that learners receive their credentials. The company partnered with K16 Solutions, a specialist in LMS course migration, course design, and course archiving, allowing Coursera users to quickly move course content from their LMS onto the Coursera platform as a result of its integration with K16 Solutions' Scaffold Migration tool. In May 2022, the company partnered with several institutions and enterprises, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Indore, IIIT Bangalore, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Hero Mindmine, PwC India, and Tally Education, to meet the demand for job-relevant credentials.
  </p>
  <p>
    The company has entered into several notable client partnerships. In September 2021, it partnered with EFMD, a non-profit accreditation body, to provide business school students across 700 member institutions in 90 countries access to more than 4,000 courses and 1,900 Guided Projects on Coursera. The program will include courses from Google, Facebook, BCG, IBM, and Microsoft and they will be developed with support from partner schools and companies. In August 2022, Coursera partnered with corporate learning solution provider Skillsoft, to allow Skillsoft users access to Coursera for Business directly within Skillsoft Percipio.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In July 2020, Coursera raised USD 130 million as part of its Series F funding round, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The funding will be used toward product development and engineering, expanding its job-relevant catalog, and furthering the company's overseas expansion. Specifically, the funding will allow the company to meet increased demand for two Covid-focused initiatives: Campus Response Initiative to help universities teach affected students, and Workforce Recovery Initiative to help governments reskill unemployed workers.&nbsp;
  </p>
  <p>
    In March 2021, Coursera went public and reportedly raised USD 519 million, with a post money-valuation of USD 5.86 billion.&nbsp;
  </p>
  <p>
    For the 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16316">
      <u>full-year 2022,</u>
    </a>
     the company's revenue increased by 26% YoY to USD 523.8 million. However, the company also reported an operating loss of USD 177.4 million (up 24% YoY) and an adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 36.9 million (up 4.1% YoY), resulting in a net loss of USD 1.21 per share (down by 5.5% YoY). The company 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20536">
      upgraded its full-year guidance for FY2023,
    </a>
     with revenue expected to range from USD 617 million&ndash;USD 623 million, and revised its adjusted EBITDA loss to range USD 19 million&ndash;USD 24 million.
  </p>
</div>


Coursera

<div>
  <p>
    Founded by David Blake, David Wiley, and Eric Sharp in 2012, Degreed is a professional and lifelong learning platform that provides curated educational content such as courses, videos, articles, books, and podcasts for employee skill building and skill certification. Degreed is free for individual users while Degreed for Enterprise, launched in 2014 as the company’s corporate offering that links to companies’ internal training systems, is available for a fee. In addition to providing training and coursework, Degreed for Enterprise matches employees' skill profiles, roles, and goals with opportunities, projects, and gigs. As of April 2021, the platform had been used by more than seven million people across more than 350 organizations.
  </p>
  <p>
    Degreed’s acquisitions include Gibbon, a Dutch platform for creating learning content playlists in 2016; Pathgather, a New York-based learning experience platform for enterprises in 2018; and London’s Adepto, a contract and gig work platform in 2019. Its most recent acquisition was in June 2022, when it 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11296">
      <u>acquired Learn In,</u>
    </a>
     the upskilling-as-a-service platform, to strengthen Degreed’s suite of services by integrating Learn In’s solutions across the areas of user development, individual upskilling opportunities, and organizational innovation.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Key customers and partnerships </b>
  </p>
  <p>
    The company has used collaborations and partnerships to expand its portfolio of offerings. In November 2020, Degreed announced a partnership with TED to launch TED@Work on its platform. TED@Work is a library of more than 500 TED Talks and TED-Ed animations—each including a business-focused framework designed to create actionable outcomes. In February 2021, Pluralsight, a technology learning platform, expanded its partnership with Degreed, allowing Pluralsight’s enterprise users to incorporate assessment data from Pluralsight’s Skill IQ into Degreed’s skill analytics and gain greater visibility into individual and team technology skills. Historically, Degreed users were able to integrate Pluralsight’s technology content. In April 2021, the company partnered with Watershed, a provider of learning analytics platforms and part of UK-based Learning Technologies Group, allowing Degreed users access to enhanced learning analytics and reporting. In May 2021, the company announced a collaboration with Credly, a digital credentialing company, to render Credly’s digital credentials visible in Degreed’s talent development programs. This allows organizations to build transparent, centralized records of skill gaps and learning opportunities. Degreed partnered with Learn In, a developer of marketplace and funding solutions for skill building through bootcamp and certificate programs. Degreed users gain access to a marketplace of learning experiences, tools for employer tuition assistance, and support via personal coaches. In June 2021, Degreed deepened its five-year old partnership with CredSpark, a provider of audience engagement and insights solutions. Existing “CredSpark for Degreed'' users will gain access to additional tools and enhancements, and a new paid offering, “CredSpark+”, will give its users access to more sophisticated CredSpark tools. In May 2021, the company partnered with BoostUp.ai, the developer of a revenue intelligence and operations platform, to gain insight into its sales pipeline and improve pipeline management. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2020, the company raised USD 32 million in a Series C extension round led by Owl Ventures. The funds will be used to develop its career mobility product that helps companies train their employees to fill internal opportunities. Degreed will also allow employees to showcase their skills and connect with job opportunities. In April 2021, Degreed raised USD 153 million in Series D funding to accelerate product development, enhance data infrastructure, fuel global expansion, and pursue strategic acquisitions. In August 2021, the company appointed Wendy Steinle as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Janice Burns as Chief People Officer.
  </p>
</div>


Degreed

<div>
  <p>
    Founded in 2015 by Rachel Carlson and Brittany Stich, Guild Education partners with businesses, non-profits, and universities to offer education as a benefit in the form of online classes, programs, and degrees from more than 80 universities and more than a dozen community colleges. Companies may provide their employees with partial or full tuition support to upskill or earn a degree. Guild works with employers to select programs that are most relevant to its employees, earning a percentage of the fees paid to the universities. The universities then save the expense and effort involved in marketing and recruitment. The company also provides its own support and mentoring services to help students plan, apply for, and finish their programs. As of November 2019, about 400,000 working adults joined the program–around 3%-5% of employees at partner companies. As of May 2020, the Guild Education platform offered more than 1,600 online degree programs.
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2021, the company announced the formation of a new Advisory Board of diverse business education leaders to generate insights and better serve all stakeholders.
  </p>
  <p>
    In May 2020, Guild Education launched Next Chapter, a program that replaces outplacement services by using algorithms to match employees with new roles in fields that are hiring and recommend programs for retraining. The company also acquired Entangled Group, an educational technology (EdTech) consulting and venture studio that also served as an initial investor in Guild Education. Entangled Group's portfolio of 21 EdTech companies will be managed independently of Guild Education.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Key customers and partnerships</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In February 2021, the company partnered with 2U, Inc., a developer of digital educational offerings in partnership with colleges and universities, to make 2U’s portfolio of more than 500 digital programs (including online degree programs, online short courses, and boot camps) available on the Guild Education platform. In March 2021, Ancora Corporate Training, a part of Ancora Education, an operator of private, post-secondary schools across the US, partnered with Guild Education by joining the Guild Education Learning Marketplace. In February 2022, the company partnered with UCHealth to launch the UCHealth Ascend Career Program, an educational and upskilling program investing up to USD 50 million for UCHealth employees. 
    More recently, In June 2022, Guild Education partnered with Snowflake, a cloud computing–based data warehousing firm, to deploy Snowflake’s new cybersecurity workload solution to strengthen its data security. 
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials</b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In June 2022, Guild Education reportedly raised 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10883">
      <u>USD 175 million in a Series F </u>
    </a>
    funding round led by Wellington Management. It planned to use the funds to expand into in-demand markets such as healthcare, childcare solutions, and career assessments. The company’s valuation rose to USD 4.4 billion from USD 3.75 billion a year ago. The company also reported that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) was more than USD 100 million in FY2020.
  </p>
</div>


Guild Education

<div>
  <p>
    Strivr has developed a virtual reality (VR) product for workplace training that simulates real-world and on-the-job situations. Strivr was incubated at Stanford University when co-founder and CEO Derek Belch developed a VR application in 2014 to help football players train off the field. The company's focus later shifted to workplace training. Its products combine interactive 360-degree videos with computer-generated scenarios in which trainees must actively participate. Strivr exclusively uses Oculus headsets for its VR experiences. As of March 2020, Strivr’s 22,000 VR headsets in operation had registered 1.6 million sessions.
  </p>
  <p>
    In 2017, Strivr partnered with Walmart to bring VR instruction 200 “Walmart Academy” instruction centers and all Walmart stores. In March 2021, Bank of America announced that it was rolling out Strivr’s VR product to thousands of employees across its 4,000 banks after a pilot program with about 400 employees. The bank plans to incorporate VR into its corporate learning program, “The Academy,” and apply the technology across a range of training areas such as notary services, fraud detection, and practicing empathy with customers.
  </p>
  <p>
    In April 2022, Strivr raised 
    <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9834">
      <u>USD 35 million in a funding round</u>
    </a>
     led by Georgian Partners and will use the funds for platform development. The company also announced that it is part of Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, a program focused on investing in developers of disruptive technologies. Additionally, the company is part of the Workday Software Partner Program, with plans to integrate its technology with Workday Content Cloud. 
  </p>
</div>


Strivr

<div>
  <p>
    Torch Leadership Labs is a leadership development platform founded by coaches, psychologists, entrepreneurs, and people managers. Torch conducts 360-degree interviews with executives, their direct reports, and peers, and scores them on empathy, visionary thinking, communication, conflict resolution, management, and collaboration. Torch lays out improvement goals and timelines, and arranges video chat sessions with specialized coaches. Sessions remain confidential and only performance goals and metrics are shared with the HR team through a dashboard on the platform. As of April 2020, Torch had worked with more than 10,000 leaders across more than 200 organizations.
  </p>
  <p>
    In April 2020, Torch launched Small Group Coaching, a month-long course that provides personalized coaching to small groups and individuals that also incorporates peer-to-peer learning.
  </p>
  <p>
    <b>Funding and financials </b>
  </p>
  <p>
    In May 2022, the company raised USD 40 million in a Series C funding round 
    led by 137 Ventures. It planned to use the funds for product development and to scale operations. The round follows its USD 25 million Series B fundraise in February 2021.
  </p>
</div>


Torch Leadership Labs

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies create immersive and interactive learning experiences

Technologies use algorithms and data analysis to improve employee training and development

LLearning platforms and D&I learning modules to promote a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture

Solutions provide insight into employee performance and areas for improvement

Learning content | Career development includes providers of content libraries and customized courses focusing on learning and developing skills directly related to job roles and careers (including hard skills, soft skills, and skills in demand). Delivery styles are varied and include in-person or virtual classrooms, mobile learning, and micro-learning. A variety of technologies may be employed such as video-based learning, artificial intelligence-based (AI-based) and adaptive learning, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

<div>
  <p>
    Codecool's mission is to solve the digital talent shortage for businesses and to provide new digital careers for individuals simultaneously.  For Individuals: - Project- and mastery-based experiential education to acquire new digital skills, with the curriculum directly shaped by businesses  - Learning management technology platform supporting the digital reskilling journey  - Financing solution with a post-payment system to enable reskilling for anyone. For Businesses: - New sourcing channel for high-quality digital talent, with transparent learning profile and assessment history  - Tailored reskilling and development of individuals for your businesses' needs - Try-and-hire model, providing a pool of candidates to try on the job before finalising roles. We don’t do half-baked solutions, quick fixes or shortcuts. Our curriculum is designed so students become well-versed in mainstream programming languages such as Python, Java and Javascript, while gaining sound knowledge of GIT, various databases and agile software development methods like SCRUM. Heading towards mastery-based learning methods, students can progress at their own pace, only moving on to the next stage once they know everything at their current level. We know how much soft skills matter in the workplace, be it a buzzing start-up or a high-profile tech giant. That’s why our English-language curriculum is practice-based from day one. Students in their training are working on real-life team projects in the classroom and perfecting their skills through self-instructed assignments at home. Our mentors act as learning facilitators or guiding sherpas as we like to think of them, rather than traditional disseminators of knowledge. We make sure that students learn all the ropes needed in the workplace, from working well in a team to managing their time and solving whatever problem comes their way.  We strive to keep up with the needs of the market and never stop evaluating and refining our teaching methods, course content and hiring practices.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    Udemy's mission is to create new possibilities for people and organizations everywhere by connecting them to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a changing world. The Udemy marketplace platform, with thousands of up-to-date courses in dozens of languages, provides the tools learners, instructors, and enterprises need to achieve their goals and reach their full potential. Millions of people learn on Udemy from real-world experts in topics ranging from programming and data science to leadership and team building. For companies, Udemy Business offers an employee training and development platform with subscription access to thousands of courses, learning analytics, and the ability to host and distribute their own content.
  </p>
</div>


Udemy

<div>
  <p>
    Coursera is an online education company that serves over 20 million registered learners by partnering with 140 of the world&rsquo;s best universities and education institutions. On Coursera, anyone, anywhere can access over 1,000 online courses and Specializations in dozens of fields in order to achieve meaningful career, educational, and personal enrichment goals throughout their lives. The company was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Mountain View, California.
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    The Glimpse Group is a Virtual and Augmented Reality company, comprised of multiple VR/AR software &amp; services companies.  Our unique structure allows our companies to share operational,   financial, development and IP infrastructure, while providing access to an ecosystem of like-minded VR/AR entrepreneurs, experienced management, and extensive commercial and technical networks.
  </p>
</div>


The Glimpse Group

<div>
  <p>
    Amesite is a high tech artificial intelligence software company developing a cloud-based platform for college and university courses to be cost-effectively and conveniently delivered to learners online and in hybrid online or on campus formats.  Amesite uses artificial intelligence to provide customized environments for learners, easier-to-manage interfaces for instructors, and greater accessibility for college degree seekers in the US education market and beyond.
  </p>
</div>


Amesite

<div>
  <p>
    Meazure Learning is a full-service testing solutions company for academic, professional, and lifelong learners. It is the world's most secure testing network and platform as the first end-to-end testing provider – incorporating psychometrics, test development, test delivery, secure proctoring, reporting, and more – to lead with an online delivery model, Meazure Learning is poised to transform the testing and assessment landscape.
  </p>
</div>


Meazure Learning

Used for immersive campus experiences including learning, discussions, and simulations

AI and ML technologies are applied across learning management systems, student information systems, and assessments

Learning platforms and tools provide students with equitable access to education and improve career readiness

AI technologies enable personalized learning and automation

Designers of learning programs and creators of learning content, aggregators and libraries of learning content and program, massive open online course (MOOC) platform operators, and providers of content development tools for authoring and course-building.

Codecool

EdTech: Corporate Learning

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Recent Updates

Codecool merges with Software Development Academy (SDA) to create tech training and sourcing hub in Central Europe

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