Online corporate education platform raises $11m to expand
Coorpacademy has raised a new round of $11m in venture capital as it plans to develop its online platform for corporate education. The funding will be used to expand in Europe and foster new content partnerships. Co-founder and ex-Google executive, Jean-Marc Tassetto, said the firm aimed to combat the issue of corporate e-learning being "boring" by blending original content and lessons developed by third parties with aspects of social dynamics and gamification. Tassetto added that the online platform can be accessed across all devices, so users can pick up lessons at a time convenient to them.

Paris-based Coorpacademy announced today it has raised a new round of $11 million in venture capital as it seeks to build out its online platform for corporate education.

Investors in the new round include Serena Capital, NextStageAM, and Debiopharm Investment funds. Launched in 2013, Coorpacademy hopes to use the new money to expand across Europe and develop new content partnerships.

“The problem we had to attack is that corporate e-learning is boring,” said cofounder Jean-Marc Tassetto. “Our ambition is to bring back the pleasure of learning, and to encourage learners to develop their skills to their full potential.”

Coorpacademy does that by mixing original content and lessons developed by corporate partners and third parties, and adding in elements of social dynamics and gamification. Because the platform is online, it can be accessed across all devices so users can stop and start lessons when they have time for training, Tassetto said.

Before launching Coorpacademy, Tassetto was former vice president of Google France. Cofounder Arnauld Mitre was a director of Google France. The third partner, Frédérick Benichou, is a serial entrepreneur.

The company currently has 44 employees, and it has raised a total of $14.5 in venture capital. While Coorpacademy’s main focus is France and Europe, Tassetto notes that because it has large international corporate partners, such as Nespresso, about half of the actual users are in the United States.