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"After passing 5,000 courses and releasing its first iPad app, online education marketplace\u00A0Udemy\u00A0has announced the completion of a $12 million Series B financing round led by\u00A0Insight Venture Partners. This new round, which also counts\u00A0Lightbank,\u00A0MHS Capital\u00A0and\u00A0Learn Capital\u00A0as investors, brings\u00A0Udemy\u2019s total funding to $16 million, and will be used to help grow the San Francisco-based company's\u00A0content offerings as it expands across new platforms.\r\n\r\nWe've kept a close eye on Udemy since we first discovered it in early 2011, and since then, online education has grown into a highly competitive space, thanks to the likes of Coursera,\u00A0P2PU,\u00A0Khan Academy,\u00A0Skillshare,\u00A0Codecademy\u00A0and even our own TNW Academy,\u00A0among many others.\r\n\r\nAs we've previously detailed, Udemy boasts that it is the largest marketplace of its kind, with more than 500,000 users. The company's site and newly released app provide access to both free and paid courses, including classes from noteworthy instructors such as Lean Startup\u2019s Eric Ries and entrepreneur Steve Blank.\r\n\r\nThis marketplace model differs from that of Coursera, which exclusively offers free classes, created through partnerships with universities.\r\n\r\nWith this news, Udemy has also announced a new hire,\u00A0Dennis Yang, as president and chief operating officer. Yang explains that Udemy's marketplace model\u00A0has led the company to double its courses and grow revenue by 400%\u00A0in one year. As this space continues to crowd, Udemy's new funds should help its chances for success.\r\n\r\nImage credit:\u00A0STR/Stringer/Getty Images"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/12/07/education-marketplace-udemy-raises-12-million-to-expand-its-content-and-explore-new-platforms/>