Edutech start-up Degreed on Wednesday said it has raised $32 million in a new funding round led by Owl Ventures in response to market demand for upskilling and reskilling amid the coronavirus pandemic. This brings Degreed’s total funding to $182 million.
Degreed is an upskilling platform that trains employees to enhance their skill set and create skill profiles. Using that data, the platform can then promote career mobility by connecting users to projects, gigs, and job opportunities. This round of funding will accelerate Degreed’s career mobility roadmap.
“We’ve seen a tremendous surge in client demand for our career mobility product. It’s more important than ever for companies to understand the skills of their workforce, enrich their upskilling programs, and enable internal mobility,” said Chris McCarthy, chief executive of Degreed.
The funding comes after record demand for Degreed in the last six months. The startup has claimed that more than one in seven Degreed users activated accounts between April and May.
New Degreed clients including Ford, Fidelity Investments, and South Africa’s Standard Bank quickly shifted their workforce strategies to empower remote work and talent mobility. In India, Degreed’s clients include Tata Communications and Asian Paints.
“The workforce has fundamentally shifted over the past months, and organisations are investing further in their people and skills,” said Ian Chiu, managing director of Owl Ventures. “The need for lifelong learning is greater than ever and with this latest funding round, Degreed is well-positioned to shape a future where a person’s skills are the measure of their success and not their job titles. Where nobody becomes irrelevant because of a lack of the right skills at the right time.”