Guild Education headquarters in Denver, Colorado
Guild Education
Guild Education has raised a Series E funding round of $ 150 million, bringing the company’s valuation to $ 3.75 billion, more than triple its previous valuation of $ 1 billion.
The Denver-based educational technology company, ranked 49th on this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list, helps companies like Disney, Chipotle, Walmart, Taco Bell and Lowe’s offer debt-free titles to their employees.
“If you talk to the CEOs of almost any large company, they focus on issues that depend on getting back to work right: safety protocols, culture, support for women and parents, and most of all, recruitment and retention,” he co – Founder and CEO Rachel Carlson told CNBC.
On the Guild platform, users can enroll in programs from high school to trades, associates, bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Courses are typically flexible and do not require a student to leave during the workday to complete a lesson or take an exam.
Chipotle has seen a 3.5 times higher retention rate among students enrolled in Guild programs, according to Carlson, and front-line employees who participate in Guild programs are 7.5 times more likely to move into a management role than their non-peers. inscribed.
“For workers, education unlocks economic mobility, giving them a debt-free way to acquire new skills and credentials that are aligned with the future of work,” he said.
The Guild sees an opportunity to grow among the 88 million hardworking Americans who need to learn new professional skills to compete for jobs, supplanting the traditional notion that earning a college degree first is the path to a good job. It currently offers three million workers from major employers access to its platform, helping companies retain and “train” workers to take on new roles and responsibilities. Workers receive access to educational benefits, including tuition reimbursement and tuition assistance.
Over the past year, nearly three-quarters of American companies reported a significant talent shortage, the highest number in a decade.
A significant portion of the domestic workforce also faces a great threat of being displaced by automation. According to Carlson, workers with no postsecondary education (nearly 90 million Americans) will account for nearly 80 percent of all displaced workers by 2030.
“Employers are facing a rapidly changing workforce, with huge shortages today in fields like engineering, cybersecurity and data analytics that are only accelerating,” he said. “As both employees and employers seek to be competitive for the future of work, upskilling has quickly become the logical answer.”
Guild says its new capital will be used to fuel the company’s growth, doubling the size of its product and engineering team, while investing in its technology and payments platform. Investors in the new financing include Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Salesforce Ventures and GV, Alphabet’s venture capital arm.
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