Learnerbly, the SaaS-enabled marketplace for workplace learning and development, has secured $10m in its Series A led by the ProVen VCTs. The funding will accelerate the international growth of the preferred learning and development platform for many of Europe’s leading tech companies, including Hellofresh, King, and GoCardless.

Notable participants in the round included new investors Digital Horizon Ventures, BY Venture Partners, GO Ventures, and prolific marketplace venture fund FJ Labs, alongside existing investors Frontline Ventures, Triple Point, London Co-Investment Fund and UFI Ventures. Learnerbly also secured the backing of influential angel investors including Zach Coelius (Coelius Capital), Leonard Picardo (second employee at Deliveroo), Neil Ryland (CRO of Peakon), Renaud Visage (Co-Founder and CTO of Eventbrite), and Stephan Thoma (former Global Head of Learning at Google).

Learnerbly was founded in London in 2017 by Rajeeb Dey MBE, whose previous success in scaling Enternships – a portal connecting students and graduates with work placements in start-ups and fast-growth businesses – led to his recognition as the youngest recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion in 2013.

Learnerbly’s online marketplace guides and supports employees to access the most relevant resources covering a breadth of topic areas for first-time leaders through to engineers, marketers, finance and sales. They provide access to books, podcasts, conferences, courses, coaching and more from over 250 leading providers including Blinkist, Masterclass, Pluralsight, and General Assembly. This provides its clients, such as WeTransfer, Curve, and Busuu, with a platform that upskills, unlocks potential, and inspires a culture of growth in tech-focused businesses.

The global workplace learning industry is worth over $350bn and within many organisations has traditionally been delivered top-down, with businesses often viewing it simply as a compliance-driven necessity. The turbulence of the pandemic and the shift to distributed working has also placed far more scrutiny on how employers can invest in the growth of employees. Recent research by Beamery found that 83 percent of employees think companies should help with career progression, yet 44 percent don’t currently have access to talent acceleration programmes from their employers.

Learnerbly addresses this demand, providing employees with the tools to drive their growth and development and enabling employers to invest in the future success of their talent. This is a vital solution for upskilling to meet the demands of the changing workplace, while also being a talent attraction, engagement and retention strategy to remain competitive in the digital economy. Today, Learnerbly is used by thousands of employees in 100+ organisations across more than 50 countries.

This round of funding will enable Learnerbly to strengthen its product development, scale its distributed workforce of more than 60 employees, and harness global demand for its services, particularly in the USA. It will be supported by Beringea, the investment manager of the ProVen VCTs, whose transatlantic footprint has provided many of its portfolio companies with valuable insights and intelligence for expansion in America.

Rajeeb Dey MBE, Founder and CEO of Learnerbly, commented: “An increasingly competitive hiring market and the rise of the ‘great resignation’ mean employers worldwide are concerned about how they recruit and retain top talent.  The focus on learning and development (L&D) has, therefore, never been greater.

“And yet, many HR teams struggle to keep up with the breadth of content and pace of change required for L&D in the digital economy. At Learnerbly, we tackle these challenges head on. Our platform provides employees with the tools to discover exceptional content from more than 250 providers and tailor their own learning plans.

“This means employers – particularly scale-ups that don’t have vast in-house L&D functions – can easily offer access to best-in-class learning without ever needing to create their own content, manage relationships with multiple content providers, or take what we would deem a ‘one-size-fits-none’ approach to L&D. This clearly works: employers see a 3X+ increase in engagement in learning when using Learnerbly, saving clients vital time and money.”

Maria Wagner, Investment Director at Beringea, the investment manager of the ProVen VCTs, commented: “With the hybrid work environment, employers are under pressure to offer new ways of learning for their employees and ensure they are engaged and retained. At the same time, HR departments are struggling with the proliferation of learning providers and managing multiple suppliers. Learnerbly offers a curated solution that serves both the needs of the employees and of HR departments in this new environment. We were impressed with Raj and the team, and we are excited to join them on their journey.”