Derry firm Learning Pool completes buy-out of New York online training business
Derry-based online training firm, Learning Pool, has strengthened its American wing by buying out New York business, True Office Learning, for an undisclosed sum.
Learning Pool already has bases in both Boston and Denver, decided to expand its US operations with the acquisition set to boost their annual turnover close to £37million.
The firm has come a long way from the days of its founder Paul McElvaney coming up with the idea at his kitchen table back in 2006.
Since then, Learning Pool has grown to become one of the world's leading providers on online training courses for businesses.
With the buying out of US business, True Office Learning, current Learning Pool CEO, Ben Betts, says that Derry itself will benefit as he expects “many opportunities” to be created as a result of this deal.
He said: “We will onboard at least one hundred new employees this year to help us capitalise on the opportunities created, in part, by this acquisition; it's fair to say that we expect many of those opportunities will be available to people living in and around the Derry area.
“These will be jobs that cover every aspect of the business, from technical support to product development, through sales and operations – we are hiring.
“True Office Learning has a highly capable management team that has re-invested in the business to lead the charge for us on any integration work.
“We think it's also fair to say that the world has changed a bit in this regard in the last couple of years; we anticipate remaining flexible in terms of where people work in the world.
“But opportunities to be posted elsewhere for periods of time exist today and will continue to be available both for people in Derry wanting to experience a bit of New York and for New Yorkers to find out what Derry has to offer.
“We are a fast growing company and maintain a constant watch on the industry to identify acquisition opportunities, this being our fifth in as many years.
“We knew True Office Learning from our shared association with Marlin Equity Partners and liked what they were doing – and once we started exploring the idea, we both saw the potential for our respective customers, our employees and our business. We are delighted to welcome the True Office Learning team to the Learning Pool Family.
“The combined company now has one hundred plus colleagues located in the US and Canada which means we can better support existing customers and accelerate our joint growth across the North American region.
“True Learning Online customers will be able to access Learning Pool’s broader range of learning technology to create unique and compelling solutions; all from a single industry-leading partner.
“For Learning Pool’s customers, the addition of market-leading adaptive compliance content is a new offering that showcases the very best of what compliance training can become when it's done in a smart, data-led way.
“True Learning Online content covers a wide-range of topics that are not currently available directly to Learning Pool customers around the world, so expect to see a rapid expansion of our Off-the-Shelf offering in the coming weeks.
“We see the North American market as a huge growth opportunity for Learning Pool but the New York City location was not our primary concern.
“We are most excited by True Learning Online’s award winning adaptive learning and behavioural intelligence technology for enterprise.
“More than three hundred leading organisations use the True Learning Online platform and there is a fantastic opportunity for us to leverage our combined technologies for the benefit of our customers across Northern Ireland, the wider UK, North America and beyond.”