GO1, an enterprise learning platform based in Brisbane, Australia, has raised $40 million (AUD$61 million) in its Series C funding round to continue expanding its business.
The round was led by existing investors SEEK and Madrona Venture Group, with participation from previous backers including Our Innovation Fund and Microsoft’s venture arm M12, and new investor Salesforce Ventures.
Founded in 2015, GO1 is a content provider allowing businesses to provide on-demand remote training and education materials to employees. It offers businesses unlimited access to thousands of learning resources from providers around the world, and helps them find the right resources for all their professional development, compliance, onboarding, and business training needs.
GO1 aims to provide the best learning opportunities to improve lives through education and training. It counts the likes of University of Oxford, Delta, Suzuki, Thrifty and NBC Universal among its 3,000+ customers. The startup claims to have more than 1.5 million learners on its platform, accessing over 170,000 courses and other resources provided by over 100 vetted content partners.
Speaking about the company, Andrew Barnes, Co-founder and CEO of GO1, said in a statement,
“GO1’s growth over the last couple of months has been unprecedented and the use of online tools for training is now undergoing a structural shift. It is gratifying to fill an important void right now as workers embrace online solutions. We are inspired about the future that we are building as we expand our platform with new mediums that reach millions of people every day with the content they need.”
The company said its team will be focusing on integrating the tech with new partners, and expanding its presence in the US and the UK.
Commenting on the investment, S. Somasegar, Managing Director, Madrona Venture Group, said,
“We met GO1 many months before COVID-19 was on the tip of everyone’s tongue and were impressed then with the growth of the platform and the ability of the team to expand their corporate training offering significantly in North America and Europe. The global pandemic has only increased the need to both provide training and retraining – and also do it remotely. GO1 is an important link in the chain of recovery.”
Nagraj Kashyap, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Global Head of M12 also commented in a statement saying, “GO1 has been critical for business continuity as organizations navigate the remote realities of COVID-19. The GO1 integration with Microsoft Teams offers a seamless learning experience at a time when 75 million people are using the application daily. We’re proud to invest in a solution helping keep employees learning and businesses growing through this time.”
Rob Keith, Head of Australia, Salesforce Ventures, also expressed excitement about partnering with the company, saying “We are excited about partnering with GO1 as it looks to scale its online content hub globally. While the majority of corporate learning is done in person today, we believe the new digital imperative will see acceleration in the shift to online learning tools. We believe GO1 fits well into the Trailhead ecosystem and our vision of creating the life-long learner journey.”
Meanwhile, the latest funding comes after the company raised a $30 million Series B in March last year.
