Which Coding Bootcamps Have Been Acquired & Raised Money?

Table of Contents

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• 2022 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions
• 2021 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions
• 2020 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions 
• Infographic: Coding Bootcamp Fundraises + Acquisitions 2017-2021
• Timeline: Every Coding Bootcamp Acquisition Since 2014
• Notable Acquisitions
• Timeline: Every Coding Bootcamp Fundraise Since 2014

Since the first bootcamp acquisition in June 2014, we’ve seen several coding bootcamps get acquired by a range of companies from for-profit education companies (Capella Education), to co-working companies (WeWork), and other coding bootcamps (Thinkful + Bloc)! With rapid market growth in the bootcamp industry, for-profit education companies are taking note. These acquisitions and consolidations should come as no surprise, and some have been very successful, with schools going on to increase their number of campuses and course offerings. As coding bootcamps become more mature, we are seeing them get snapped up by more well-known companies, for increasingly large sums (e.g. General Assembly for $413 million and Trilogy Education for $750 million!) We’ll keep this chronologically-ordered list updated as bootcamps announce future acquisitions.

2022 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions

As of November 2022, bootcamps have already secured over $375M in funding. The largest fundraises were from Multiverse, who raised $220,000,000 to expand the tech bootcamp and apprenticeship model. Bootcamp-adjacent companies also announced big news – Skillsoft acquired Codecademy in January for $525M and Guild Education raised $175M in Series F funding. On top of those major fundraises, we've already seen Holberton School acquired by ALG (African Leadership Group). 

2021 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions

In 2021, bootcamps secured over $1 Billion in funding! The largest fundraises were Emeritus's $650M fundraise for university bootcamps and Product School's $25M Series A round. Bootcamp-adjacent companies like Codecademy and Blair Capital also raised an additional $158M in 2021. Plus, Udemy went public in October, raising $461M in its IPO. On top of those major fundraises, we saw two major acquisitions in 2021 – Brainstation acquired Wyncode in January and SNHU acquired Kenzie Academy in March. 

2020 Bootcamp Funding & Acquisitions 

Bootcamps secured ~$160,000,000 in funding throughout 2020 – the largest fundraises were Lambda School's $74M Series C and Springboard's $31M Series B. Bootcamp-adjacent companies like Coursera and Udacity also raised an additional $385M in 2020. On top of those major fundraises, we saw several major acquisitions in 2020 – for example, Stride/K-12 purchased Galvanize for $165M and Tech Elevator for $24M, and WeWork sold Flatiron School to Carrick Partners for an undisclosed amount.

Infographic: Coding Bootcamp Fundraises + Acquisitions 2017-2021

Timeline: Every Coding Bootcamp Acquisition Since 2014

Notable Acquisitions

The First Major Acquisition: Kaplan buys Dev Bootcamp

Dev Bootcamp was acquired by Kaplan Test Prep in June 2014. As of December 8, 2017, Dev Bootcamp will no longer be operating.

Although this was the first acquisition in the coding bootcamp industry, it wasn’t Kaplan’s first foray into coding bootcamps- they launched data science bootcamp Metis in Boston and New York in early 2014. Kaplan shut Dev Bootcamp down in December 2017 but continues to operate Metis.

Multiple Acquisitions by Galvanize + Hack Reactor since 2014

Zipfian Academy was acquired by Galvanize in November 2014. Zipfian Academy was one of the first data science bootcamps in the US, and after one year of success, joined Denver-based education & coworking powerhouse Galvanize. Zipfian co-founder and CEO Ryan Orban joined the Galvanize team as EVP of Product and Strategy. 

MakerSquare was acquired by ReactorCore in January 2015. Hack Reactor reorganized in October 2015 into parent company, ReactorCore, which manages a network of schools.

Mobile Makers was acquired by ReactorCore in September 2015. ReactorCore was announced as the parent company of Hack Reactor, Hack Reactor Remote Beta, MakerSquare, and Telegraph Academy. It’s first major move was to acquire Chicago-based mobile bootcamp Mobile Makers. Mobile Makers Academy Director of Education Jessi Chartier was promoted to CEO.

Major For-Profit Education Enters the Bootcamp Space: The Iron Yard & NYCDA

The Iron Yard brought on Apollo Education as a “strategic investor” in July 2015. As of October 13, 2017, The Iron Yard is no longer operating.

New York Code & Design Academy was acquired by Strayer Education, Inc in January 2016 – it is no longer operating.

Hackbright Academy was acquired by Capella Education in April 2016 and shortly after, DevMountain was acquired by Capella Education in May 2016. Capella Education is now SEI.

Flatiron School + WeWork

Flatiron School was acquired by WeWork in October 2017. WeWork also scooped up MissionU in May 2018 and Flatiron School acquired UX design bootcamp Designation in August 2018 and cybersecurity bootcamp SecureSet Academy in August 2019.

Facing all sorts of financial obstacles in 2020, and as WeWork started to divest from many of its assets, they sold Flatiron School to Carrick Partners in June 2020. 

Thinkful Goes on a Buying Spree – and Gets Acquired in 2019

Viking Code School and The Odin Project were acquired by Thinkful in December 2017

Bloc was acquired by Thinkful in April 2018

Thinkful was then acquired by Chegg for $100 million in 2019.

Largest Acquisitions to Date: General Assembly and Trilogy

General Assembly was acquired by Adecco in April 2018 for $413 million! According to Axios, GA had been valued at $440 million. Between 2011-2015, GA raised nearly $120 million in VC funding, and earned $100 million in revenue in 2017.

Trilogy Education broke that record in April 2019 when they were acquired by 2U for $750 million.

Timeline: Every Coding Bootcamp Fundraise Since 2014

We’ll keep this chronologically-ordered list updated as bootcamps announce future acquisitions.