Codecademy raises $30 million to further its global and academic expansion

Online education service Codecademy has raised a $30 million Series C to accelerate the company’s expansion, both geographically and academically, and to make it mobile-friendly. This latest investment was led by the venture arm of internet and entertainment group Naspers and included participation from several returning investors.

“Since we founded Codecademy in 2011, we have seen an explosion of interest in learning to code as a key component of a 21st-century education,” stated Zach Sims, the company’s CEO. Indeed, over the past four years there has been an increase in the number of options available for people interested in studying programming. Competitors in the space include Code School, Pluralsight, Lynda.com, and Code.org.

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Codecademy claims that “tens of millions” of people have taken its courses around the world, learning HTML, JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, and more.

With a fresh infusion of cash, the company plans to add more staff so it can customize courses worldwide. Right now, anyone can access the curriculum, but Codecademy intends to localize the content so it’s available in more languages. Additional courses will be offered, and though Sims declined to provide specifics about what will be added next, he said there would be an expansion of the Codecademy Pro offering, which provides personalized learning plans.

Many students have graduated from the web-based program, but Codecademy intends to expend resources to transform into a mobile-optimized offering, as well.

Having Naspers as an investor benefits Codecademy in that it provides a partner with considerable experience in international expansion. Other investments Naspers has made include Tencent and Flipkart.

“With millions of monthly users, and more than 50 percent of those outside the U.S., there is a great opportunity in partnering with Naspers to expand our business to deliver a wider breadth of courses in more languages and new geographies to create an education that allows anyone to access economic opportunity,” Sims said in a statement.

To date, Codecademy has raised more than $32 million in funding.