Skip to main content [aditude-amp id="stickyleaderboard" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1764544,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']

Pluralsight snaps up HackHands to offer budding coders real-time support

Image Credit: HackHands

Today tech education company Pluralsight announced that it’s acquired its seventh company, HackHands, in a deal likely valued in the low to mid-eight figures.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, Pluralsight chief executive Aaron Skonnard tells us it’s in the “range of significance” of prior Pluralsight deals TrainSignal and Smarterer, valued at $23.6 million and $75 million respectively.

[aditude-amp id="flyingcarpet" targeting='{"env":"staging","page_type":"article","post_id":1764544,"post_type":"story","post_chan":"none","tags":null,"ai":false,"category":"none","all_categories":"business,entrepreneur,","session":"A"}']

Offering live mentorship to programmers since 2013, HackHands raised $400,000 in total before the acquisition. Following the deal, HackHands’ chief executive Ed Roman says the site will continue operating as normal for at least a few months, but it will eventually merge with Pluralsight — although Roman asserts “there will be no lapse of service.”

Pluralsight has transformed into a significant acquirer these days, having spent at least $190 million snapping up online education startups over the past two years. Recent deals include the $36 million acquisition of learn-to-code site Code School and an even larger $75 million for skill measurement startup Smarterer.

AI Weekly

The must-read newsletter for AI and Big Data industry written by Khari Johnson, Kyle Wiggers, and Seth Colaner.

Included with VentureBeat Insider and VentureBeat VIP memberships.

Both Skonnard and Roman dubbed this deal a key move in Pluralsight’s ability to compete with LinkedIn, which bought elearning juggernaut Lynda.com for $1.5 billion in April. “This move positions Pluralsight as a credible competitor to LinkedIn,” Roman told us by phone yesterday. “The training platform wars are going to come down between LinkedIn and Pluralsight.”

“If you think about the Lynda/LinkedIn combination, this is one of those things that will distinguish us from them over time,” Skonnard told us this morning.

VentureBeat's mission is to be a digital town square for technical decision-makers to gain knowledge about transformative enterprise technology and transact. Learn More