Heussner, K.M. (2012) As ed tech heats up, Desire2Learn raises $80 million in its first VC round, Pentahobigdata.com Gigaom, September 4
A bit of catching up – a blog post I missed in September. Just to update an earlier post, The money pours in to fund online learning start-ups – while the public system starves, Desire2Learn, a fast-growing LMS company based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, received an injection of $80 million in September from two venture capital companies, New Education Associates (NEA), based in Silicon Valley, but also from OMERS, the investment arm of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System.
So, to put the record straight, at least one Canadian venture capital company is investing in online learning in Canada. NEA is an investor in Coursera also.
With the new funding, Desire2Learn plans to accelerate global expansion and research and development, including learning analytics.
Dr. Tony Bates is the author of eleven books in the field of online learning and distance education. He has provided consulting services specializing in training in the planning and management of online learning and distance education, working with over 40 organizations in 25 countries. Tony is a Research Associate with Contact North | Contact Nord, Ontario’s Distance Education & Training Network.
[…] Desire2Learn: $80 million in September (not a start-up, of course, but still a significant online education company. For more information on the investment click here) […]
how many university uses D2L LMS in canada? plz
wt r thease universites?
In 2010 it was approximately 12 with Desire2Learn, but I think that figure has increased slightly since then. Moodle was the most popular, with approximately 30 Canadian universities using it, especially in British Columbia.
I’m not sure which ones are using Desire2Learn – any one want to answer this?