Global managed hosting provider Liquid Web has acquired another WordPress-related business. They’ve now announced their acquisition of LearnDash, a learning management system (LMS) plugin for WordPress.
LearnDash is a WordPress-based LMS built by e-learning specialists. LearnDash is bringing “cutting-edge” e-learning to WordPress with its LearnDash plugin. With LearnDash, big institutions, small and midsize businesses, startups, entrepreneurs and bloggers all around the world can fuel their learning programs.
Financial terms of this acquisition were not disclosed. Angle Advisors acted as financial advisor to LearnDash.
“Everyone knows LearnDash as the leader of online learning in the WordPress ecosystem. We are excited to welcome them to the Liquid Web family as we continue to build our strength in the digital commerce ecosystem,” said Chris Lema, Vice President of Products at Liquid Web. “LearnDash takes us deeper into the digital commerce space by offering online educators the best tools to create online courses, quizzes, and dynamic content with built-in marketing and ecommerce features. We believe in their brand, and we know that with our backing, they will continue to deliver the online solutions educators need.”
StellarWP and the LearnDash Brand
The LearnDash plugin business will become part of the StellarWP brand, which is the umbrella for Liquid Web’s WordPress software solutions, including WordPress brands such as iThemes, The Events Calendar, GiveWP and Restrict Content Pro.
As a result of the purchase, StellarWP has gained entry into the lucrative Learning Management System market. Because of the global pandemic, the LMS industry is expected to increase by over $30 billion by 2028, according to Liquid Web.
To keep things simple, LearnDash will remain an independent brand inside StellarWP. LearnDash clients, old and new, would continue to get the same high level of service, stated Liquid Web. Chris Lema, a WordPress guru and Liquid Web leader, will take over as General Manager of LearnDash from Justin Ferriman, who will stay as a consultant as a result of the acquisition.
“We’re excited to have LearnDash join StellarWP to continue our mission to power learning programs,” said Justin Ferriman, CEO and co-founder of LearnDash. “We are confident that the strength and leadership Liquid Web provides will ensure LearnDash remains the leading online LMS solution for WordPress for many years to come.”
In total, more than 500,000+ websites are managed by Liquid Web (Managed Hosting), Nexcess (Digital Commerce Cloud), and StellarWP (WordPress Software and Tools). These brands together count over 125,000 software subscriptions, and 2 million+ free software users.
