Dive Brief:
- Learning management system provider Instructure logged $128.8 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2023, up 13.6% from the year before, the company announced this week.
- CEO Steve Daly estimated that the company’s LMS, Canvas, is now used by around 36% of North American higher education institutions. “We win a very high percentage of new deals as customers recognize the value we offer,” he told analysts on a call late Monday.
- Still, Daly contended that Canvas has room to grow its market share, noting that competitors Blackboard and Moodle are used by around 40% of North American colleges.
Dive Insight:
Canvas has consistently grown over the past 10 years, with the LMS now being used by more than one-third of higher education institutions in the U.S. and Canada, according to an annual analysis from market research and consulting firm Phil Hill & Associates. Moodle and Blackboard each have 19% of the market share, followed by D2L’s Brightspace at 14%.
During the call to discuss Instructure earnings, one analyst expressed concerns about the company’s ability to continue gaining market share. But Daly said he’s “not really seeing a slowdown.”
“There’s still a lot of room for us to run from a market share perspective in U.S. higher ed,” he said.
However, competition may be heating up. Although Canvas has much higher market share than Brightspace, the two providers closed a similar share of deals in 2022, according to the Phil Hill & Associates analysis.
Daly said the company is seeing more interest from institutions that want to switch from multiple LMS providers to just one. He pointed to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, which recently selected Canvas to replace different LMS vendors for in-person and online students.
“That will be a key driver,” Daly said.
Instructure’s costs and expenses increased to $134.8 million in the first quarter, up 15% from the same period last year. The company logged an $11.9 million loss, up from $5.5 million the year before.
