Dive Brief:

• Instructure, which runs the Canvas learning management and online teaching platforms, has raised an undisclosed amount of Series E funding estimated to be between $40 million and $70 million.
• The money will be used to start a new learning platform for corporations called Bridge.
• The company is also planning an initial public offering later in 2015.

Dive Insight:

TechCrunch reports that Bridge is intended to compete with Blackboard’s platform for the corporate training market. Blackboard is also Instructure’s main competitor in the online learning business, dominating the market with more than 12,300 K-12 schools in the U.S. and 1,900 institutions globally as customers, compared to 930 institutions worldwide and more than 2 million students and teachers for Canvas. If the latest round of investor funding was $40 million, as reported by Business Insider and Inside Higher Ed, then the total venture capital funding for the company comes to $90 million. Participating investors reportedly include Insight Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Epic Ventures, and OpenView Venture Partners.