Professional services company Accenture plc today announced that it’s acquiring Udacity Inc., a venture-backed startup with a popular online learning platform.

The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed. After the acquisition closes later this year, Accenture plans to launch a technology training service called LearnVantage for enterprises and government organizations. The company said that it will invest $1 billion in the service over three years.

NYSE-listed Accenture is a major provider of information technology services. It helps organizations build cloud applications, improve their network security and perform other IT tasks. Accenture also has a presence in several other markets including the marketing services segment.

Udacity, in turn, operates an online learning platform focused primarily on IT training. The platform hosts courses that help users familiarize themselves with topics such as artificial intelligence and data science. Udacity also offers education resources that focus on specific technologies such as the Python programming language.

The company has raised more than $170 million in venture funding from Andreessen Horowitz and other investors. In mid-2019, Udacity divulged that it was on track to close the year with sales of over $100 million. About 12 months later, the education provider announced that its annual recurring revenue jumped 260% in the first half of 2020.

Udacity’s more than 230 employees will join the Accenture business unit responsible for LearnVantage, the new IT training service the latter company announced today. The service is geared towards not only technology professionals but also business users. Accenture says that LearnVantage will provide training across areas such as AI, data science and cybersecurity.

The public cloud is another major focus of the service. Accenture said that it will work with Amazon Web Services Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google LLC’s cloud business to provide generative AI training content to joint customers. The company also plans to offer related resources including certifications.

“The rapid rise of generative AI has grown our clients’ need for training and upskilling their people in cloud, data and AI as they build their digital core,” said LearnVantage global lead Kishore Durg. “Accenture LearnVantage will help our clients not only advance their business goals but also help their people build the skills they will need for the next waves of technology change.”

Udacity’s sale comes three years after Codecademy, a competing player in the IT education market, was acquired by Skillsoft Corp. for $525 million. Codecademy previously raised more than $80 million in funding from Index Ventures and other institutional investors. 

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