Paris-based employee learning platform Rise Up raises €30M led by Amsterdam’s Connected Capital

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Paris-based Rise Up, a company that provides an employee learning software solution, announced on Tuesday that it has raised €30M in its Series B round of funding. 

The round was led by Amsterdam-based Connected Capital, a B2B SaaS focused investment fund. Existing investors MAIF Avenir and Impact Partners also participated in this round.

MAIF Avenir is the first French VC fund to invest in mission-driven companies. Managing more than €250M in assets with more than 45 investments, the firm supports startups from Seed to Series B stage.

Impact Partners is the first platform fully dedicated to impact investing in Europe. Through its Impact Growth Fund with investments ranging from €2M to €15M, Impact Partners provides financial and human support to social entrepreneurs in Europe willing to scale. 

It also supports those who want to create their own franchise business in deprived areas through its Impact Seed fund with investments ranging from €50K to €500K. The firm has more than €350M in assets under management.

About Connected Capital

Connected Capital is an investor in growth and buy-out stage European B2B SaaS companies. It provides capital and expertise in pure-play SaaS to entrepreneurs in order to accelerate the growth of their businesses. Backed by institutional investors, Connected Capital operates across Europe with over €200M of capital under management.

Sander Pennings of Connected Capital says, “Learning software solutions are increasingly relevant for organisations and Rise Up’s ability to serve customers with complex learning requirements – different user groups, (blended) learning formats, multiple entities and countries within one organisation – differentiates them as the one learning solution easily accessible across the full organisation.” 

Pennings adds, “Rise Up’s product suite combining LMS, LXP and content authoring is already adding crucial value to companies ranging from SMEs to large corporations such as Axa, Schneider Electric and Domino’s. We are impressed with Rise Up’s efficient growth over the last years in its current markets and are excited to contribute to the company’s accelerated international expansion.”

Capital utilisation

Rise Up says that the funds will further accelerate its European growth, allowing expansion of the commercial organisation and product suite as well as localisation of its learning and development solutions for European markets.

Rise Up co-founder and CEO, Arnaud Blachon, says, “As we continue to navigate the pandemic, hybrid learning is fundamental; Rise Up offers an inclusive learning platform that transforms this crucial business challenge into an opportunity for our customers. Our partnership with Connected Capital, with its focus on B2B SaaS, and their experience with HR tech companies, in particular, will allow us to further strengthen our position in local European markets.”

“A personalised training experience”

Learning is one of the most fundamental business challenges and top of mind for both CEOs and employees. According to a statement provided by Rise Up, 79 per cent of CEOs worldwide identify the lack of essential skills in their workforce as a threat to future growth, and the inability to learn and grow is the #1 reason for employees to look for a new job.

Founded in 2014 by brothers Arnaud and Guillaume Blachon, Rise Up is looking to revolutionise the learning experience with its blended learning platform for all stakeholders – trainers, administrators, and learners. 

Across all approaches, e-learning, face-to-face and mobile, and in compliance with the regulatory framework, Rise Up claims to have become a one-stop-shop solution from being a learning experience provider (LXP – Learning experience platform), a learning management solution for Human Resources (LMS – Learning Management System), and an authoring tool for trainers (Authoring Tool).

Currently, the company has over 100 employees in six key countries across Europe. Rise Up says it has doubled both its revenues and staff every year since its inception in 2014. Its learning solution serves over 400 customers and 1 million active learners in 60 countries.

The company has offices in Paris, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Munich, and claims to have begun to build a solid network across Europe.

Previous funding

The tech scale-up raised less than €5M since its launch in Paris in 2014. The company secured initial Seed funding in 2018 from several investors, including Impact Partenaires, Bpifrance and BNP Paribas. 

The company secured its first round of investment in 2020 from MAIF Avenir, IMPACT Partners and Bpifrance. In 2021, Rise Up signed a strategic partnership and equity investment with Ifpass.

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Vishal Singh

Vishal Singh is a News Reporter and Social Media Marketing Lead at Silicon Canals. He covers developments in the European startup ecosystem and oversees the publication's social media presence. Before joining Silicon Canals, Vishal gained experience at the Indian digital media outlet Inc42, contributing to its growth with insightful content. Despite being a college dropout, his passion for writing has driven his career in journalism.

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