Coursera, a Silicon Valley-based education platform, has announced a new engineering office in Toronto. The office will be operated by engineers to accelerate product innovation for Coursera’s enterprise and partner products.
“Toronto is an emerging technology hub, and having a presence in the region positions Coursera to continue our growth.”
Coursera said it plans to hire from Toronto’s engineering talent pool to initially help drive the growth of its enterprise platform, Coursera for Business, which currently allows more than 1,800 companies to access learning content to help their employees gain in-demand skills. The team plans to continue broadening its engineering efforts to support other parts of the business as well.
“I’m thrilled that Coursera, a global leader in online learning, has chosen to open a new office in Toronto,” said Toronto Mayor John Tory. “Toronto’s technology and innovation sector is growing at a rapid speed that has started to attract international brands. I am confident that our highly skilled, diverse workforce will continue to attract innovative companies like Coursera to further grow our economy and create new opportunities within the Toronto Region.”
Coursera said it has noticed the expansion of Toronto’s tech industry in recent years, which fueled its decision to open the new office.
“Rapid product innovation is fundamental to how we are creating new possibilities for learners, educators, and employers in a rapidly changing world, and we need the best engineering talent to do so,” said Richard Wong, vice president of engineering at Coursera. “Toronto is an emerging technology hub, and having a presence in the region positions Coursera to continue our growth, innovate among a vibrant tech community, and draw from an incredibly deep and impressive talent pool.”
In addition to ascending three spots in Startup Genome’s ecosystem rankings, Toronto has also seen Web Summit bring its North American tech conference Collision to the city. A slew of international tech companies have also opened offices in the city of late.
This is not the first move Coursera has made in Canada. The company has entered into partnerships with local universities and more than 75 enterprise customers in the region. The company has also worked with Toronto Global, which assists international businesses in expanding into the Toronto Region, to understand the local market and ensure a smooth transition.
In 2014, the company selected Toronto among eight cities to become one of Coursera’s “Learning Hubs.” For each city, a sponsoring organization or company was named as a “Learning Hub Partner”. For Toronto, it was the coding education school BrainStation.
Since 2012, Coursera has grown its customer base to more than 40 million, and has partnered with 190 universities and industry partners. In April, the company raised a $103 million Series E round, which Coursera said fuelled the company’s ability to expand into new regions and diversify its product offerings.
Image courtesy Coursera