Coursera Establishes R&D Center in Sofia with the Acquisition of Rhyme Softworks
The global e-learning platform Coursera announced the acquisition of the US-Bulgarian startup Rhyme Softworks and its product that lets developers execute hands-on, virtual e-learning projects from the internet browser.
This is the first-ever acquisition the online education platform has made. Coursera now values at more than $1 billion, works with some 190 universities to deliver 3,600 online courses to 43 million learners since its establishment in 2012.
With the acquisition of Rhyme Softworks, Coursera is launching a new offering called Coursera Labs, which will let educational institutions and industry partners build their own hands-on learning projects, powered by the Rhyme technology.
The terms of the deal remain undisclosed but it includes not just Rhyme’s IP and related assets, but the Sofia-based team of six, who will now form the basis of the new Coursera’s R&D office in Bulgaria. Coursera plans to invest in the center in Sofia as part of its Coursera Labs initiative.
Coursera Labs aims at bringing flexibility and customization to those subjects into the e-learning platform that have strong project and development components to them.
“The new capability will allow partners to create hands-on projects using almost any third-party software application, offered as standalone projects or integrated into courses. Rhyme truly embraces the concept of “learning by doing” and, moving forward, we see big opportunities to use Rhyme to extend the capabilities we’ll offer with Coursera Labs. With this acquisition, we will also expand Rhyme’s office in Sofia to focus on Labs-powered innovation efforts”, the official announcement says.
A little over a year after I announced Rhyme on @ngconf 2018, as a former co-founder and CTO of the company, I'm thrilled to share that it is joining forces with @Coursera after a successful acquisition!https://t.co/DcMDCzAPI8https://t.co/9Z8sfGFwSl pic.twitter.com/1BH4TXtm5y
— Minko Gechev (@mgechev) August 29, 2019
