Codecademy
Headquarters
New York, NYFounded
2011CEO / Founder
Zach SimsEmployees
201-500Funding
Acquired — $82.5MProducts
1 product listedAvg. AI Score
7.7/10Website
codecademy.com/
Profile updated
About Codecademy
Codecademy is an online education platform founded in 2011 by Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski and headquartered in New York City. The platform provides interactive, browser-based courses in programming and technical skills, targeting both individual learners and enterprise teams through its Codecademy for Business offering.
The platform offers courses across more than 14 programming languages including Python, JavaScript, SQL, Java, and Ruby, as well as subjects such as data science, machine learning, and cybersecurity. Codecademy operates on a freemium model, with a free tier providing access to basic content and a paid Pro subscription unlocking full course catalogs, projects, and certificates. The company has reported tens of millions of registered users globally.
Codecademy raised approximately $82.5 million in venture funding from investors including Union Square Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Naspers before being acquired by Skillsoft, a corporate learning company, in April 2022 for approximately $525 million. The acquisition positioned Codecademy as Skillsoft's consumer and developer-focused learning arm alongside Skillsoft's existing enterprise training catalog.
Specialties
Financials
Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.
Products by Codecademy
All products by Codecademy reviewed by our AI panel of experts.
How Our Review Panel Scores Codecademy
Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Codecademy's product on their own terms. They landed within 0.8 points of each other, an unusually strong consensus.
Averaged across 1 reviewed product in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.
Competitive Landscape
Who Codecademy competes with, and how they differ.
Udemy is an open marketplace where any instructor can publish a course, so its coding catalog is uneven in quality and sells per-course rather than the flat subscription Codecademy uses for its structured, in-house-built curriculum.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedfreeCodeCamp is a nonprofit, entirely free coding curriculum funded by donations with no paid tier, competing directly with Codecademy's freemium/Pro model for the same self-taught beginner audience.
DataCamp uses the same interactive in-browser exercise model as Codecademy but narrows its catalog to data science, analytics, and Python/R/SQL rather than Codecademy's broader web development and general programming tracks.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Educative delivers interactive, text-based coding courses (no video) aimed more at working engineers preparing for technical interviews and system-design roles, versus Codecademy's broader beginner-to-intermediate curriculum.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewed
Scrimba teaches through interactive screencasts learners can pause and edit code directly inside the video, a narrower niche (mainly frontend/JavaScript) and smaller catalog than Codecademy's full-stack curriculum.
1 product reviewed on TopReviewedCompany Timeline
Key milestones in Codecademy's history, with sources.
- Acquisition
Skillsoft completes acquisition of Codecademy
Skillsoft closed its acquisition of Codecademy, creating a combined community of more than 90 million learners.
investor.skillsoft.com - Acquisition
Skillsoft to acquire Codecademy for ~$525M
Skillsoft announced a deal to acquire Codecademy for approximately $525 million (about 40% cash, 60% equity); Codecademy reported ~$42M 2021 revenue (+31% YoY) and ~40M registered learners at signing.
investor.skillsoft.com - Funding
Series D — $40M led by Owl Ventures
Codecademy raised a $40M Series D led by Owl Ventures, with participation from existing investors Union Square Ventures and Prosus, bringing total funding to roughly $82M.
wsj.com - Funding
Series C — $30M led by Naspers Ventures
Codecademy closed a $30M Series C led by Naspers Ventures (now Prosus Ventures), with Naspers Ventures CEO Larry Illg joining the board.
bizjournals.com - Funding
Series B — $10M
Codecademy raised a $10M Series B, following the viral "Code Year" campaign that had drawn hundreds of thousands of participants earlier that year.
forbes.com - Milestone
"Code Year" campaign draws ~200,000 signups
Codecademy's viral New Year's campaign, offering a free interactive coding lesson each week for 2012, drew almost 200,000 signups within its first week.
newyorker.com - Founded
Codecademy launches, gains 200,000+ users in first week
Zach Sims and Ryan Bubinski, who met through Y Combinator, launched Codecademy.com on August 18, 2011; it drew more than 200,000 users within its first week.
businessinsider.com - Funding
Seed round — $2.5M led by Union Square Ventures
Codecademy raised a $2.5M seed round from Union Square Ventures, with participation from O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Thrive Capital, SV Angel, and CrunchFund.
businessinsider.com
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