Guild
Guild is a Denver-based B2B2C workforce education platform founded in 2015 that enables large employers to offer tuition-funded degrees, certificates, career coaching, and AI-enhanced talent development programs to their employees, with recent international expansion into Canada, Mexico, India, and the UK.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2015
- HeadquartersDenver, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Guild does
Guild (formerly Guild Education) is a Denver-based workforce education and talent development platform founded in 2015 that operates a B2B2C model connecting large employers, their employees, and educational institutions. Large enterprise employers — including Walgreens, Securitas, and Bon Secours Mercy Health — sponsor Guild as an employee benefit, giving their workforce access to tuition-funded degrees, certificates, career coaching, loan repayment support, and career assessments. Over ten years, Guild has facilitated nearly 100,000 career moves and saved learners more than $1 billion in tuition in 2024 alone.
The company's product architecture is a platform-plus-modules design. The core platform is anchored by Guild Navigator, an AI-enhanced system for building talent pipelines in licensed and certified roles across healthcare, manufacturing, and skilled trades; Guild Academy, formed through the 2024 acquisition of Nomadic Learning, delivers customized corporate learning modules; and Guild Talent Advantage rounds out the suite. Supporting modules include loan repayment programs, career assessments, and a Sierra-powered AI customer support agent that provides 24/7 multilingual member support while maintaining a 4.8 out of 5 CSAT score. A partnership with Lightcast adds credentialed skills reporting and the Talent Resilience Index, a proprietary workforce mobility measurement.
Guild earns revenue through annual B2B subscriptions negotiated with employer partners, with no publicly disclosed pricing tiers. The company has raised approximately $553 million across seven disclosed funding rounds through a $175 million Series F in June 2022 led by Wellington Management at a $4.4 billion valuation, with participation from Oprah Winfrey, Bon Secours Mercy Health, and a syndicate of growth-stage investors. Guild operates from Denver, Colorado, employs 1,001-5,000 people, and in early 2025 expanded internationally into Canada, Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom.
Guild firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Guild
- Legal name
- Guild
- Website
- https://guild.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2015
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Guild is a Denver-based B2B2C workforce education platform founded in 2015 that enables large employers to offer tuition-funded degrees, certificates, career coaching, and AI-enhanced talent development programs to their employees, with recent international expansion into Canada, Mexico, India, and the UK.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Guild industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Workforce Education Technology
- NAICS
- All Other Schools and Instruction (61169), Other Technical and Trade Schools (611519)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Corporate Training Course Marketplaces (B2B Content Libraries) (EDAFAIAH)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Enterprise/School-District Virtual Tutoring Providers (B2B2C) (EDANAGAF)
Keywords
Where Guild is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Denver
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Guild business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- B2B Employer Subscription / Platform Licensing: Guild partners with employers to offer education benefits as an employer-sponsored benefit. Employers pay Guild for access to the platform, learning marketplace, coaching, and analytics — effectively a B2B subscription or platform licensing model where the company serves as an intermediary between employers, employees, and educational institutions.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Employer-sponsored education benefit platform |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels4 records
Guild product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Guild operates a B2B workforce education platform that partners with large employers to offer education benefits, learning marketplace access, career coaching, and talent analytics to their employees. The platform curates college degrees, certificate programs, and skilling courses funded or subsidized by employers, with AI-powered personalization and talent data reporting. Revenue is generated through employer subscriptions rather than individual learner fees.
Product overview
Guild is a talent development platform that operates as a unified platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offerings include Guild Navigator (AI-enhanced platform for licensed and certified roles), Guild Academy (corporate learning from acquired Nomadic Learning), and Guild Talent Advantage. Supporting modules include loan repayment programs, career assessments, and AI-powered customer support. The platform enables employers to offer education benefits, talent analytics, and workforce development, saving learners over $1 billion in tuition and enabling nearly 100,000 career moves.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Guild Academy: Corporate learning platform integrating Nomadic Learning's capability academy, offering collaborative, practical, and customized education modules with AI insights and talent data analytics.
- Guild Navigator
- Talent Resilience Index (TRI)
Products and services
- Guild Navigator AI-enhanced platform that helps employers build talent pipelines for licensed and certified roles in healthcare, manufacturing, and skilled trades by integrating program management, learner support, and data reporting to address skills shortages and improve workforce resilience.
- Guild Academy Corporate learning solution formed from the acquisition of Nomadic Learning, offering collaborative, practical, and customized education modules supported by AI insights and talent data analytics for employer-sponsored workforce development.
- Guild Talent Advantage Learning platform expansion product launched in conjunction with the Nomadic Learning acquisition, designed to enhance corporate learning solutions and talent development offerings for employer partners.
- Loan Repayment Programs Standalone employee benefit module on Guild's platform that helps users manage and repay educational loans as part of employer-sponsored benefits, addressing student debt barriers to talent attraction and retention.
- Career Assessments Career evaluation tools available to platform users that guide workforce development and career pathway decisions for employees enrolled in employer-sponsored education benefits.
Quantifiable outcome
- Guild enabled learners to save more than $1 billion in tuition in 2024 alone.
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Guild
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Guild technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
Guild partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- SecuritascoreGuild partnered with Securitas USA to expand workforce education and upskilling for frontline security employees across North America. The partnership removes barriers to education by providing accessible pathways for skill development in critical thinking, communication, adaptability, and leadership, as discussed in a Security Connected podcast episode featuring Guild CEO Bijal Shah.
- CheggminorGuild renegotiated its agreement with Chegg to enable multi-partner distribution, allowing Guild to integrate Chegg Skilling content and expand its learning offerings to a broader employer and learner audience.
- WalgreenscoreGuild partnered with Walgreens to create and deliver PharmStart, a fully funded online pre-pharmacy program covering tuition costs and course-related expenses for eligible Walgreens team members pursuing PharmD degrees. The program launched nationally across all 50 states after an initial pilot cohort, aiming to address financial barriers and the national pharmacist shortage.
- Wharton OnlineminorGuild introduced Wharton Online business transformation programs to its platform, bringing top-tier executive education content to Guild's employer and employee user base as part of its expanded learning marketplace.
- LightcastcoreGuild and Lightcast formed a partnership to empower employers to mobilize talent through trackable, credentialed skills reporting. Together they also developed the Talent Resilience Index (TRI), a new metric measuring workforce mobility and adaptability in the U.S. labor market.
- Nomadic LearningcoreGuild acquired Nomadic Learning, a capability academy company, and integrated it into its product offerings as Guild Academy. The acquisition enhances Guild's corporate learning solutions with collaborative, practical, and customized education modules, supported by AI insights and talent data analytics.
- UpSkill AmericaminorUpSkill America and Guild announced the second cohort of their Education and Career Mobility Fellowship, a program designed to advance workforce education and career mobility for American workers.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Guild competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Udemy Business: Udemy Business sells enterprise subscriptions to a large skills-course marketplace, competing for the same HR/L&D budget with a similar marketplace-and-content model.
- Coursera: Coursera for Business offers employer-sponsored access to its online learning catalog, directly competing with Guild's B2B education-benefit model across degrees, certificates, and enterprise learning.
- Docebo: Docebo is an AI-powered enterprise LMS and learning marketplace, directly comparable to Guild's platform-plus-marketplace architecture for employer customers.
- Degreed: Degreed is a learning experience platform that aggregates content and skills data for enterprise L&D, directly overlapping with Guild's employer-sponsored upskilling and skills analytics positioning.
- InStride: InStride provides employer-funded education benefit programs (degrees, certificates, bootcamps) on a B2B2C basis, making it the closest head-to-head peer to Guild's employer-sponsored model.
- Pluralsight: Pluralsight offers enterprise tech-skills training and analytics, competing with Guild's technology and skilled-trades learning offerings for corporate L&D budgets.
Emerging players
- Emeritus: Emeritus partners with top universities to deliver online executive education and degrees, increasingly targeting enterprise-sponsored learners with content similar to Guild's degree marketplace.
Broad incumbents
- Skillsoft: Skillsoft provides enterprise compliance, leadership, and technology training as part of a broader content+platform portfolio, overlapping with Guild in corporate L&D but with a much wider legacy footprint.
- Cornerstone OnDemand: Cornerstone OnDemand is an established enterprise talent and learning management suite, overlapping with Guild on workforce development but embedded inside a broader HR software stack.
- LinkedIn Learning: Microsoft-owned LinkedIn Learning bundles content into the broader LinkedIn Talent/HR suite, competing with Guild as part of a much wider enterprise talent platform portfolio.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Guild social profiles
Digital presenceGuild financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Guild leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Guild subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Guild funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors31 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Guild M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A2 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Guild
What does Guild do?
Guild operates a B2B workforce education platform that partners with large employers to offer education benefits, learning marketplace access, career coaching, and talent analytics to their employees. The platform curates college degrees, certificate programs, and skilling courses funded or subsidized by employers, with AI-powered personalization and talent data reporting. Revenue is generated through employer subscriptions rather than individual learner fees.
Is Guild a public or private company?
Guild is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Guild founded?
Guild was founded in 2015. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Guild based?
Guild is headquartered in Denver, United States, in the North America region.
How does Guild make money?
One revenue line is on record: B2B Employer Subscription / Platform Licensing.
Who are Guild's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Udemy Business, Coursera, Docebo, Degreed, InStride and Pluralsight. Emeritus is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are Skillsoft, Cornerstone OnDemand and LinkedIn Learning.
Does Guild have an API?
No public API is recorded for Guild.
What industry is Guild in?
Guild's product category is Workforce Education Technology. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAIAH, Corporate Training Course Marketplaces (B2B Content Libraries), with a secondary code of EDANAGAF, Enterprise/School-District Virtual Tutoring Providers (B2B2C). Its NAICS code is 61169 and its SIC code is 8200.