A few years ago, Darren Shimkus, former president of Udemy, sat down with Dennis Yang about skill building.
Mr. Shimkus believed that building skills in the corporate sector was a difficult but not intractable challenge that could perhaps be solved with the right technology. He took it to Mr. Yang, then the CEO of Udemy.
“At Udemy, Jan and I have solved the problem of 'access' to learning. Anyone at any company can find great video content about the skills they want to learn,” Shimkus told TechCrunch. . “But it turns out that solving video access alone is not enough.”
One thing led to another, and soon Shimkus and Yang had a new startup, Modal.
Modal provides personalized technical skills training for corporate staff, on-demand coaching, and an pedagogical approach that groups users into semi-structured online learning communities.
“Our services provide a customized service for each team member that assesses every member of the team, identifies skill set gaps, and minimizes the 'skills risk' that companies face as they achieve their strategic goals. We create a plan,” Shimkus explained. “We support all kinds of goals, including modernization efforts, digital transformation, and even new employee training through acquisitions.”
The upskilling market is a crowded space occupied by startups like GrowthSpace, Learnsoft, Pollen, Scaler, and Workera. So how does Modal plan to get noticed?
The first step, Shimkus says, is to focus on hot trends: data and AI. Modal's early eLearning courses focus solely on these, which seems like a wise strategic choice considering today's market.
“With the rise of AI, data teams have more visibility than ever before,” Shimkus says. “Expectations are sky-high, and many teams are realizing that they need to quickly develop their team's AI capabilities, broad technical acumen, and even business skills.”
Image credit: Modal
A second advantage of Modal, Shimkus argues, is its focus on real-world applications. As learners progress through a modal course, a paired coach helps them understand the context and supports key concepts, Shimkus said.
“From a learner’s perspective, we are very different from traditional e-learning platforms by incorporating applied exercises and coaching,” Shimkus continued. “We believe that we have relatively few direct competitors.”
It seems like it would be an effective sales pitch. Shimkus said Modal, which only charges companies if their staff completes the course, currently has more than 100 customers, most of them from Fortune's 1000 companies.
Modal recently raised $25 million in a funding round led by Left Lane Capital, bringing its total funding to $32 million. The company now plans to expand its team to “support new demand and expand Modal's services to organizations around the world.”
“We are fortunate that the rise of generative AI is driving a critical need for upskilling in enterprises, and we cannot afford to miss out on transforming our teams and our businesses,” said Shimkus. “In today's ever-changing work environment, it's difficult to predict what your team will need, which means most leaders don't have a reliable way to plan and improve their team's skills. . Modals are built for this scenario.”