Digital Marketing Institute Secures €26 Million from Spectrum Equity to Accelerate Global Growth

The Digital Marketing Institute, the global certification standard in digital marketing and digital sales education, today announced that it has received a €26 million investment led by Spectrum Equity, a prominent growth equity firm whose previous investments include Lynda.com, SurveyMonkey and Bitly.  The financing will fuel investment in the Digital Marketing Institute’s professional learning and certification programs, accelerating the company’s international expansion.

The Digital Marketing Institute has experienced rapid growth, with over 18,000 professionals in 115 countries having completed its learning programs to date. Since 2014, the Digital Marketing Institute has grown 73% annually on the back of strong uptake of its online and corporate learning programs, as well as licensed courses offered via a network of 100+ education partners globally.

The Digital Marketing Institute has trained more sales and marketing professionals to a single digital education standard than any other global certification body. Students benefit from comprehensive, up to date courses designed by expert practitioners, and validated by an independent Industry Advisory Council including representatives from leading digital companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.  Over 80% of Digital Marketing Institute alumni work in digital roles, with 20% at director level or above, across thousands of businesses globally.

In conjunction with the investment, Adam Margolin and Parag Khandelwal of Spectrum Equity will be joining the Digital Marketing Institute’s board of directors. Ted Weissberg, former CEO of ACAMS which was acquired for $330M last year, will join the board as Executive Chairman and work closely with Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO of the Digital Marketing Institute, and the rest of the team on the company’s global expansion.

“There is an urgent need for digital marketing and digital sales education for professionals,” said Adam Margolin of Spectrum Equity. “The Digital Marketing Institute is uniquely positioned to address this growing global skills gap through its innovative, industry-validated certification programs. We are excited to partner with Ken Fitzpatrick, Ted Weissberg and the rest of the Digital Marketing Institute team as we look to scale the business globally and build the leading training and certification provider for sales and marketing professionals across all industries.”

Ken Fitzpatrick, CEO, Digital Marketing Institute, summarises the decision to take investment: “While we are very proud of the international growth achieved by the Digital Marketing Institute to date through self-funding, we recognise the potential scale that can be realised with investment. Spectrum Equity has a great track record in EdTech and digital marketing technology spaces, and with Ted Weissberg’s significant experience scaling a similar professional learning and certification business, I’m confident this is the right investment partnership to realise our global ambitions.”