Pearson has agreed to acquire Workera, the Palo Alto-based skills intelligence platform that enterprises and government bodies use to measure and verify workforce capability. The deal adds adaptive, AI-driven assessment to Pearson's enterprise learning business as employers look for evidence of what staff can do, not just which courses they have completed.

Workera will join Pearson's Enterprise Learning & Skills unit once the transaction completes, which is expected in the second half of 2026 subject to customary closing conditions, and co-founder and chief executive Kian Katanforoosh will join that unit's leadership team. The platform combines agentic AI, psychometrics and role-specific simulations, and counts ServiceNow, Accenture and the United States Space Force among its customers.

Pearson, headquartered in London and listed on the London Stock Exchange (PSON) and the New York Stock Exchange (PSO), employs around 18,000 people and reported first-half 2026 adjusted operating profit of £276 million, up 14% on an underlying basis. Workera, founded in 2019 and headquartered in Palo Alto, California, has around 60 employees.

The structural driver, outlined in the announcement of 29 September, is the move from tracking course completion to verifying demonstrated skill, with both companies positioning the deal around measuring whether people can show the capabilities organisations need.

Vishaal Gupta, president of Enterprise Learning & Skills at Pearson, said Workera has pioneered an approach to "continuously measuring and validating workforce capabilities," giving organisations a clearer view of the skills they have and will need.

Katanforoosh said Workera was built to harness AI "so people can discover what they're capable of," and so organisations can recognise talent they might otherwise overlook.

Workera's platform gives organisations a live view of workforce capability, flags individual skills gaps and measures whether skills improve after training, with results intended to inform hiring, internal mobility, redeployment and workforce planning.

For the sector, the acquisition confirms that large education groups are buying assessment technology to turn enterprise training from content delivery into verified skills measurement.

Source: edtechinnovationhub.com / sec.gov / prnewswire.com