Instructure Explained

Instructure, Inc.
Image Alt:Educational Technology Company
Type:Private
Location City:Salt Lake City, Utah
Hq Location Country:United States
Num Locations:7
Founder:Brian Whitmer and Devlin Daley
Area Served:Worldwide
Num Employees:1,466 (2022)[1]
Revenue:$475.2 million (2022)[2]
Industry:Educational Technology
Learning Management Systems
Assessment Management Systems
Assessment
Products:Canvas, Catalog, Studio, Portfolium, MasteryConnect, Videri, CASE Benchmarks and Item Bank, Navigate Item Bank, Academic Benchmarks, Certify, DataConnect, Program Assessment, Pathways, Canvas for Corporate Education
Canvas
Screenshot Alt:The interface of Canvas
Developer:Instructure
Programming Language:Ruby on Rails
License:Core AGPLv3, Some official plugins proprietary[3]
Website: https://www.instructure.com/canvas

Instructure Holdings, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system (LMS).

History

The company was founded in 2008 by two BYU graduate students, Brian Whitmer and Devlin Daley.[4] Its initial funding came from Mozy founder Josh Coates, who served as Instructure's CEO from 2010 to 2018 and chairman of the board through 2020.[5]

In December 2010, the Utah Education Network (UEN), a representative of a number of Utah colleges and universities, announced that Instructure would be replacing Blackboard.[6] By 2013, the company's customer base had increased to 9 million users.[7]

In 2011, Instructure launched Canvas, a learning management system.[8] The company announced that Canvas would be made freely available under an Affero General Public License (AGPL) license as open-source software.[9] [10] [11] As of 2025, the core of Canvas was AGPL-licensed and installable, but several commonly-used Infrastructure-plugins were proprietary, making Canvas open-core.[3] Canvas became available on iOS in 2011, and on Android in 2013.[12] As of 2020, Canvas was used in approximately 4,000 institutions worldwide.[13]

In 2015, Instructure launched Bridge, a cloud-based corporate learning management system.[14] It was acquired by Learning Technologies Group (LTG) in 2021.[15]

As of 2015, the company had raised $90 million in funding from investors.[16] On November 13, 2015, the firm began trading as a publicly held company on the New York Stock Exchange.[17]

In 2017, the company acquired Philadelphia based video learning startup Practice XYZ, formerly known as ApprenNet and merged the offerings into its own products.[18] [19]

In 2020, Thoma Bravo acquired the company for $2 billion.[20] In June 2021, Instructure again filed for an IPO,[21] and began trading under the symbol INST.[22]

In 2024, it was announced that KKR and Dragoneer had completed their purchase of the company for $4.8 billion.[23]

In 2024, Instructure announced the acquisition of Parchment, a credential management platform.[24]

On July 23, 2025, OpenAI and Instructure announced a global partnership to bring AI tools inside the Canvas LMS.[25]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Instructure 2022 Annual Report . March 6, 2024.
  2. Web site: Instructure Company Profile . Craft . September 8, 2023.
  3. Web site: Instructure . FAQ . May 19, 2020 . GitHub . en.
  4. Web site: Kim . Joshua . An Instructure Canvas LMS Timeline . 2025-03-17 . www.insidehighered.com . en.
  5. Web site: Neely . Karissa . Instructure CEO change, Survey shows affordable housing concern, Powerful U Experience event . The Daily Herald . 25 January 2019 . 31 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181031201759/https://www.heraldextra.com/business/local/instructure-ceo-change-survey-shows-affordable-housing-concern-powerful-u/article_756e5fc3-af52-5db4-b1fb-36c50deaba9b.html . dead .
  6. Web site: New Statewide Learning Management System Selected. UEN News. Utah Education Network. December 14, 2010. June 14, 2017.
  7. Web site: Empson. Rip. With 4.5M Users, Instructure Takes On The Courseras & Udacities Of The World With Its Own Open Course Network. November 2012 . TechCrunch.
  8. Web site: Tate . Emily . 2018-07-16 . How Canvas came to unseat Blackboard as the leading LMS . 2025-03-17 . EdScoop . en-US.
  9. Web site: Instructure Launches To Root Blackboard Out Of Universities. Michael Arrington. January 31, 2011. TechCrunch.com. Interserve dba TechCrunch. February 22, 2011.
  10. Web site: Upstart Course-Management Provider Goes Open Source. Josh Keller. January 31, 2011. Wired Campus. The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 22, 2011.
  11. Web site: There are alternatives to Blackboard and Moodle: Instructure Canvas goes open source. https://web.archive.org/web/20110204192154/http://www.zdnet.com/blog/education/there-are-alternatives-to-blackboard-and-moodle-instructure-canvas-goes-open-source/4475. dead. February 4, 2011. Christopher Dawson. February 1, 2011. ZDNet Education. CBS Interactive. February 22, 2011.
  12. Web site: Instructure Releases Canvas for Android . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20180208123437/https://www.instructure.com/ . 8 February 2018 . 7 February 2018 . canvaslms.
  13. Web site: 2018-10-24 . Why Colleges and Universities Are Adopting Canvas . 2020-09-02 . eLearningInside News.
  14. Web site: Buhr, Sarah . 2015-02-18 . On The Way To An IPO, Education Technology Startup Instructure Is Close To Raising A Big New Round . TechCrunch.
  15. Web site: 2021-06-28 . Behind the Deal: Why LTG acquired Bridge . 2022-08-20 . Learning Technologies Group plc . en-US.
  16. Web site: Instructure Plots Path to IPO, Corporate Customers After $40M Series E . . 2015-02-24 . Locke, Charley.
  17. Web site: Instructure IPO Debuts on NYSE With Double-Digit Gain . . 2015-11-13 . Schaffler, Rhonda.
  18. News: Practice got acquired by Instructure. Here are the details . November 29, 2017 . Technical.ly .
  19. News: We’re Talkin’ About Practice: Instructure Acquires Video-Based Learning Platform . December 2, 2017 . Ed Surge .
  20. News: Instructure files for U.S. IPO after 2020 take-private deal with Thoma Bravo . https://web.archive.org/web/20230424050527/https://www.reuters.com/technology/thoma-bravo-backed-instructure-files-us-ipo-2021-06-28/ . 2023-04-24 . 2025-03-17 . Reuters . en-US.
  21. Web site: Bamforth . Emily . Instructure, creator of Canvas, files for initial public offering . edscoop.com . 28 June 2021 . Scoop News Group . 14 July 2021.
  22. Web site: Saleh Rauf . David . Another Education Company Goes Public: Instructure IPO Gives Ed-Tech Firm $2.9 Billion Valuation . marketbrief.edweek.org . 4 July 2021 . 24 January 2023.
  23. Web site: KKR and Dragoneer complete $4.8bn take-private acquisition of edtech firm Instructure. PE Hub. 14 November 2024 . 2024-11-21. en.
  24. Web site: July 25, 2024 . KKR to take edu-tech firm Instructure private for $4.8 billion . Reuters.
  25. Web site: Ravaglia . Ray . Instructure And OpenAI Harness The Power Of AI To Transform Learning . 2025-07-25 . Forbes . en.

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