Hotmart acquires Teachable, one of the biggest online education companies in the United States

As I’m writing this message, we’re going through a historic moment with the Coronavirus pandemic and at the same time, a global economic crash that will surely be remembered, studied, and analyzed by our children, grandchildren, and future generations to come.

The months that will follow will be tough, and very different from what we’re used to. We will have to go through changes, in a variety of different ways. We will need more patience. We will need more empathy. We will have to adapt ourselves to a different environment, albeit temporarily, and join forces to reach a common goal.

Together, we at Hotmart will provide support to the whole team and community so that we can overcome it all. Still, we have to adjust and try to carry on with our lives within the new limits that are still being drawn.

I can safely say that, for the last 24 hours, I have spent all my time thinking if I should, at this delicate moment, come to you and talk about matters that concern the company itself. But I believe that even at troubled times, it is better that important news (and in this case, good news) should come straight from Hotmart’s official channels.

I believe that if the consequence of an action leads to a positive impact around you, then you should always try to find ways to keep executing that action, and if possible, expand it as much as you can.

The same applies to companies. If a company generates a positive impact on people when it carries out its mission, it becomes our responsibility to find ways to keep that going and push it as far as we can. I strongly believe Hotmart is one of these companies and that we are fortunate enough to be able to work for a positive mission: to help more people live from their passions.

A small, cramped, windowless room that could barely fit four people. Then, step by step, we started to take our mission further, and abroad. Now, we’ve reached 670 of us, spread mostly around LatAm and Europe… but now, that has changed.

The USA is the biggest and most competitive market in the world and one of the possibilities to address that market has always been joining forces with a local company that had already proven itself as a competent and admired company by its customers. 

To go for this possibility, the main challenge was to find a company that shared the same vision, the same mission and most especially, that had a compatible culture with Hotmart’s culture and beliefs.

Culture changes from one company to another, but in order for something like this to work out, you have to apply the same principles of choosing a business partner: there may be differences in opinion, but there cannot be differences in values. 

We knew a company that could check all those boxes was very unlikely to be found. But, once in a while, the improbable happens… We found just that, in a fast-growing New York company called Teachable.

While we were striving towards “Helping more people live from their passions”, Teachable was striving to “Enable creators to transform their knowledge into income” with the same understanding of what we create in our companies is far more than just software, but a really transforming tool that matters and makes a difference in people’s lives. 

With a strong culture around autonomy, teamwork, and embracing diversity, after months of conversations and time spent getting to know Ankur, Teachable’s Founder and CEO, and their leadership team, we understood that we share the same DNA and it would make sense to carry this mission as allies

Today, we jump from 670 to 800 people and the USA becomes a very solid market for Hotmart. I’m very happy to announce that Hotmart has acquired Teachable and we are now welcoming our new friends aboard our ship to join the family. Teachable is the market leader of its category in the US and it counts tens of millions of students accessing its platform, and $ 500M earned by its creators.  “The transaction is still subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and expected to close in the second quarter of this year. “

Having a strong position in the USA is an important part of our global strategy and Teachable will carry the mission of being our main initiative in America. 

Teachable now is part of what we call Hotmart Group and will continue to exist with its own brand, great team, and amazing product, which is 100% adapted to the American market. Leadership in the companies remains the same: Ankur Nagpal as CEO of Teachable, and I will accumulate the roles of Hotmart CEO and the Global CEO of the group.

Now, we are able to cover broader geography, and at the same time, will also be able to support a very large spectrum of creators and experts working in the education and paid content space. 

This acquisition makes us one the largest tech education companies in the world and it’s a big step towards a vision to enable more people to live from their passions, no matter where they live.

We’re just getting started and I’m sure that, as soon as the storm blows over, we will have a much stronger team to explore a whole ocean ahead of us. 

JP