| Formerly | Guild Education |
|---|---|
| Company type | Private |
| Founders | Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado |
| Website | www |
Guild, formerly known as Guild Education, is a private company headquartered in Denver, Colorado that is employed by Fortune 1000 companies to manage their education assistance benefits. [1] Guild facilitates direct payment for courses to education provider clients and offers marketing services. [1] [2]
Guild Education was founded in June 2015 by Rachel Romer and Brittany Stich. [3] [4]
In June 2021, Guild Education announced a strategic partnership with 2U, [5] where the latter company made its degree programs, courses, and bootcamp programs available to the corporations that employ Guild. [6] Google also made Google Career Certificates available to corporations that employ Guild. [7] In the same month, CNBC reported that Guild Education sought to profit from its expectation of automation increasing displacement of workers. [8]
In June 2022, Forbes and Bloomberg reported Guild's valuation at $4.4 billion. [9] [10] That same year, Guild Education reduced its office space in Denver by 50 percent. [11]
In April 2023, Guild Education rebranded as Guild, and according to Fortune , added "a new career coaching product." [12] In May 2023, Guild reduced its staff by 12%, resulting in over 150 individuals being laid off after several rounds of restructuring. [13] In October 2023, Guild announced that it was offering training in artificial intelligence for front line workers through its education provider clients. [14]
In April 2024, Bijal Shah was named CEO. [15] In May 2024, Guild laid off an additional quarter of its workforce, an estimated 300 workers. [16] In October 2024, Guild announced its acquisition of Nomadic Learning. [17]
Guild Education advises large corporations and contracts with adult education providers. It offers marketing services and receives payment from schools only when students enroll. [18] The employers also receive a tax break. [19]
One of Guild Education's clients is Spectrum, which partnered with the company to offer online courses. [20] Spectrum said that there was a particular focus on “technology-based programming” in areas like “software development, programming languages, cybersecurity, AI, [and] infrastructure.” [21] [22] In January 2025, Macy's ended its partnership with Guild Education, after working with the company to provide college degree programs and other educational courses to its employees at no cost. [23]
In 2018, The Century Foundation contributor Kelia Washington wrote "at best, [Guild] programs are limited in their ability to meaningfully increase college access and completion, and, at worst, they can create additional barriers for employees seeking to obtain high-quality, meaningful credentials." [24]