Pluralsight has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire A Cloud Guru (ACG), a cloud skills development platform.

The acquisition is expected to close later this year, subject to customary closing conditions and follows Vista Equity Partners recent acquisition of Pluralsight.

Pluralsight intends to combine A Cloud Guru's certification courses, hands-on labs and sandboxes, exams and quizzes with the existing library of Pluralsight Skills cloud courses and hands-on learning experiences.

As a result, the joint organisation aim to be better positioned to meet the market demand for cloud skill development, the company states.

According to Pluralsight, cloud computing continues to experience massive growth for large enterprises around the world, increasing the need for cloud skill development to keep pace.

Research shows that the vast majority of IT decision makers believe that the shortage of cloud skills is their number one challenge.

A Cloud Guru cofounder and CEO Sam Kroonenburg says, “ACG and Pluralsight were founded to solve the same problem: closing the technology skills gap by democratising access to technical education.

"Within our shared missions, we've taken different but complementary approaches. Both approaches have proven to resonate strongly with customers who want depth and breadth in tech education.

"I am excited by the next phase of our mission in which, together, we will build the next-generation platform for hands-on learning across all of technology.

Pluralsight cofounder and CEO Aaron Skonnard says, “With the acquisition of A Cloud Guru, we can now provide an all-in-one solution to accelerate the cloud skill development journey for large enterprise customers and individual learners.

He says, “Technology is the number one differentiator for all businesses and the technology skills of your team is what determines success or failure. Nowhere is that more apparent than with cloud technologies.

"To meet the needs of our customers and best support their cloud transformations, we are determined to deliver the most comprehensive solution for driving cloud maturity at scale.

William Blair - Company, LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Pluralsight and Vista in the transaction, with Kirkland - Ellis LLP serving as legal counsel. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to A Cloud Guru and Latham - Watkins LLP served as legal counsel.

Pluralsight is a technology workforce development company that helps companies and teams develop critical skills, improve processes and gain insights through data.

Pluralsight Skills helps enterprises build technology skills at scale with courses on important technologies, including cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, data science, and security, among others.

Skills also includes tools to align skill development with business objectives, virtual instructor-led training, hands-on labs, skill assessments and one-of-a-kind analytics.

A Cloud Guru is a SaaS platform for cloud learning with hands-on learning tools for both individuals and organisations. ACG has enabled 2.5 million learners and over 4,500 organisations.