| Founded | 2011 |
|---|---|
| Closed | 2023 |
| Country | USA |
| Sector | Edtech |
| Total raised | ~$215M (Andreessen Horowitz, Drive Capital, Bertelsmann) |
| Collapse type | Slow Death |
| Founder | Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, Mike Sokolsky |
Udacity
"Sebastian Thrun's $1B EdTech unicorn — built on self-driving cars, nanodegrees, and 12 million learners — collapsed through four rounds of layoffs and sold to Accenture for a fraction of its peak value"
Years-long decline before final shutdown
Key Events Timeline
Udacity was founded in 2011 by Sebastian Thrun — the Stanford professor and Google X co-founder whose free AI course attracted 160,000 students in its first online offering, essentially inventing the modern MOOC format — along with David Stavens and Mike Sokolsky.
// full analysis
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