Pearson to acquire Workera in major push into AI skills and workforce assessment

Workera will join Pearson’s Enterprise Learning & Skills business, bringing its AI-native skills intelligence platform and customers including ServiceNow, Accenture and the United States Space Force

Pearson has agreed to acquire Workera and add its AI-native skills assessment platform to its Enterprise Learning & Skills business

Pearson has agreed to acquire Workera, the AI-native skills intelligence platform used by enterprises and government organizations to measure and verify workforce capabilities.

The deal expands Pearson’s enterprise skills business at a point when organizations are trying to understand what employees can actually do with AI and other fast-changing technologies, rather than relying only on course completion or self-reported skills.

Workera combines agentic AI, psychometrics and adaptive assessment to measure proficiency through role-specific scenarios and simulations. Pearson says it will use the technology to strengthen its enterprise learning and assessment offer, including AI fluency, workforce development and skills verification.

Financial terms have not been disclosed.

Workera was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. It has around 60 employees and serves enterprise and government customers, including ServiceNow, Accenture and the United States Space Force.

Pearson adds skills intelligence to enterprise learning

Workera’s platform is designed to give organizations a live view of workforce capability, identify individual skills gaps and direct employees toward relevant development.

It also measures whether skills improve after training, with the results intended to support decisions around hiring, internal mobility, redeployment and workforce planning.

That capability will sit inside Pearson’s Enterprise Learning & Skills business once the acquisition closes.

Vishaal Gupta, President, Enterprise Learning & Skills at Pearson, says the value lies in combining assessment with a clearer picture of existing workforce capability.

“Workera has pioneered a new approach to continuously measuring and validating workforce capabilities, giving organizations an accurate understanding of the skills they have today and what they will need in the future,” he says.

The companies are positioning the combination around a shift from delivering learning alone to measuring whether people can demonstrate the skills organizations need.

Workera CEO joins Pearson leadership

Workera co-founder and CEO Kian Katanforoosh will join the leadership team of Pearson’s Enterprise Learning & Skills business following completion.

In Workera’s LinkedIn announcement, the company described the deal as an opportunity to take verified skills assessment to a larger scale.

Katanforoosh says the focus remains on making workforce capabilities more visible: “We built Workera to harness AI so people can discover what they’re capable of, organizations can recognize talent they might otherwise overlook, and learning can lead to progress you can actually see.”

Workera’s existing customers span large enterprises and public-sector organizations, giving Pearson an established base for the technology rather than requiring it to build a new assessment platform from scratch.

Pearson says the acquisition is expected to complete in the second half of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including any required regulatory filings or approvals.