Acorn acquires B Online Learning

Acorn has acquired Australian e-learning design and development provider B Online Learning, adding custom learning services, the Birch Learning Platform and Australia and New Zealand’s only Articulate Certified Training Partner to its business.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

The deal expands Acorn beyond skills management into e-learning development, learning technology services and professional training. The acquisition adds B Online Learning’s custom content development business, Birch Learning Platform and its position as Australia and New Zealand’s exclusive Articulate Certified Training Partner.

Founded in 2006, B Online Learning develops custom digital learning for organisations across government, regulated industries and enterprise sectors including healthcare, energy and agriculture. Since 2012, the company has been the exclusive Articulate Certified Training Partner for Australia and New Zealand, training more than 10,000 learning designers and L&D administrators across the region.

The acquisition combines those services with Acorn’s skills management platform, which maps workforce capabilities to roles, development plans and learning activities. Acorn’s skills framework includes more than 1,600 capabilities and 4,800 proficiency levels.

Acorn linked the acquisition to growing demand for evidence of workforce capability. The company cited findings from its 2026 State of Learning for AI Fluency Report showing that 77% of organisations still use course completion as evidence that skills exist. It also referenced Mercer research reporting that 79% of executives see better insight into workforce capabilities as critical to improving business performance.

Blake Proberts, CEO and co-founder of Acorn, said: ‘Organisations aren’t struggling to find content. They are struggling to show that content is building the capabilities their workforce needs.’

Alongside its Articulate training business, B Online Learning provides instructional design, animation, illustration, video production and AI-powered learning services. The company also delivers learning through its Birch Learning Platform.

Beck Verity, co-founder of B Online Learning, said: ‘For 20 years, B Online Learning has designed e-learning content, trained Australia and New Zealand’s L&D teams to build it themselves and delivered learning solutions for some of the region’s most respected organisations.’

The acquisition follows Acorn’s international expansion and broadens its presence across skills management, learning technology, content development and professional learning services. For workplace learning teams, the transaction brings together a skills platform provider, an established custom e-learning developer, a learning platform and the region’s sole Articulate Certified Training Partner within a single business.

More information

Alexa Sommerville
Acorn
[email protected]