More than 44 million people in over 180 countries had signed up to learn on Udemy by mid-2021, and the company employed almost none of the teachers. Independent instructors filmed the courses. Anyone could record a class on Python, guitar or Excel and sell it on the site. The pandemic had pushed work and school online. When Udemy filed to go public in 2021, it bet that people would keep paying to learn new skills after offices reopened.

A Marketplace for Lessons

Eren Bali, Oktay Caglar and Gagan Biyani started Udemy in 2010. They built a marketplace. Instructors made courses and set prices, and Udemy handled the hosting, the payments and the customers. Free courses brought new learners in. Later the company sold Udemy Business, a plan that gave employers a library of courses for their staff. By June 2021 it had more than 8,600 business customers, and learners had made 594 million course enrollments.

A Debut Below the Offer

Udemy priced its IPO at $29 a share and began trading on Nasdaq as UDMY on October 29, 2021. The stock opened at $27 and closed its first day at $27.50, below the offer price. In December 2025 Udemy agreed to combine with Coursera in an all-stock deal. Udemy holders got 0.8 Coursera shares for each share they owned. The merger closed on May 11, 2026, and Udemy now runs as part of Coursera.

Cover: School Mistress, François Bernard Lépicié. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a schoolmistress (anyone can teach).