Milwaukee-based software startup
Forj has acquired San Francisco-based
Mobilize, a company that has created a “professional growth network” platform for building and engaging membership communities.
Forj provides a virtual events and member experience platform for associations and professional community organizations. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Today’s professionals have taken control of their career journey and are turning to peer communities for professional growth. Their communities of practice have a critical need to modernize their tech stack to meet their members’ experiential expectations,” said
Kurt Heikkinen, chief executive officer of Forj. “This strategic investment accelerates Forj’s innovation roadmap and enables our clients to increase learning and connections, unite members in their purpose, and make an impact in our world.”
News of the acquisition follows
a January announcement that Forj merged with Madison-based
Web Courseworks, a learning management system that helps organizations track educational outcomes for proven success. The addition of Web Courseworks and Mobilize will allow Forj to work toward reimaging community-driven learning.
The revamped Forj platform will offer member-centric professional organizations a new way to build and nurture their communities. It will modernize the experience for every stakeholder by including a user-friendly design, intuitive community management for admins, and quantitative data and ROI for executives and boards.
"The ease of creating online communities has created new competition for associations. It’s more challenging to acquire new members and keep them engaged,” said
Dave Hersh, chairman of Mobilize. “They need a solution that embraces modern technology that enables members to advance their careers through structured and social learning. That solution is made possible by this combination, and I'm thrilled for Mobilize to become part of Forj."