**Editor’s Note: Please click here for a recap of the biggest channel-impacting merger and acquisition news from March.**

Showpad, the integrated sales enablement platform, is buying LearnCore, a provider of sales training and coaching software, in a deal worth $50 million.

Showpad said the acquisition adds LearnCore’s training and coaching software to its content and engagement solutions to “empower sales and marketing teams to deliver the best buyer and seller experience on the market.”

Showpad’s Theresa O’Neil

Theresa O’Neil, Showpad’s vice president of marketing, tells Channel Partners that both Showpad and LearnCore partners have the opportunity to continue to partner with just one solution, or expand and support both.

“Showpad partners, who have been delivering innovative sales content and buyer experience solutions, can expand into sales readiness solutions,” she said. “By taking a platform approach, they’re able to provide more value to sales and marketing teams. It’s important to note that the Showpad platform will be open: Both Showpad and LearnCore will continue to integrate with other leading sales and marketing technologies.”

LearnCore and Showpad’s combined platform will use advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize marketing’s investment in content, deliver relevant content recommendations for sales, and improve the skills of sales teams through personalized training and coaching, according to Showpad.

Showpad and its partners will have access to a new bank of information that will help on-board new salespeople, and continually update them on new practices and content, O’Neil said.

“Showpad provides salespeople with visibility into what content engages customers, which individuals are actively engaged with content, and which content is impacting revenue,” she said. “These insights, paired with dynamic, visually engaging buyer experiences that support guided and account-based selling, will provide LearnCore partners (the ability to) deliver greater value and differentiate themselves from competitors.”

LearnCore’s partners will become part of Showpad’s partner community. That process has already begun, O’Neil said.

“We couldn’t be more excited to join the Showpad team,” said Vishal Shah, LearnCore’s CEO. “There is a clear need for a better sales experience, which can only happen when marketing and sales align to engage with buyers in a way that delivers value and differentiation. Showpad has a strong record of product innovation and is clearly executing to become a game-changing company that’s redefining how companies sell and market their products. The combination of LearnCore and Showpad will significantly accelerate time to revenue for all our customers.”

“As a customer of both Showpad and LearnCore, it’s clear this acquisition is greater than the sum of its parts,” said Russell Wurth, Optiv‘s vice president of solutions management. “We’ve long recognized the benefit of Showpad’s sales content and engagement solutions, and LearnCore’s training and coaching software. Bringing these solutions together in a single platform will offer an even better experience for Optiv’s customers who expect our sales team to always be experts and up to date with the latest solutions in information security.”