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Not to be confused with Infrastructure.

Instructure Holdings, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is the developer and publisher of Canvas, a web-based learning management system.

History

The company was founded in 2008 by two BYU graduate students, Brian Whitmer and Devlin Daley.[5] Its initial funding came from Mozy founder Josh Coates, who served as Instructure’s CEO from 2010 to 2018 and chairman of the board through 2020.[6]

In December 2010, the Utah Education Network (UEN), a representative of some Utah colleges and universities, announced that Instructure would be replacing Blackboard.[7] By 2013, the company’s customer base had increased to at least 9 million users.[8]

In 2011, Instructure launched Canvas, a learning management system.[9] The company announced that Canvas would be made freely available under an Affero General Public License (AGPL) license as open-source software. However, the company continued to sell Canvas management as a service.[10][11][12] Canvas became available on iOS in 2011, and on Android in 2013.[13]

In 2015, Instructure launched Bridge, a cloud-based corporate learning management system.[14] It was acquired by Learning Technologies Group (LTG) in 2021.[15]

As of 2015, the company had raised $90 million in funding from investors.[16] On November 13, 2015, the firm began trading as a publicly held company on the New York Stock Exchange.[17]

In 2017, the company acquired Philadelphia-based video learning startup Practice XYZ, formerly known as ApprenNet, and merged the offerings into its own products.[18][19]

In 2020, Thoma Bravo acquired the company for $2 billion.[20] As of 2020, Canvas was used in approximately 4,000 institutions worldwide.[21] In June 2021, Instructure again filed for an IPO,[22] and began trading under the symbol INST.[23]

In 2024, it was announced that KKR and Dragoneer had completed their $4.8 billion purchase of the company.[2]

Later in 2024, Instructure announced the acquisition of Parchment, a credential management platform.[24]

2026 Canvas security breach

Main article: 2026 Canvas data breach

In late April 2026, Canvas LMS experienced a security breach, with an outage following in early May.[25][26]The hack is considered the largest educational security breach on record due to its unprecedented global scale, affecting 8,809 universities, educational ministries, and other institutions worldwide.[27] Instructure disclosed that it was investigating a cybersecurity attack involving certain user data, including names, email addresses, student ID numbers, and messages amongst users.[26] The company claimed it had found no evidence that passwords, birth dates, government IDs, or financial information were involved in the hacking.[28] However, other sources indicate that this cybersecurity attack has put 275 million[29] students’ and teachers’ data at risk.[30][31][32]

Despite Instructure’s claim that the situation had been resolved, on May 7th, Canvas was hacked again; its login page was replaced with a ransomware message by ShinyHunters, the criminal hacking group that claimed responsibility. ShinyHunters threatened to release Canvas’s sensitive data unless its ransom was paid by the end of May 12.[33][34]

404 Media stated this was the largest educational security breach ever on record.[35] ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen 3.65 terabytes of data (approximately 275 million records).[36]

By May 8, seven lawsuits in federal courts had been filed against Instructure, including one that also named KKR as a defendant.[37] On May 13, a California-specific proposed class action lawsuit was filed by a San Diego resident against Instructure in the Southern District of California, alleging the breach of personally identifiable information.[38][39][40]

See also

References

  1. ^ “Instructure Company Profile”. Craft. Archived from the original on September 27, 2019. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  2. ^ a b “KKR and Dragoneer complete $4.8bn take-private acquisition of edtech firm Instructure”. PE Hub. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  3. ^ “Instructure 2022 Annual Report” (PDF). Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  4. ^ “FAQ”. Instructure. May 19, 2020. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2025 – via GitHub.
  5. ^ Kim, Joshua. “An Instructure Canvas LMS Timeline”. www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  6. ^ Neely, Karissa. “Instructure CEO change, Survey shows affordable housing concern, Powerful U Experience event”. The Daily Herald. Archived from the original on 31 October 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  7. ^ “New Statewide Learning Management System Selected”. UEN News. Utah Education Network. December 14, 2010. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  8. ^ Empson, Rip (November 2012). “With 4.5M Users, Instructure Takes On The Courseras & Udacities Of The World With Its Own Open Course Network”. TechCrunch.
  9. ^ Tate, Emily (2018-07-16). “How Canvas came to unseat Blackboard as the leading LMS”. EdScoop. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  10. ^ Michael Arrington (January 31, 2011). “Instructure Launches To Root Blackboard Out Of Universities”. TechCrunch.com. Interserve dba TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 27, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  11. ^ Josh Keller (January 31, 2011). “Upstart Course-Management Provider Goes Open Source”. Wired Campus. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on February 19, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  12. ^ Christopher Dawson (February 1, 2011). “There are alternatives to Blackboard and Moodle: Instructure Canvas goes open source”. ZDNet Education. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on February 4, 2011. Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  13. ^ “Instructure Releases Canvas for Android”. canvaslms. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  14. ^ Buhr, Sarah (2015-02-18). “On The Way To An IPO, Education Technology Startup Instructure Is Close To Raising A Big New Round”. TechCrunch.
  15. ^ “Behind the Deal: Why LTG acquired Bridge”. Learning Technologies Group plc. 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2022-08-20.
  16. ^ Locke, Charley (2015-02-24). “Instructure Plots Path to IPO, Corporate Customers After $40M Series E”. Edsurge.
  17. ^ Schaffler, Rhonda (2015-11-13). “Instructure IPO Debuts on NYSE With Double-Digit Gain”. TheStreet.
  18. ^ “Practice got acquired by Instructure. Here are the details”. Technical.ly. November 29, 2017.
  19. ^ “We’re Talkin’ About Practice: Instructure Acquires Video-Based Learning Platform”. Ed Surge. December 2, 2017.
  20. ^ “Instructure files for U.S. IPO after 2020 take-private deal with Thoma Bravo”. Reuters. Archived from the original on 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2025-03-17.
  21. ^ “Why Colleges and Universities Are Adopting Canvas”. eLearningInside News. 2018-10-24. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  22. ^ Bamforth, Emily (28 June 2021). “Instructure, creator of Canvas, files for initial public offering”. edscoop.com. Scoop News Group. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  23. ^ Saleh Rauf, David (4 July 2021). “Another Education Company Goes Public: Instructure IPO Gives Ed-Tech Firm $2.9 Billion Valuation”. marketbrief.edweek.org. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  24. ^ “KKR to take edu-tech firm Instructure private for $4.8 billion”. Reuters. July 25, 2024.
  25. ^ Kaleem, Jaweed (2026-05-08). “Massive Canvas data breach hits colleges across California and nation, crippling student work”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2026-05-08.
  26. ^ a b “Security incident update & FAQs”. Instructure. Archived from the original on 2026-05-08. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
  27. ^ Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report (2026-05-10). “School app Canvas breach hits during finals”. Fox News. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  28. ^ “Canvas data breach leaves education providers scrambling as student data compromised”. ABC News. May 7, 2026. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  29. ^ “Instructure Canvas Breach: ShinyHunters Stole 275 Million Student Records — Twice”. compliancehub.wiki. 2026-05-07. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  30. ^ Langreo, Lauraine; Prothero, Arianna (2026-05-08). “A Cyberattack on Canvas Could Cause Lasting Aftershocks for Schools”. Education Week. ISSN 0277-4232. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  31. ^ Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report (2026-05-10). “School app Canvas breach hits during finals”. Fox News. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  32. ^ Treisman, Rachel (2026-05-08). “Canvas is back online, but questions — and final exam disruptions — linger”. NPR. Retrieved 2026-05-18.
  33. ^ Hollingsworth, Heather (May 7, 2026). “Cyberattack hits Canvas system used by thousands of schools as finals loom”. Associated Press. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  34. ^ Halbleib, Brady (May 7, 2026). “Sacramento State caught in nationwide cyberattack targeting online learning platform”. CBS Sacramento. Retrieved May 7, 2026.
  35. ^ Koebler, Jason (8 May 2026). “‘The Biggest Student Data Privacy Disaster in History’: Canvas Hack Shows the Danger of Centralized EdTech”. 404 Media.
  36. ^ Mousqueton, Julien. “Victim: Instructure Holdings, Inc. (Canvas LMS, instructure.com) – shinyhunters”. Ransomware.live. Retrieved 2026-05-09.
  37. ^ Umanah, Ufonobong (2026-05-08). “KKR, Instructure Sued After Canvas EdTech Tool Data Breach (1)”. Bloomberg Law. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2026-05-16.
  38. ^ Potterhandy. “Instructure Data Breach Lawsuit”. Potter Handy, LLP. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  39. ^ Service • •, City News (2026-05-13). “Lawsuit filed in San Diego vs. Canvas developer following cyberattack”. NBC 7 San Diego. Retrieved 2026-05-15.
  40. ^ “Instructure Data Breach Confirmed, Attorneys Investigating”. www.classaction.org. 2026-05-05. Retrieved 2026-05-15.