Circus Street

Circus Street provides subscription-based digital skills training for enterprise workforces. Its learning platform combines expert-led curriculum with custom animation, motion graphics, video presentation and interactive assessment. Courses focus on the commercial applications of digital technology, helping corporate teams understand developments in marketing, e-commerce, data and artificial intelligence.

The company was founded in London in 2009 by brothers Richard Townsend and Jonny Townsend. Its approach developed around translating complex commercial subjects into short visual lessons rather than relying on traditional seminars or static manuals. In-house creative scriptwriters, 2D character animation and dynamic motion graphics help explain subjects such as programmatic advertising, algorithmic retailing, omnichannel customer journeys and data analytics.

Enterprise learning

Circus Street works with commercial, marketing and training teams to create learning paths aligned with business needs. Its offering combines an animated instructional library with tailored corporate academies, skills assessments, progress analytics and dedicated account management. Interactive modules support assessment alongside video instruction, while capability benchmarking helps enterprises understand learning needs across their workforces.

The curriculum spans digital marketing strategy, e-commerce, retail media, data literacy and workplace AI adoption. The platform supports enterprise learning environments through integrations with learning management systems and other learning platforms. This allows companies to incorporate Circus Street courses into their broader employee development programmes.

Its customers operate across consumer goods, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, technology, telecommunications, retail, financial services and manufacturing. The business developed an international operating presence to support enterprise engagements across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.

Development within QA

QA acquired Circus Street in July 2021, bringing its commercial digital learning catalogue together with QA's instructor-led technical training and Cloud Academy's cloud learning platform. In June 2024, QA introduced a unified umbrella brand across these businesses. Circus Street continues as a specialized commercial digital learning business within QA, with its animated course library and learning paths remaining in enterprise distribution.