Editor's note: Multiverse - UK’s first ever EdTech unicorn - is building an outstanding alternative to university and corporate training via professional apprenticeships. It has announced a $220 million Series D funding round at a valuation of $1.7 billion. Let's take a look！

We’re proud to announce another record-breaking round of funding, making Multiverse the UK’s first ever EdTech unicorn. More importantly, it will allow us to open up professional apprenticeship opportunities on an even greater scale.

By closing $220m of Series D funding, Multiverse is now valued at $1.7 billion – double what we were worth just eight months ago.

The latest round of funding was co-led by StepStone Group with returning investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst. This combination of new and returning investment is an endorsement of the work we’re doing, the progress we’ve made, and our scope for even greater impact.

With the funding round complete, now is the time for action. Our record-breaking investment will be put to work expanding our suite of learning programs and opening even more doors for a new generation of future leaders. It will also help us accelerate our growth in the US. Here, we’re committed to tackling the toughest challenges facing those who seek jobs – and those who provide them.

Matching demand with untapped supply

For a country known for its educational institutions, it’s perhaps surprising that two-thirds of Americans don’t have a degree – despite 65% of jobs requiring either a Bachelor’s degree or at least some college. It’s a disconnect that disproportionately excludes Black and Hispanic Americans.

That’s one challenge. Another is the struggle across all sectors to hire and retain tech talent. By providing an alternative, more equitable, route to training and hiring workers, we can solve both. Our professional apprenticeships unlock tech careers for more individuals while training workers in the jobs our modern economy desperately needs.

Multiverse apprenticeships offer tuition-free programs in areas like software engineering, digital marketing and data analysis. Typically lasting 12-15 months, their unique combination of on-the-job training and education helps individuals kick-start their career or enter an entirely new field – all while earning a competitive salary.

The demand is clearly there. In the past year our software engineering program has seen a 260% increase in enrolments, while maintaining a completion rate of 85%.

We’re also making greater inroads into the financial services industry, another sector previously out of bounds for the majority of the US population. Over the past year, we’ve grown our number of partners by 105%. Together, we’re closing digital skills gaps while opening up rewarding, fulfilling careers for those without costly degrees.

Capping a year of unprecedented growth

Our new funding will allow us to open up more career paths than ever. We’re building from a position of strength too.

Since 2020, we’ve grown nine times in size and now train professional apprentices with over 500 organizations globally, including Verizon, Cisco, Visa, and Box in the US.

Of the apprentices we’ve placed, 56% are people of color, more than half are women, and 34% hail from economically underserved communities.

At Multiverse, our mission is to create a diverse group of future leaders. So we focus on tracking apprentice outcomes – and the findings are extremely positive. 68% of our apprentices are promoted either during their program or at its conclusion. On top of this, 90% find permanent employment, either at their employer or within their industry.

Adding expertise to our Board

Our Series D isn’t the only exciting news of the moment. We’re also proud to announce that the esteemed Youngme Moon has joined our Board of Directors as our first external appointment.

Youngme is the Donald K David Professor at Harvard Business School and a big believer in apprenticeships: “Widening access to great careers is one of the most urgent issues of our time, and essential to solving both the war for talent, and the inequities of the current labor market. I’m truly excited about the potential of tech apprenticeships, and the system we can build through them.”

Armed with our new funding, we’ll now embark on this journey together. Working confidently towards our mission of creating a diverse group of future leaders through the power of professional apprenticeships.

SOURCE Multiverse - Our Series D funding will help us transform more industries, careers and lives (multiverse.io)