Multiverse nabs $220M at a $1.7B valuation to expand its tech apprenticeship platform – TechCrunch

▤ Summary

Today, a startup called Multiverse that has built a platform both to connect people with those opportunities, as well as to arguably spread the word around the concept of apprenticeships overall, is announcing a major round of funding to expand its own business.The company founded in London and now co-headquartered also in New York has closed a Series D of $220 million, with its post-money valuation coming in at $1.7 billion.For those keeping track, that is double Multiverses valuation compared to its $130 million Series C, which closed just eight months ago. StepStone Group (not to be confused with recruiting platform StepStone) and previous backers Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst all co-led this round, with Founders Circle Capital and past backers Audacious Ventures, BOND, D1 Capital Partners, GV and Index Ventures all also participating.Euan Blair, the CEO and co-founder (who is the son of ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair and high-profile barrister Cherie Booth Blair), said in an interview that the plan will be to use the funding both to continue expanding in the U.S. where it has operations in nine cities and its home market, as well as to continue investing in its technology.Multiverses basic approach is to pair human coaches employed by the startup itself with apprentices and then embed them together with organizations that are taking on the apprentices a list that now numbers 500 big names, including government organizations, Cisco, Verizon, Box, financial services companies and many others. Either way, theres no specific tax incentive in either market available to Multiverse directly.That human element is not going to be automated in any way, Blair emphasized, but there are still a number of tech features that the company plans to introduce to enhance how the whole system works.Its not an either-or with automation, but a coach for us is essential, Blair said, but said that technology can be applied to improve how to present materials and to help people learn in a way that supplements human coaching. Automation also becomes increasingly important for spotting when they are struggling or falling behind in progress reviews, he added.And as the platform grows, its also expanding the kinds of roles its building apprenticeships around, and each will come with its own set of coursework and more to build out, alongside the rest of the infrastructure for managing these engagements.Some of the more advanced roles arguably cross into territory for what a person might have learned in a computer science course at university, which makes Multiverse disruptive both in terms of how its tackling not just the job market and the tech talent race; but also that of education and specifically higher learning. Multiverse has a demonstrated track record of success, building an unparalleled global platform to find, train and develop talent.

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