Multiverse – the apprenticeships tech unicorn founded by Euan Blair – has made its first acquisition with Danish EdTech Eduflow.
The apprenticeship tech provider has also appointed Ujjwal Singh as chief product and technology officer.
Multiverse trains thousands of apprentices in areas such as data analytics and software engineering, and its proprietary tech platforms exist to ensure apprentices have access to a high-quality, personalised applied learning experience.
As the company scales, it says this latest investment into technology will enable it to reach 100,000 apprentices and become a systemic alternative to the university system.
Losses at the company, valued at $1.7 billion by a funding round last summer, grew to £14.2 million in 2022.
Founder and CEO of Multiverse, Euan Blair, son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said: “Tech is the key to scaling our offering: dramatically increasing the number of apprentices we can reach from every background and building an alternative to university that is sustainable and accessible, and available at any point in your career.
“Tech has always been a core part of how we deliver, but as we expand our platform it’s integral to this next phase.
“This investment will accelerate our use of tech to drive results. Ujjwal is a remarkable leader, who has driven change at the world’s largest tech companies.
“Eduflow has developed an innovative social and collaborative learning platform in a market full of static courses. Together, they’ll enable us to build out our offer and deliver far greater customization across our apprenticeship programmes, including through the use of generative AI.
“Ultimately, this will enable us to deliver better outcomes for even more apprentices. And when we deliver results for our apprentices, we deliver results for employers.”
The company’s first CPTO, Ujjwal Singh, was previously head of workplace at Meta, director of engineering at Google, and CTO at GoFundMe.
Singh said: “Even after all the studying I’ve done, my best lessons came from the workplace, not the classroom. That’s why I was so driven by the mission of Multiverse, and the opportunity to build the future of applied learning.”
The company has also announced the acquisition of Eduflow, an education startup founded in Denmark.
The Eduflow team have built a powerful learning platform used by over 1.000 organisations.
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This platform will enable Multiverse to offer even greater personalization within their programs, for the benefit of apprentices and their employers.
Eduflow CEO, David Kofoed Wind, said: “When it comes to learning the skills needed to navigate the workplace, it’s clear that the future of learning isn’t lectures and textbooks, it’s delivered through the transformational power of working and learning combined.
“By integrating Eduflow’s technology and team into Multiverse’s existing stack, apprentices will benefit from more specialization to ensure their skills are directly applicable to their careers, and a greater level of peer-learning, to help build the connections, communication skills and teamwork necessary to thrive.”