Multiverse, a UK-based online jobs portal for apprenticeship seekers, has raised $130 million in its Series C funding round led by D1 Capital Partners and BOND.
The funding round valued the company at around $875 million, more than four times the company's estimated valuation in January.
In a blog post, the company said the new funding will enable them to continue to drive their growth and adoption across the US and UK, ensuring that they're reaching talented individuals from a range of backgrounds while working with the top companies and delivering outstanding education.
Multiverse focuses on apprenticeships, which combine paid work with training and can remove financial barriers to job entry. The platform offers corporate training, resume matching, and networking via social media to candidates.
Co-founded by the oldest son of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2016, Multiverse's mission is to create a diverse group of future leaders, by building an outstanding alternative to university and corporate training. To achieve this, the company provides high-quality apprenticeship programs that combine work, training, and community. Since its inception, the startup has grown across the UK, has trained over 5,000, apprentices in partnership with more than 200 of the world's best employers. The startup also focuses on the skills of the future, with programs ranging from business operations to data science and software engineering.
Speaking about the latest development, Co-founders of Multiverse, said in a statement,
"We want to build an outstanding alternative to university and college. Even the name speaks to how the people it targets do not typically fit into the traditional categories of candidates. There are "multiple universes" one can inhabit as a post-18 young adult."
Multiverse's platform matches diverse, young talent with apprenticeship roles and existing employees with just the right upskilling opportunities.
Jeremy Goldstein, D1 Capital Partners, said in a statement,
"We believe Multiverse is expanding access to wage-growth and social mobility for employees from a broad range of backgrounds while creating substantial value for employers. We are excited to invest and help Multiverse scale its model globally."
Multiverse claimed that it witnessed nearly 4x growth in 1 year, and now takes more new apprentices than Harvard takes freshmen. The company also said that over 50 percent of apprentices hired by them are from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds, 53 percent women and a third come from the UK's most deprived postcodes.
