Tony Blair’s son Euan Blair raises $130M for Multiverse, UK’s edtech nearing unicorn status

Tech apprenticeship startup co-founded by the oldest son of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Multiverse is nearing the billion-dollar ‘unicorn’ status after having closed a $130-million funding round to allow it to meet the growing demand for professional apprenticeships in both the UK and the US.

The Series C round was led by D1 Capital Partners and BOND and brings total funding for the tech startup to $194 million. The apprenticeship provider has experienced exponential growth since closing the UK’s largest ever edtech funding round this past January, a $44 million Series B led by General Catalyst, which was used to expand into the US. This latest funding round valued the company at around $875 million, more than four times the startup’s estimated valuation in January this year.

Founded in 2016 in London and previously known as WhiteHat, the education technology company matches talent who have not graduated from college with apprenticeship opportunities at companies. It trains apprentices at more than 300 companies including Facebook, Morgan Stanley and the NHS.

The startup also opened a US headquarters in New York City earlier in January. Within six months of launch in the US, it has begun training professional apprentices with organisations including Google, ClassPass and Adyen.

The additional funding will be used to drive growth in both the UK and the US, including by launching additional programmes and qualifications. This year Multiverse launched an innovative programme to enable apprentices to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Data Analytics and Data Science alongside their roles.