An education company founded by Euan Blair, son of the former prime minister Tony Blair, has been valued at $1.7bn (£1.4bn) after its latest fundraising.
The investment in Multiverse gives the 38-year-old a paper fortune of between $425m and $850m, while doubling the valuation of the business in less than a year. The company helps young people in the UK and US who have not been to university find apprenticeships with companies and access training.
“There has never been a more pressing time to create an alternative to university education that is equitable and inclusive and there is an incredible opportunity before us to change the status quo with apprenticeships,” said Blair, Multiverse’s CEO. “This funding will help us bring more people without degrees or in need of reskilling into tech careers and ultimately create a more diverse group of future leaders.”
Blair’s father implemented a policy of bringing 50% of young people into higher education when he was prime minister, but his son added in a LinkedIn post on Monday that an emphasis on undergraduate degrees was not enough.
“One of the things that’s so broken about the current system is it tries to pretend a three- or four-year undergraduate degree is enough to see you through a multi-decade career,” he said “We won’t make the same mistake with apprenticeships. Our vision is for a system in which people can return to apprenticeships whenever they need to, to level up their career.”
Blair founded the group in 2016 with the aim of matching young adults and those looking to reskill with apprenticeships. The firm now works with more than 500 businesses including Microsoft, Visa and the investment bank Morgan Stanley. It has helped more than 8,000 people go through apprenticeships in the UK and US. Of the apprentices directly placed with companies by Multiverse, 56% of those are people of colour, more than half are women and a third come from poor communities.
The latest funding injection has come from US investment firm StepStone Group, and previous investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst. Multiverse, which employs 600 people, aims to use the money to expand further across the US, where it launched in January last year.
The investment of $220m catapults Multiverse into the ranks of British unicorns, a term for start-up tech businesses that have reached a valuation of more than $1bn.