Multiverse has become the UK’s first EdTech unicorn with its latest funding round, giving it a valuation of $1.7 billion.

A “unicorn” is an independently owned tech company with a valuation of $1 billion.

Multiverse, founded in 2016, provides apprenticeship training and a jobs board, which is used to connect tech apprentices and employers.

The start-up offers opportunities in a wide variety of sectors including software engineering, digital marketing, and data analytics.

The $220 million Series D investment makes Euan Blair, son of former UK PM Tony Blair, a multi-millionaire, as the founder owns 25 per cent of the company according to data from Companies House.

The start-up says it will use the capital to expand its presence in the US, where it says its clients include Cisco, Google, Verizon, and Box.

The lead investors in the round were Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst, who have previously backed the start-up as well as Stepstone Group.

Other participants in the round included Circle Capital, Audacious Ventures, BOND, D1 Capital Partners, GV, and Index Ventures.

Multiverse was formerly known as WhiteHat.

“Mandating degrees, and making admissions officers the gatekeepers for great careers, means leaving out thousands of talented individuals,” said Euan Blair, chief executive and founder of Multiverse. “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.”

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