Euan Blair’s tech start-up Multiverse valued at $200m

WhiteHat chief executive Euan Blair

Credit: Mark Thomas/Shutterstock 

A education technology start-up run by Euan Blair has been valued at $200m (£147m) after raising $44m in new funding.

Multiverse, which provides training and introductions to businesses for apprentices, plans to open a New York office later this month.  Mr Blair’s 46pc stake in the business is now worth $92m following the latest funding round.

An expansion to the US could help the company attract more American technology clients beyond current customers such as Facebook, Google and WeWork.

Mr Blair, the 37-year-old son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that the model of students attending university before undergoing corporate training is “fundamentally broken.”

That system “too often fails to give people the skills they need and does not spread opportunity fairly across society,” he said.

“We’re building an outstanding alternative to both the university system, and to a corporate training model that rarely delivers long-term impact and genuine results.”

Potential apprentices using Multiverse, previously known as Whitehat, create digital CVs including videos of themselves and are matched with job opportunities. The site then offers training and virtual networking events to help them make connections and learn skills.

The business plans to hire 200 more employees across the UK in 2021.

The new investment into the business was led by American venture capital firm General Catalyst which previously backed Snapchat and Deliveroo. Other investors in the round include Google’s venture capital arm GV as well as existing backers Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

WhiteHat previously raised money from Village Global, an investment fund backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Michael Bloomberg.

Mr Blair hopes that WhiteHat’s focus on apprenticeships could help people from diverse backgrounds enter the world of technology.

“About 40pc of our apprentices are from the areas of highest economic deprivation,” Mr Blair told The Telegraph in November, “54pc are from minority ethnic backgrounds, about 57pc are women.”