News

We’re already a way into the Multiverse story, and today we turn the page to an exciting new chapter. But, before you make an assumption based on the blog title, this isn’t the chapter that’s all pictures and no words.

Today we’re unveiling an update to our brand. We’re not changing our name, we’re still Multiverse - just with a refreshed visual identity and a renewed vigour to provide equitable access to economic opportunity, for everyone.

We could spend hours walking you through what’s changed, but if a picture paints a thousand words then we’re confident this video will do the talking.

Design lovers, this section is for you.

Our in-house creative team started this project to create a distinct and robust, yet easy-to-use design system that could flex across the entire Multiverse ecosystem. By collaborating with our learning and product teams (and supported by some talented design friends) the output will help us better communicate with our apprentices, our business partners and all our stakeholders.

Our new design system has been built around some of our signature brand elements and you’ll see this is simply an evolution, not a revolution.

Whilst our logo remains the same, we’ve dialled up the use of our signature (Ultraviolet) introduced a more accessible colour palette, streamlined our typography and doubled down on what makes us unique.

We’ve also introduced a playful illustration style to reflect the diversity and creativity of the team that makes Multiverse so unique. We live and breathe our values and don’t see the need to take ourselves too seriously.

What you see today is a look through the keyhole of how our brand and digital ecosystem will evolve over the coming years. We want you to come on this journey with us as we build a learning platform that’s led by people, powered by data and supercharged by tech.

Today, we’re setting a new course for our brand, for Multiverse and for work in general. If you’re inspired by what you’ve just read and what we’re building, take a look at some of our open roles.

AI can unlock business success, jobs, and economic growth that will benefit all of us.

But right now, it’s easy to feel like we spend more time talking about AI than we do using it. Half of UK businesses have still not started to implement any meaningful AI activity.

It’s right to be optimistic about the future that AI can bring, but those words need to be backed up by action. Businesses, teams and individuals need to start rethinking business as usual, bringing in AI tools to supplement their work, automating the tasks that are holding things back.

That requires skills.

Introducing AI for Business Value

Our new AI apprenticeship programme empowers employees to implement action in their organisations. Apprentices will become proficient in AI and learn how to find the areas where it can unlock growth, efficiency and revenue. They’ll work on projects to bring AI into different functions of their business,

The 13-month apprenticeship is called AI for Business Value and combines the business skills needed to be an effective operator with the AI skills needed to drive efficiency and productivity gains.

Apprentices will also learn skills like evaluating AI tools, how to measure the impact of implementing AI and bridge the gap between the business and technical sides of the organisation. Through our AI Jumpstart module, they’ll become power-users of generative AI tools by learning skills like AI ethics and prompt engineering.

Individuals will learn through Multiverse's tried and tested, Ofsted-outstanding delivery model. They'll receive personalised, one-to-one support and join a community of others sharing the same learning experience.

The business leaders at the forefront of AI know there’s urgency here: keeping pace means implementing training. In fact, the biggest AI advocates are 53% more likely to invest in AI training and feel better positioned to meet skills needs by 2030.

Help your teams generate value from AI

By training employees to actively identify new opportunities, while staying aware of potential risks, you can generate real business value and keep your organisation ahead of the curve.

Find out more about building AI teams in our latest ebook, or read more about our AI for Business Value programme on our website.

Now, we’re opening up a sample of the Multiverse learning experience to everyone: so you can improve your skills on one of our modules.

You can develop an in-demand skill in about an hour on the Multiverse learning platform.

Not only will you gain a new skill that will help you be more effective at work, but you’ll also get a taste of a Multiverse apprenticeship - and find out if it might be right for you.

We’re launching with a set of skills that apprentices tell us have unlocked new opportunities and efficiencies for them at work:

• Prompt Engineering: unlock your use of Generative AI tools and LLMs with prompt engineering, a set of powerful strategies that will help you get the most accurate and useful responses from Generative AI tools. Not to mention, Prompt Engineer vacancies are currently commanding salaries above $300,000
• AI Ethics: with many businesses concerned about the use of AI, employees who can navigate some of the legal and ethical dilemmas are in high demand. Through this module, you’ll learn about some of the considerations that should be made when using AI tools: like copyright, data protection and fair use
• VLOOKUPs: if you want to expand your spreadsheet skills, using VLOOKUPs is a fundamental skill that enables you to connect data points, enabling easier data retrieval and analysis

We’ll add more taster modules in the future based on your feedback.

We know from our thousands of learners that better skills unlock better opportunities at work.

We believe that the best learning happens through immediate application and practice. Our unique applied learning approach brings together real projects, an ecosystem of support and interactive learning that guides our apprentices to apply their skills both as they learn and as they work. You’ll get a taste of that while learning a quick skill on our platform: with quizzes, videos, challenges and personalized learning pathways.

While these modules are self-guided, Multiverse apprentices enrolled via their companies receive personalized, one-to-one support in order to guide both their learning and working experiences while on program.

Opening up these taster modules to everyone is just one of the ways that we’re opening up world-class training to everyone. For our apprentices, we’re using AI to facilitate on-demand coaching, launching new programmes in Artificial Intelligence for business, and more as part of a multi-million dollar investment in our tech.

Sign up now on our platform

Artificial Intelligence is creating new ways to add value to our learners and customers, and better routes through which to do it.

First, we’re equipping people with the skills they need to thrive in an AI age. We’ve already trained thousands of individuals in advanced AI skills via our data programmes, and last summer we rolled out AI training to every one of our apprentices.

And secondly, we see AI as a solution to some of the biggest challenges that education has faced to date. World-class training has been held back by scarcity: but the strength of AI is its ability to turn scarcity into abundance.

It’s why we’re investing heavily in our technology, to develop the tools that will unlock outstanding training to hundreds of thousands of learners.

This month, we’re launching one such tool: on-demand coaching, powered by AI.

The story so far

Expert, human coaches have always supported our apprentices, and will continue to do so. But we wanted to create something that could build on that support. To be there for apprentices whenever they have questions, with no delays. We know that, for example, our apprentices have a lot of questions as they approach crunch moments, projects and assessments - and those questions don’t always come during working hours.

So, during one of our regular hackathons, our tech team built a first iteration of an always-on, AI-powered assistant coach. It was immediately clear that this could benefit apprentices as a first port of call: to help them understand course material, overcome challenges, or brainstorm ideas.

Cem Gurkan, Product Manager, said: “As the world of work becomes more flexible and we push for more inclusive workplaces: not every assignment is done from 9-5 any more. The rapid acceleration in AI technology can make it possible for us to be there for apprentices whenever they need us.”

Enter: Multiverse Atlas.

Introducing Multiverse Atlas

Multiverse Atlas is built on a commercially available Large Language Model (LLM), and has been carefully prompted to support our apprentices.

It’s designed to encourage a socratic method of coaching, aiding apprentices to delve into topics themselves and find solutions, rather than simply giving answers like an off-the-shelf chatbot might. Atlas can give career advice, answer questions on topics related to our programmes, and quiz apprentices on topics - helping them to study.

Clare Dodd, VP Global Delivery, said: “Our coaches are industry experts that go through a rigorous coaching academy that covers our coaching philosophy: how we teach apprentices to ensure they are empowered to do their best work, retaining and applying their skills and knowledge. Atlas enables coaches to do what they do best, whilst also providing assistance in the moment an apprentice needs it most.

“For Atlas to do that successfully, the learning team worked closely with the tech team to test and iterate Atlas’ style of responding to apprentices - guiding them to find answers, and referring them to their human coach when they need additional support.”

The prompt that powers Atlas went through more than 100 iterations over a three month building process, and it continues to evolve with the close input from our coaches.

Atlas tailors its responses to the apprentice it is speaking to: it knows who they are, the industry they work in, the sort of job they do and the apprenticeship programme they are studying. At the core of what we do is the belief that people learn better when content is personalised to them, and AI enables that at scale.

In our beta tests, more than 10,000 questions have been asked and apprentices found 90% of Atlas’ responses to be helpful. For when Atlas doesn’t have the answer, apprentices can speak directly to their coach from the same on-demand chat application. Coaches can also see Atlas’ responses and can clarify or correct. On-demand coaching ultimately enables apprentices to connect directly with support, no matter where they are.

Atlas in action

The future of AI at Multiverse

This is just the beginning. Multiverse Atlas, and our on-demand coaching, will keep evolving.

As you read this, Atlas is being trained on all of our courses: so it will soon know our programmes like Software Engineering or the Data Fellowship back to front, to guide apprentices through their work. We’re continuing to personalise Atlas to each learner, so it can provide advanced contextual support based on where they are in their programme. We want to build the ultimate assistant coach that journeys with apprentices and provides them helpful, tailored assistance as they learn.

Peppa Wise, VP GTM, said: “When we’ve asked business leaders, they’ve told us that they don’t have the skills they need to reap the productivity gains AI could bring. Through our module - AI Jumpstart - we're offering training to all of our apprentices in these technologies, to start to close that skills gap. And AI tools themselves will enable us to make that training even better, and reach even more people: so more businesses can see the benefits that AI will bring.”

And Atlas is just one part of how we’re thinking about AI. Looking to the future, we’ll launch more ways to ensure our apprentices are power-users of AI tools, and experts in machine learning: while building the tools that will enable world-class, personalised, applied learning at scale.

Multiverse’s ‘Best Places to be an Apprentice’ ranks areas using criteria from government and ONS data including the number of apprentices per business, growth in the number of new apprentices, the area's employment rate, and how affordable renting is across the towns and cities.

The analysis found that Wigan, Stoke-on-Trent, and Newcastle-under-Lyme are the top three areas to be an apprentice in England.

All three topped the list by scoring consistently highly in every category, particularly for the high number of apprentices per business.

The affordability of properties for apprentices to rent means that nine of the top 20 places are in the North of England, whilst London does not feature at all. Three areas are in the North East, three in the North West, and three in Yorkshire and the Humber. This compares to just four in the South East and one in the South West.

The analysis shows that the opportunity for apprentices stretches beyond big cities. Towns dominate cities in the ranking, with only five of the top 20 places being cities: Stoke, Plymouth, Hull, Southampton, and Sunderland.

Euan Blair, CEO at Multiverse, said: "Apprenticeships are an incredible vehicle for social mobility across the UK - and at Multiverse we’re proud to have apprentices in every corner of the country. Access to our apprenticeships has been unlocked by the use of tech to scale our offering nationwide and has allowed us to reach often overlooked areas.

"The spread of opportunities supports our belief in the ability for apprenticeships to be the tool that enables equitable access to economic opportunity, for everyone.”

We’re opening our entry-level apprenticeships to people of any age for the first time: enabling people in their 30s, 40s and 50s to restart their career, change direction, or even enter the workforce for the first time.

More than 50% of our apprentices are currently over the age of 30 on upskilling and reskilling programmes, and we know the benefit apprenticeships can have for those of any age.

That’s why, now, all of our apprenticeships are open to anyone: whether you’re entering the workforce for the first time, reskilling into a new career or industry, or uplevelling your skills.

Euan Blair, CEO of Multiverse, said: “There’s long been a belief that apprenticeships are only for young people. This isn't true: apprenticeships can support a broad range of people at multiple stages in their lives to control the trajectory of their careers.

“Our mission is to provide equitable access to economic opportunity for everyone. Supporting people of any age to access apprenticeships is another step towards delivering this.”

In December, our research found that more than 5m UK workers over the age of 50 are considering retiring early, creating a large risk to an already strained workforce: many of whom are concerned about not having the modern skills employers are currently looking for.

Blair said: “The changing tech landscape proves that people of all ages need new skills, and the opportunity to reimagine what their career can be. Whether someone is 16 or 60, we want to use apprenticeships to support them to build meaningful, sustainable, and well paid careers."

Minister for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education Robert Halfon said: “Apprenticeships are for everyone, at all ages and stages of their career. So, it is brilliant news that Multiverse is removing all age restrictions from their apprenticeships, enabling more people to retrain and upskill later in life. Multiverse understands the wealth of benefits apprentices bring to businesses across the country.

“Apprenticeships are crucial to giving people from all backgrounds the chance to gain the skills they need to unlock their potential while addressing skills gaps and helping to grow our economy. That’s why we’re increasing investment in apprenticeships to 2.7 billion available by 2024/25, extending the skills ladder of opportunity to all.”

Eimerman joins Multiverse from the online education company Pluralsight where he served for nine years, most recently as Chief Product Officer. Earlier in his career he helped build TrainSignal, which was acquired by Pluralsight in 2013. Throughout his career, Eimerman has excelled in combining learning expertise with commercial responsibilities, building on a strong foundation in product and tech.

Gary said: ‘Our mission couldn’t be more urgent. Right now people are either switching off from learning, or taking over a trillion dollars of student loan debt to the grave. It doesn’t have to be that way.

‘Applied learning combines the best of learning with paid work, and opens the door for people to get the education on tomorrow's technologies while earning money and becoming productive and motivated team members. This is a huge win both for the individuals and the companies in need of today’s most in demand roles.

‘It means our team isn’t just transforming careers by teaching people how to learn, we are delivering meaningful system change in the process’.

Multiverse works with over 10,000 apprentices and 1,000 businesses already, training individuals on programs in the tech, data and engineering skills needed to thrive across a variety of different roles. When inspected most recently by UK regulators, assessors praised Multiverse’s ‘outstanding’ provision for having an ‘ambitious curriculum that closely reflects what employers need so that apprentices make rapid progress’.

Our learning team is constantly innovating to give apprentices the tools to make an impact in their roles and careers. Just this month we launched an AI Jumpstart module, available to all apprentices at no cost, to give them the fundamentals to make use of AI tools in the workplace.

Illinois-based Eimerman is one of a number of senior leaders to join the business this summer, including Alex Varel who has been appointed Chief Revenue Officer, and Ujjwal Singh, our Chief Product and Technology Officer.

AI will fundamentally change the way we work — putting some jobs at risk, but undoubtedly creating many more. In fact, our forthcoming research shows that nearly two-thirds of business leaders believe AI will create new jobs that require human skills and creativity. Ultimately, it’ll be important for all of us to learn and understand how to use AI effectively in the workplace.

We consider the ability to use AI a core skill for workers over the next decade, just as literacy and numeracy are core skills in today’s modern workplace.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that our apprentices will have access to world-class AI training through our first, full AI module: AI Jumpstart.

The AI Jumpstart training module will launch in September, and will be offered to every apprentice on a Multiverse programme – regardless of which course of study they are pursuing.

The module will equip learners with foundational knowledge of AI that will enable them to identify opportunities to leverage AI while staying aware of potential risks, utilise AI tools, and generate real business value for their employer.

It will cover the fundamental principles of how AI works, how to critically evaluate AI outputs for ethical considerations and accuracy, and perhaps most importantly, teach apprentices how to apply AI in their day-to-day work, for example through the use of effective prompts.

To deepen and stretch the skills and knowledge gained from this module, apprentices will also have access to AI Unlocked; a series of supporting content and events available exclusively through the Multiverse Community.

For many years, our apprentices on advanced programmes have been trained in machine learning and advanced data mining, but the new AI Jumpstart module will enable all Multiverse apprentices to go deeper into AI – regardless of what programme they are in. Whether it’s business, data science, or software engineering – we’re creating opportunities for Multiverse apprentices to learn how to harness AI and use it effectively in their roles, because we believe every worker will need these skills in the future world of work.

As we look ahead to the next decade, there will undoubtedly be an increased demand for AI power users. We recently polled over 1,000 business leaders, and 69% agreed that AI will create more demand for professionals specialising in it. And yet, when we polled apprentices earlier this year, about half were not using ChatGPT in their daily work – either because they don’t know how to use it, or did not have access to it via their employer. It’s a massive missed opportunity which, unless corrected, could leave them behind their peers, and companies behind their competitors.

Our AI Jumpstart module will build apprentices’ skills so that they can adequately use the AI tools of today and the future. And we’ll teach these skills on-the-job, in real-world settings, as they take on real projects — because active, in-context learning is the best way to set employees up for success.

The impact of AI on the workplace will be radical, but by learning how to use AI effectively in our roles, we will build a more skilled, and more strategic workforce.

He will be responsible for leading, developing, and growing Multiverse’s go-to-market team, who have successfully launched apprenticeship programs at 1,000 companies worldwide. Through their efforts, they have built strong partnerships with the world’s top employers, helping companies address skill gaps, diversify their early talent strategies, and prepare their workforces for the future of work.

In Alex’s own words: “The rapid pace of technological change requires relevant, up-to-date human skills. This requirement has never been more important. With AI, our workforce faces opportunities like augmentation and productivity gains, but we also face huge risks around the potential displacement of human talent. At Multiverse, we’re positioning our customers and their employees to succeed in the face of so much change.

Joining Multiverse is a unique opportunity to partner with a very talented team, grow our company together and drive forward a solution that has been tested again and again by the most demanding, high-expectation employers.

I’ve been fortunate to learn, on the job, from some of the most elite go-to-market teams out there. I’m excited to bring that experience to Multiverse. Our continued excellence in go-to-market will ensure a powerful customer experience for companies and apprentices.”

Alex’s experiences have made him one of the most in-demand leaders in tech. He has led sales teams across markets, regions, and segments at some of the most exciting growth companies in the world including: Udacity, MongoDB, and Zscaler.

Alex has a strong track record within EdTech and human capital. He ran enterprise sales at CareerBuilder and founded the enterprise sales business while at Udacity. His experience spans the start-up and scale-up ends of the tech company journey — spanning pre and post-IPO experiences.

At the start of 2023, Multiverse reached 10,000 apprentices, and continues to partner with a growing number of the Forbes Global 2000. We’re actively hiring in this team in both the US & UK. To learn more about life in Multiverse’s go-to-market team read Peppa Wise’s journey from Account Executive to VP in just 4 years.

When our apprenticeship model works, it’s because it uses the transformational power of working and learning combined. Our apprentices learn in a meaningful way: developing skills on-the-job, and applying those skills straight away to drive business success.

But we aspire to truly world-class apprenticeships, available to everyone: and that depends on enhancing and building the technology that powers apprenticeships.

Our provision, which was ranked Outstanding by Ofsted, already uses technology platforms to personalize the learning experience, connect apprentices to the best opportunities and the most relevant content, and help our coaches have impactful connections with apprentices.

And now, we’re accelerating our investment into this part of our business.

Today, we’re delighted to be joining forces with Eduflow, one of Europe’s most dynamic education start-ups. The team at Eduflow have built a world-class education platform, used by thousands of learners.

The move represents our first acquisition and will mean we can give greater levels of personalization to apprentices, ensuring the skills that they learn are relevant and delivered more effectively.

Eduflow CEO David Kofoed Wind said: “When it comes to learning the skills needed to navigate the workplace, it’s clear that the future of learning isn’t lectures and textbooks, it’s delivered through the transformational power of working and learning combined.

“By integrating Eduflow's technology and team into Multiverse's existing stack, apprentices will benefit from more specialization to ensure their skills are directly applicable to their careers, and a greater level of peer-learning, to help build the connections, communication skills and teamwork necessary to thrive.”

This week, we’re also welcoming Ujjwal Singh to Multiverse as our first Chief Product and Technology Officer. Ujjwal joins us from Meta, where he led the development of Facebook’s suite of workplace tools, and has driven product innovation at Google and GoFundMe.

With our first acquisition and the appointment of our first CPTO, this marks our largest single investment into our technology stack to date, and one that we are confident will accelerate the learning for our apprentices, and the results that businesses see from their programs.

Ujjwal said: “Even after all the studying I’ve done, my best lessons came from the workplace, not the classroom. That’s why I was so driven by the mission of Multiverse, and the opportunity to build the future of applied learning.”

Technology has always been at the heart of how we deliver a brilliant experience to both apprentices and their employers. That’s how we scaled to reach 10,000 apprentices earlier this year.

Now, our ability to continue scaling applied learning relies on our ability to build the tools and technology that can underpin the future of apprenticeships.

This is an investment in our apprentices’ success - because we know that when we accelerate learning for our apprentices we accelerate results for employers.