A unicorn company, Multiverse, in the UK, which creates apprenticeship programmes to teach people digital skills while they work, has acquired Searchlight, in an effort to bolster its capabilities.
Multiverse’s founder and CEO Euan Blair confirmed the acquisition in a statement on Tuesday.
Searchlight, founded in 2018, claims to be a Predictive Talent Platform that improves hiring efficiency and quality of Hire by connecting talent assessments and analytics to outcomes.
Work and education are combined in Multiverse to provide fair access to economic opportunities. By using the best of human-centred coaching, AI, and technology, it fills the crucial skill gaps and provides a guided, measured, equitable, and applicable approach to learning.
Multiverse provides software engineering and data analytics training in collaboration with over 1,000 businesses.
Kerry Wang and Anna Wang are twin sisters who co-founded Searchlight. Kerry is the CEO, while Anna serves as the CTO. The company’s current clients include Talkdesk, Zapier, and Udemy, among other software companies. Kerry has stated that their current clients will continue to receive services until the end of their contracts.
As part of its business strategy, Multiverse will stop offering Searchlight’s recruitment services and focus on running its own business.
A $220 million Series D fundraising round headed by StepStone Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and General Catalyst was announced in June 2022.
After the funding round, the company became the first edtech unicorn in the UK, with a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion.
“Searchlight’s AI, platform and exceptional talent will allow us to better diagnose the skills needed within companies and deliver impactful solutions,” said Multiverse’s founder and CEO Euan Blair in a statement.
“Combining our scale and world-class learning with Searchlight’s technology and team will ensure even more companies and individuals benefit.”
The deal underscores the increasing priority AI is taking for startups straddling the worlds of work and education. Some people use AI to speed up their work; others claim that AI is taking over certain jobs altogether.
We earlier reported that Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is considering acquiring Boston-based HubSpot, an online marketing automation and CRM startup with a market valuation of over $33 billion.
The acquisition has yet to be publicly confirmed or denied by any of the company’s spokespersons; however, reputable sources are discussing the potential acquisition.
