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Multiverse<\/a>, the U.K. unicorn that builds apprenticeship programs for people to learn technology skills while on the job, has made an acquisition as it aims to skill up itself. The company has bought Searchlight<\/a>, a startup and recruitment platform that uses artificial intelligence-based technology to source talent. The plan will be to use Searchlight\u2019s tech to build new AI products for Multiverse to expand its professional training services.<\/p>\n \u201cSearchlight\u2019s AI, platform, and exceptional talent will allow us to better diagnose the skills needed within companies and deliver impactful solutions,\u201d said Multiverse\u2019s founder and CEO Euan Blair in a statement. \u201cCombining our scale and world-class learning with Searchlight\u2019s technology and team will ensure even more companies and individuals benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n Searchlight was co-founded by twin sisters Kerry and Anna Wang (respectively CEO and CTO). Its existing customers (which include Udemy, Zapier, Talkdesk and other tech companies) will continue to be served until the ends of their contracts. After that, the plan will be to wind down Searchlight\u2019s recruitment services as they focus on Multiverse\u2019s business.<\/p>\n The deal underscores the increasing role that AI is playing in the worlds of work and education. Some people will use AI to speed up what they do; others will claim that AI is taking over certain jobs altogether<\/a>. This acquisition addresses a third area where AI is appearing: to help build more efficient professional training services to fill recruitment gaps.<\/p>\n AI and recruitment have at times been strange bedfellows. Amazon famously<\/a> once had to scrap an AI recruitment tool after it was found to be inherently biased against women for technical roles, due to being trained on typical recruitment data, which more commonly came from men. But technology \u2014 and more pointedly awareness around how models are being built and trained \u2014 have come a long way since then, Searchlight\u2019s CEO told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n \u201cOur AI model is able to identify a good match for a role four times greater than a traditional interview,\u201d Wang said. \u201cWe\u2019re solving for the exact same problem, which is increased equitable access to economic opportunity for everyone. Multiverse had a great business but they\u2019re looking to expand into an all in one workforce development platform.\u201d Kerry will become director of product at Multiverse, while Anna will become head of AI.<\/p>\n Founded and led by Blair (the son of former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and high-profile barrister Cherie Booth Blair), Multiverse currently has around 1,000 customers, with its list of past and present clients including Cisco, government organizations, financial services and industrial companies.<\/p>\n While Multiverse first made its name with a focus on apprenticeships as a viable alternative for people looking to build careers in fast-moving fields like technology, it has since expanded to cover professional training for people already employed. Multiverse has some AI-based services live now, said Ujjwal Singh, the company\u2019s CTO and CPO: it already offers a personalized AI assistant coach for users. Now it clearly wants to keep layering in more technology to improve the overall platform, and its credibility with a set of customers intent on buying and using what appear to be the most modern services they can.<\/p>\n Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed, but for some context, the Wang sisters \u2014 both impressive and accomplished Stanford grads \u2014 took their startup through Y Combinator in 2018. Altogether Searchlight raised nearly $20 million, but that was primarily via a fundraise dating several years back, a $17 million Series A in 2021<\/a>. Its long list of investors included a number of prominent names such as Accel, Founders Fund, Emerson Collective, and Shasta Ventures. Pitchbook estimated<\/a> its valuation in 2021 at $64 million.<\/p>\n