10 million capital increase in order to change the world of training and recruitment, giving thousands of people a job opportunity and bridging the technology skills mismatch
Just over a year after its launch, Epicode has closed a 10 million A round and combined the fastest growing players on the European ed-tech landscape: the merge of Epicode Italy with Strive Germany (company founded by Y-Combinator in Berlin) combination has given rise to the first tech skill accelerator ever.
This project stems from both international and national experience of two businesses that have been growing the most in Europe in 2021 aiming to train and employ thousands of talents and professionals at Tech companies. The management team of the new company will be made up by Ivan Ranza (CEO); Tobia De Angelis (Chairman), Claudio Vaccaro (CRO/B2B Director), Marco Rosci (Chief Marketing Officer), Alessandra Coppi (Head of talent acquisition & Top Clients), Alessandro Trusiani (Chief Financial Officer), Alessia Luminari (Head of placement) Diego Banovaz (Chief Product & Technology Officer), and Francesca Gizzi (Head of enrollment).
“We want to speed up the transition to a digital economy in an authentically inclusive and sustainable way. We are the bridge between people who want to find a job in the tech world and companies that really care about innovation,” CEO Ivan Ranza explained. “This combination between Epicode and Strive stems from the desire to shape a strong identity to an ambitious project: to build a European Ed tech leader through a global community, innovative learning models and effective reskilling programs for companies. Epicode trains people leveraging their real skills rather than the time spent in a classroom, so that they can have a future-proof and steady career”.
The private investors club deal – led by Matteo De Brabant, President at Jakala and Lorenzo Lamberti Sagliano (banker focused on tech companies) – has renewed their trust already placed at the seed round (which took place just one year ago) by relaunching the international growth of this very promising company. Among the investors, Matteo Tiraboschi (Brembo), Enrico Drago (family office), Paolo Barberis (Nana Bianca), Guglielmo di Notarbartolo di Villarosa (Marzotto’s family), Matteo Lunelli (Cantine Ferrari e Altagamma) and Gian Andrea Strekelj (founder Venere.com).
Epicode’s success is based on the attendance of 1,000 students and new developers, from over 20 countries across Europe, trained in 2021 alone, with an employment rate of over 90% with[1] [2] in six months after the end of the training and a network of 600+ hiring partners, among them leader companies like EY, Deloitte, Accenture, Jakala, Capgemini, Almaviva, Kpmg, Cisco, Paloalto network, Engineering, Reply, Almaviva and many more. These figures have turned Epicode into the leader in the Ed-tech industry both in Italy and in Europe[3] . It is a life and learning experience training, placing and mentoring young talents throughout their professional career[4] . Training and employment are at the heart of Epicode’s business model, serving as a real bridge between demand and supply of skilled tech professionals worldwide.
A new real training model, relying on structured, customized and specialized 6-month courses – both for students and for the companies they will eventually be hired by – where the focus on personal growth and community are the core strengths. Students can choose among two languages (English or Italian) and two “majors”: web developer and data analyst. According to the chosen specialization, students can customize the course by selecting among the following specializations: cloud, cybersecurity, Power BI, mobile, backend, and Salesforce, AI and data science.
Epicode will keep offering a winning package based on trust placed in its members: participants pay for only half of the course upfront, the other half is paid once they start working. Students are placed on a one-on-one career coaching path, which also includes meetings with influential tech and HR experts in order to boost the development of soft skills required in the world of work.
Epicode is already present and active in the whole Europe with a community of tech talents distributed throughout the territory: 50% is in Germany, UK and Nordics and 50% in Italy.