City & Guilds Group Announces Investment in HT2 Labs as Part of New Venture Fund

LONDON, April 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

HT2 Labs is the latest company to receive investment from the City & Guilds Group's £2.5 million New Venture Fund, which was set up to support technology-driven companies with the potential to make a significant impact in global skills and workforce development.

HT2 Labs is the research and development company for workplace digital learning. Working alongside businesses and educational institutions such as Xerox, InterContinental Hotels Group and City & Guilds, HT2 Labs' research has led to the development of new products that help make learning more personal, more social and more measurable.

HT2 Labs' products include Learning Locker, the Open Source Learning Record Store, and Curatr, the Social Learning Platform. Driven by big data and large-scale text analytics, these systems combine to create powerful online learning environments that allow organisations to measure the extent of behavioural change seen during learning programmes.

Since raising an initial seed funding round in 2013, HT2 Labs has grown significantly, doubling revenues year-on-year. The New Venture Fund has now taken the lead on HT2 Labs' Series A round, with a commitment to further growth funding in the near future, for a minority equity stake. HT2 Labs will use the funding to bring intelligent informal learning to mainstream corporate use through a new product, Red Panda, and to expand operations in the UK and USA.  

The City & Guilds Group has previously worked with HT2 Labs to build the City & Guilds TechBac™ online platform which combines technical qualifications with a workplace skills programme for 14-19 year olds.

Commenting on the investment, John Yates, New Ventures Director, City & Guilds Group said: 'City & Guilds Group colleagues have been working with Ben and HT2 Labs for some time. We know that the team are highly motivated and share our commitment to supporting learning - we share a common real-life research agenda to create solutions that businesses need to improve the performance of their staff and teams. We're particularly excited to support the development of a powerful, insightful learning analytic engine, and the delivery of informal, social learning to corporate markets. HT2 is nimble; as a company it listens closely to its customers, and responds quickly and intelligently. We're delighted to be able to formalise our collaboration.'

Ben Betts, CEO of HT2 Labs said: 'This is a tremendously exciting time to be working at HT2 Labs. The success and growth of our products has attracted a great deal of investor attention, but it has been with John Yates and his team at the New Venture Fund that we've seen the greatest synergies. Whilst this investment is primarily focused towards accelerating our already rapid growth, we stand to inherit a range of wonderful secondary benefits from working with the City & Guilds Group as it seeks to tackle the skills gap with smart data and technology. We will expand our UK headquarters in Oxford, from 15 to more than 30 people over the next 18 months, whilst also doubling down on our new US office in Boston, which has been a great success for us since opening in January.'

As part of the investment, the City & Guilds Group's Chief Technology Officer, Sven Laux will be joining HT2 Labs Board of Directors. 'We have worked with Sven for a number of years,' commented Ben Betts, 'first benefitting from his advice and guidance as we released our Learning Record Store, Learning Locker, as Open Source Software. To bring Sven on to our Board of Directors not only formalises this arrangement but paves the way for deeper integration between our two companies, especially when it comes to Learning Analytics and Big Data.'

Sven Laux added: 'I am delighted to join the HT2 Labs Board and am looking forward to working with such a dynamic and innovative company. I am particularly excited about exploring the possibilities of the use of data analytics in learning, and advancing the already very well established learning platforms at HT2 Labs.'

Press Resources 

• Founder's Biography and Picture [link]
• HT2 Labs logos [link]
• HT2 Labs product screenshots [link]

About HT2 Labs 

• HT2 Labs is the R&D company for workplace digital learning. Founded by father and son team Alan and Ben Betts, HT2 Labs invests its time and resources developing technologies that help businesses design, develop and deliver better learning experiences for people who want to change their lives through learning. Our products include:
  • Curatr, an award-winning social learning platform that gives HR teams the tools to design, deliver and facilitate Social Learning programmes, making the best of the content and systems they already own. Recognised as the leader in Social Learning Innovation by the 2016 Learning & Performance Institute Awards.
  • Learning Locker, the world's most installed Learning Record Store (LRS); an Open Source database and analytics tool designed specifically for the education and learning sector. Learning Locker is the massive database behind the UK's National Learning Record Warehouse for Universities and Colleges. Businesses use Learning Locker to store, sort and share their learning data on a massive scale.  
  • Red Panda is our latest innovation for intelligent, informal learning. Red Panda helps learners to set and meet their learning goals, recommending content and automatically presenting back progress as they learn.
• Find out more at ht2labs.com.

About the City & Guilds Group 

• The City & Guilds Group's purpose is to help people, organisations and economies develop their skills for growth.
• Backed by a Royal Charter, the City & Guilds Group has more than 135 years' experience in making sure that people are prepared to contribute to successful businesses and thriving economies.
• The City & Guilds Group partners with more than 200 companies to develop the skilled workforces that they need, and invests in learning technologies to help people learn whenever and wherever they can.
• The City & Guilds Group is made up of City & Guilds, ILM, Kineo, The Oxford Group, Digitalme and e3Learning:
  • City & Guilds develops programmes of vocational learning, learning technology, certification and assessment, to support colleges, training providers and governments.
  • ILM helps individuals, education providers and businesses improve the standards of leadership and management through qualifications and accredited training. ILM awards qualifications to over 95,000 managers across the world every year.
  • Kineo is a global workplace learning company. It offers a fresh approach to elearning management systems and managed learning services.
  • The Oxford Group provides bespoke management training, leadership development and executive coaching to the world's leading companies.
  • Digitalme designs credentials, using open badges, to recognise individuals' skills and talent. It works with employers, training providers and over 2,000 schools across the UK.
  • e3Learning  specialises in online workforce management and elearning.
• Combined, the City & Guilds Group operates in over 100 countries, through 10,000 training centres, delivering qualifications in 26 different industries.
• For more information about the City & Guilds Group visit: http://www.cityandguildsgroup.com

About the New Venture Fund 

The £2.5m New Venture Fund provides funding for post-revenue businesses and entrepreneurs in the education and training sector in return for equity stake in the companies.

Recipients also benefit from City & Guilds Group expertise and resources, helping to develop their ideas and propel the growth of their businesses.

Find more information about HT2 Labs, please contact:

Andie Coupland
Marketing Manager, HT2 Labs
T: +44(0)1865-873-862
E: andie.coupland@ht2labs.com

For further information about City & Guilds Group, please contact:
Emily Kerr
PR Executive, City & Guilds Group
T: +44(0)207-294-8076
E: emily.kerr@cityandguilds.com

SOURCE HT2 Labs