Ashcombe advises Makers on an investment led by BGF
Ashcombe has advised Makers on a £7m Series A investment, led by BGF and supported by existing investors
Makers helps attract, train and develop the very best tech talent for deployment in leading companies
The funding will allow Makers to accelerate growth by broadening its courses and increasing its student capacity
Ashcombe is pleased to announce that it has advised Makers Academy Limited (“Makers”) on a £7m funding round led by BGF Investment Management Limited (“BGF”), the leading growth capital investor in the UK and Ireland, alongside existing investors Forward Partners and Educapital.
Founded in 2012, Makers identifies high potential career switchers without a background in tech, trains them as software engineers and helps place them with leading companies. Since its founding, the company has trained more than 3,000 people to become software engineers, successfully placing candidates with global brands including Google and Deloitte Digital.
With this investment, Makers will offer a wider variety of tech bootcamp and apprenticeship courses over the next three years. These will open up 5,000 opportunities in tech for people who would not otherwise have had access, and provide Makers’ clients with diverse talent across their tech teams.
As part of its mission, Makers is committed to championing diversity in tech. In addition to free apprenticeship programmes for students, 30% of places on its Bootcamp courses are taken as full scholarships, 40% of students are women (double the UK tech industry average) and 40% are from underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.
Jack Garrett, Partner at Ashcombe, commented:
“Makers is a high impact business, developing a first-class and diverse group of students to launch exciting tech careers, whilst also helping companies secure technology talent which is difficult to find. We are excited for the potential of the business and delighted to have supported the team to form a partnership with BGF.”
Claudia Harris, Makers’ CEO, commented:
“We worked closely with Ashcombe for a year to deliver the transaction. Through the journey they supported us closely and helped us navigate a turbulent market and an array of complexities, often going well beyond the typical role of an adviser. They are a trusted partner to our business and we look forward to working with them again.”