BPP Education Group, a global leader in professional and vocational education, announces £5M Series A investment and partnership with UK education technology business xUnlocked, operators of Sustainability Unlocked.
BPP’s investment will allow xUnlocked to fast-track their growth, focusing on producing more courses on sustainability and ESG topics to add to their collection, already the largest range of sustainability courses for professionals in the world. They will aim to produce a comprehensive collection of educational content that will empower professionals in any industry to undertake a sustainable transition at their organisation.
The injection of funds will allow the company to attract more world-leading sustainability experts to present and co-create courses on Sustainability Unlocked, joining existing experts including Nobel prize winners, top scientists, and industry leaders.
Sustainability Unlocked’s parent company, xUnlocked, was founded in 2017 by Henry White and Robert Ellison. The company launched Sustainability Unlocked in November 2021. This was in rapid response to a growing and urgent need for business training in sustainability, a move aligned with its own B Corp status. Over 100,000 learners utilise xUnlocked across a global client base including Santander, The London Stock Exchange, Airbus, GSK, Oxford Said Business School and Royal Bank of Canada. xUnlocked also operate an education platform for finance professionals, Finance Unlocked, and plan to launch more learning brands in the near future.
Sustainability Unlocked is the world’s first video education platform focused solely on sustainability and ESG for business professionals. It offers over 80 interactive sustainability and ESG courses, and 400 video modules. Covering a wide range of topics from climate change to governance, biodiversity, and ESG regulation, experts include Nobel Prize laureate and IPCC report lead author Kevin Trenberth, Liz Bentley; Chief Executive at the Royal Meteorological Society, and Mark Carney; former Governor of the Bank of England and UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance.
Graham Gaddes, BPP CEO, commented, “The investment in, and partnership with, xUnlocked introduces a new vertical of programmes into the BPP portfolio. We are seeing an ever-increasing demand from our clients and customers who want to expand their skills in ESG and Sustainability. The partnership will allow our customers to access market leading programmes to deliver up-to-date insight with high-end video and a cutting edge learning platform. The highly experienced team at xUnlocked are a great cultural fit for BPP and we look forward to welcoming them into the BPP Education Group.”
“Our purpose has always been to inspire learning and empower change.” says Henry White, CEO of xUnlocked. “This investment and partnership will enable us to fix a crucial gap in sustainability knowledge and understanding amongst businesses worldwide, enabling them to tackle the biggest challenges facing the planet”. Henry and Rob are joined on the xUnlocked leadership team by Prasad Gollakota (Chief Content Officer), Ciaran Rooney (Chief Technology Officer), and Daisy Meakin (Chief Operating Officer).
