Fire Tech, the UK’s leading provider of extracurricular Tech Education for 9-17 year olds, recently announced they’ve secured £660K in funding led by the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund. With participation by Emerge Education and investment angels, the capital will be used to fund UK and international expansion.
“65% of children in Primary school today will work in jobs that do not exist yet. Our mission is to prepare kids for the tech-driven economy in a fun and engaging way,” said Jill Hodges, Fire Tech’s founder and CEO. She continues, “We’re experiencing 40% year on year growth this year and have strong demand from individuals, educators and institutions from around the world asking us to bring our programme to their markets. Parents are eager for this product because they don’t feel that their children are getting enough of these critical skills in traditional education. Parents don’t want their children left behind.”
Our mission is to prepare kids for the tech-driven economy in a fun and engaging way.
To date, the company has delivered more than 7,000 courses to young people across the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Gibraltar and Australia. Parents choose Fire Tech because of their world class locations such as Imperial College London, the London Science Museum and Wycombe Abbey. Also popular with parents are Fire Tech’s engaging tutors, collaborative environment and innovative curriculum. Sean Bint, Fire Tech’s Head of Learning has drawn on this popularity, stating, “It’s exciting the see courses such as Unity 3D, Python Programming and Rapid Prototyping selling out – the students just dive right in.”
The UK faces a digital skills gap, which is predicted to grow. More than three in four companies report shortages in digital skills, costing the economy £63 billion a year in lost GDP. Fire Tech’s mission is to support and encourage the next generation of innovators, and in doing so to help grow the skills available to the digital economy. Known for promoting an inclusive environment, more than 50% of places on weekend courses are often filled by young women.
On behalf of the Cass Entrepreneurship Fund, Oliver Finch led the investment, explaining that “Jill and her team at Fire Tech design and deliver world-class programmes in technology education for young people. The courses and materials build familiarity across a range of technologies and software, helping students to develop real problem-solving skills, resilience and teamwork. We are delighted to support Fire Tech’s next phase of growth as it furthers its UK and global expansion, capitalising on this in-demand area of youth education and experience.”
The courses and materials build familiarity across a range of technologies and software, helping students to develop real problem-solving skills, resilience and teamwork.
