AUSTIN, Texas and LOS ANGELES — Podium Education (Podium), the nation’s fastest-growing experiential education company for universities, has acquired Untapped, the all-in-one early career talent platform that connects students with top companies.
The acquisition, which comes off the back of a record growth year for Podium, will link over 1 million undergraduate students from Podium’s 60+ partner universities – including Arizona State University, University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Miami – with early career job and internship opportunities on the Untapped platform.
Untapped works with hundreds of the world’s leading companies – including JP Morgan, Stripe and Twitch – and will accelerate Podium’s mission to supercharge the undergraduate degree by providing all students with real-world experience before graduation. Untapped’s employer partners will have the opportunity to engage with Podium students as soon as Summer 2024.
“Access continues to be the biggest barrier college students have to gaining work experience. By combining the Podium university network and the Untapped employer network, we are unlocking the first-ever integrated pathway from classroom to career. Podium can now provide college students, regardless of their major, with in-demand skills, real-world experience, and a direct connection to great careers. This is the bridge we have always wanted to build,” said Brooks Morgan, CEO and Co-Founder of Podium Education.
Adam Gefkovicz and Tariq Meyers, co-founders of Untapped, will join Podium’s executive team, continue leading Untapped, and scale the employer network. Adding Untapped’s early career network, Podium now partners with over 100 companies and nonprofits worldwide.
“We built Untapped to broaden access to transformative careers and give early career talent the tools they need to take control of their future,” said Untapped Co-CEO Adam Gefkovicz in a statement. “Tariq, myself, and the entire team at Untapped are beyond excited to join Podium and deliver an expanded experience to our students and employers. We couldn’t imagine a better next chapter for our candidates, customers, team members and investors. We would not be here today if not for the support we received from them along the way.”
Podium’s early career platform, which now includes Untapped, is available at no cost to university partners.
Since 2019, Podium has partnered with over 60 of the largest and most well-known universities to offer its career accelerator platform. The platform includes a fully-digital program that features co-designed projects with leading corporations and global non-profits including Intel and charity: water. Participating undergrads build in-demand skills in areas like Tableau and Shopify by working on projects directly with industry partners. Additionally, students work in small groups with other students from over 60 countries, earn between 1-6 credits, and are awarded micro-credentials and certifications.
“Offering opportunities to gain real work experience as an embedded part of the undergraduate experience exemplifies what our students expect from a premier education,” said Todd Nicolet, Vice Provost for Digital and Lifelong Learning at UNC-Chapel Hill. “Our program provides a valuable career trajectory and earning potential for our students before graduation.”
Independently, Untapped has supported 730,000+ early career candidates and has brokered over 50,000 job placements in the past 6 years. By joining Podium, Untapped’s customers, which include Wells Fargo, Roku, Mattel and Coinbase, will now be able to engage directly with undergrads in the classroom and to scale early career recruitment at universities across the nation. Under the expanded brand, students will enjoy the benefit of showcasing their resumes to leading employers and having access to more potential career opportunities.
“Untapped is an incredible platform for identifying and hiring talented students,” Vivian Chen, Early Talent Programs, Recruiting Manager at Lyft. “Our team does so much with the platform, from targeted sourcing to building our brand with candidates by using live events, as well as reviewing applications. We’re excited about the path ahead as this acquisition will enable us to go deeper into the candidate experience and access an incredible volume of students from the diverse and varied backgrounds we deeply value at Lyft.”
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
