01 FOUNDERS LAUNCHES NETWORK OF TUITION-FREE ON-CAMPUS CODING SCHOOLSWITH JOB GUARANTEES TO TRAIN 100,000 DIVERSE SOFTWARE ENGINEERS BY 2030.

The schools get backing from serial entrepreneurs, leading tech companies and education activists with a shared mission to improve diversity within UK tech and bridge the UK’s digital skills gap.

● 01 Founders is now accepting applications for its first school in London with an October 2021
start date - no prior coding experience or academic qualifications required.

● Learners pay zero tuition fees for two years of on-campus, full-stack developer training
followed by two years of employment at a leading tech company.

● Founding partner companies include Peloton, Nominet and Faculty.

● Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Brent Hoberman as part of the Founders Forum Group,
education pioneer Nicolas Sadirac of 01Edu, and London’s largest further education group
Capital City College Group.

● Entrepreneur Kathleen Breitman (Founder, Tezos) backs 01 Founders as an investor,
alongside June Angelides, Amali de Alwis, Lord Vaizey and Lord Knight as advisors.

London: 02 June 2021] 01 Founders has today launched applications for the first
of its free-to-access on-campus coding schools which will train 100,000 software engineers by 2030 and provide each graduate with a job guarantee.

Co-founded by serial entrepreneur Brent Hoberman (lastminute.com, Made.com, Founders Factory,
firstminute capital) as part of the Founders Forum Group, 01 Founders is a new network of
tuition-free coding schools designed to empower ambitious talent, regardless of background or
experience, to pursue careers as software engineers.

Students are pre-selected based on a short cognitive test, followed by a month-long selection pool
over the summer. Those who pass the test period are admitted tuition-free for the intensive
two-year, on-campus fellowship.

Powered by 01Edu (the internationally-acclaimed pedagogy co-founded by Nicolas Sadirac), the
course is teacher less, with students solving gamified projects at their own pace while learning from
their peers. 01 Founders’ adaptive curriculum equips future tech leaders with the technical
languages, mindsets, networks and experience to thrive in the future workplace.
There are zero fees for learners. By challenging the high fees associated with existing coding schools, 01 Founders aims to be a catalyst for greater diversity within UK tech whilst tackling the deepening UK skills shortage. As part of this mission, the school has ambitious targets for cohort representation: 50% women, 30% ethnic minorities, and 50% individuals from underrepresented backgrounds.

Scholarships are also being offered by donors to cover students’ maintenance expenses.
On graduating, students are matched with partner companies or employed by the 01 Founders talent agency as full-stack developers. Initial partnering companies are established, fast-growing tech businesses and include interactive fitness platform Peloton, artificial intelligence technology
company Faculty, and tech infrastructure provider Nominet.

01 Founders has appointed entrepreneur and education activist Joysy John as CEO to lead the
nationwide roll out of their coding schools. The schools have the private backing of London’s largest further education group Capital City College Group, as well as serial entrepreneurs Kathleen Breitman (Tezos) and Rodrigo Abdalla. Its advisory board comprises leading figures from the tech and education sectors including June Angelides, Amali de Alwis, Lord Ed Vaizey and Lord Jim Knight.

01 Founders is also working with community partners Tech Nation, Tech Talent Charter, Micro:bit
Educational Foundation, CodeYourFuture, One Million Mentors, SheCanCode, YSYS (Your Startup
Your Story), Elevating Founders and Pathways Education to attract diverse talent to the fellowship
and support their progress.

01 Founders is now accepting applications for the first London cohort of 250 learners who will start
in October 2021. For more information visit 01Founders.co

Joysy John, CEO of 01 Founders said: “We believe that digital skills give you the ability to shape the world around you. But, for too long, women, ethnic minorities and those from low socio-economic backgrounds have been under-represented in technology. 01 Founders is starting a nationwide movement that removes the barriers to job-ready technical training. It's a coding school for ambitious individuals from every background, regardless of experience.”

Brent Hoberman, Co-Founder & Investor at 01 Founders said: “We’re delighted to be the first to bring this coding school model to the UK. The lower cost peer-to-peer learning aspect enables us to scale this platform quickly across the nation, ensuring that we are able to deliver free-to-access technical education to huge numbers of people across the UK. We need more models like this for public and private partnerships in the UK”.

Nicolas Sadirac, Co-founder of Chief Pedagogy Officer of 01Edu said: “We believe that talent is evenly distributed but opportunities are not. The best way to re-balance this is through access to the tools (network, skills and career prospects) that will shape the future. This is why we bias towards potential over profile. No prior coding experience or academic qualifications are required because we’re looking for the next generation of software engineers – not people who are good at passing exams.”

Roy O'Shaughnessy, CEO of Capital City College Group: “Capital City College Group is delighted to be a partner in this exciting new educational venture – a first for the UK. We were the pioneers of free further education courses in London and 01Founders’ new coding school takes this concept to the next level. It will give anyone, regardless of their background, previous experience or educational level the key coding and digital skills they will need to transform their career chances and their lives. The school is a real innovation in education and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”

Adam Leach, CIO of Nominet, one of the Founding Partner companies to join 01 Founders: “We are proud to be one of the first companies to support 01 Founders. To continue to build high-growth tech companies in the UK, we need bold education models that are engineered to meet the needs of the future workforce. 01 Founders will ensure we have a sustainable flow of diverse, talented software engineers to power the UK tech sector.”

Angie Ma, Co-Founder & Chief People Officer, Faculty, one of the Founding Partner companies to join 01 Founders: "Education is part of our DNA and how we started as a business. We’re delighted to support this new initiative and innovative way of accessing world-class tech talent. The UK has some of the best educational institutions in the world and tapping into this early on in people’s career development will ensure that the UK tech industry continues to thrive."

01 Founders Investor, Kathleen Breitman, Founder of Tezos: “The UK needs 01 Founders. Current software education provisions fall short at meeting the changing needs of the future workplace. 01 Founders was born from a need to teach more than technical training, giving learners the network and soft skills to succeed in the workplace.”

01 Founders Advisor, June Angelides: I’ve been part of the Founders Forum community for years, and it’s undoubtedly one of the best entrepreneurial networks in the world. It’s brilliant to see 01 Founders opening up the power of this network to a more diverse audience of future technical leaders.

01 Founders Advisor, Lord Vaizey: “01 Founders will not only offer learners the chance to study on
cutting-edge, real-world programmes, it will also play a pivotal role in nurturing the next generation or much needed software engineers. This new approach to education will provide employers with the skilled graduates that will drive future productivity and the economic prosperity of our county.”

ENDS