Podium Education Acquires Untapped, The Early Career Talent Platform For Top Companies, To Close The College-to-Career Gap

Podium Education, a leading experiential education company, has acquired Untapped, a comprehensive early career talent platform, marking a significant expansion in their mission to bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world professional experience. This strategic move links over 1 million undergraduates from Podium’s extensive university network with top companies for early career opportunities, aiming to equip students with in-demand skills and direct career pathways. The integration of Untapped’s employer network with Podium’s educational offerings promises a robust platform for students to gain invaluable work experience and for companies to access a broad pool of emerging talent.

The acquisition accelerates Podium’s vision to bring iconic universities and employers together to reimagine ways for undergrads to gain work experience and land their dream jobs.

AUSTIN, Texas and LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2024  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.

About Podium Education
Podium Education is the leading experiential education company that supercharges the undergraduate degree through real-world, project-based experiences for all students. Podium has over 60 university partners including Georgetown University, University of Michigan and Texas A&M University. Podium’s career accelerator platform includes a fully-digital program that enables students to build global skills and experience while working alongside peers from 50+ countries. Students from all backgrounds and majors explore the in-demand fields of digital marketing, coding, and data analytics through co-designed projects with top global companies such as Intel, charity: water, the Recording Academy®, and more. For more information, visit https://podiumeducation.com and LinkedIn.

About Untapped
Untapped is an all-in-one early career software and talent marketplace for the world’s best employers to hire qualified and diverse intern and new grad talent at scale. Companies like Atlassian, JPMorgan, DoorDash, The Trade Desk, HashiCorp and more use Untapped to source talent, host recruiting events, build employer brand, post jobs, review inbound applications and measure recruiting efficiency. Untapped has over 730,000 candidates using the platform to break into transformative careers. Untapped is backed by leading investors such as Sequoia Capital, Owl Ventures, Lachy Groom, Fifth Down Capital, Zoom Ventures, Four Rivers and others. For more information, visit www.untapped.io and LinkedIn.