What Founders and Coders does

Founders and Coders (legally Founders & Coders C.I.C.) is a UK nonprofit community interest company founded in 2014, headquartered at 27 Dingley Place, London (near Old Street), with an 11-50 employee footprint. It develops and operates tuition-free, peer-led training programmes in software development, with its single primary product being the AI & ML Engineer Apprenticeship — a 52-week, Level 6 programme for experienced software engineers and data scientists. Delivery is in person, one afternoon per week, through 51 workshops at the Old Street campus, structured around 10 modules covering RAG and evaluation, agent building, voice agents, MLOps, production deep learning, and a final employer-aligned capstone project.

The business model is funded almost entirely through the UK apprenticeship levy at £22,000 per apprentice place. Levy-paying employers draw from their existing levy accounts with no direct invoice; non-levy employers have their training costs covered by funding partners. Neither the employer nor the apprentice bears direct cost. The current cohort comprises 24 apprentices from 23 companies, with named employers including Neo4j, xAI, Sony, Sky, Rolls-Royce, Fanvue, Swap Commerce, Integra e-Quip, Astral, the University of Edinburgh, Oak National Academy, Apolitical, and Clear Honest Design, spanning technology, e-commerce, education, manufacturing, and government/nonprofit sectors. The go-to-market combines CEO-led enterprise sales (discovery calls), direct website/on-page curriculum information, alumni peer referrals, and free taster workshops at the London campus.

All training is delivered directly by the two founders, who between them hold over 40 years of software-building experience, with no teaching assistants. Each weekly session ends with a 30-minute peer-led lightning talk, producing cross-company knowledge spillovers. The organisation holds an Ofsted "Strong" rating for curriculum, teaching, and apprentice development, is registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ZA540366), and operates within geographic restrictions that limit eligibility to UK residents, with primary operations in England.

Name

Founders and Coders

Legal name

Founders & Coders C.I.C.

Website

https://foundersandcoders.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Founders and Coders is a UK nonprofit (C.I.C.) running a tuition-free, 52-week, in-person AI & ML Engineer Apprenticeship in London, fully funded through the UK apprenticeship levy for experienced software engineers and their employers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Vocational Apprenticeship Training (AI & ML Engineering)

NAICS

Apprenticeship Training (611513), Computer Training (611420)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Software Development (Programming, Frameworks, Dev Tools) (EDABAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Software Engineering & Application Development Training (Languages, Frameworks, Testing) (BPAEANAI), Apprenticeships, Internships & Work-Based Learning Programs (BPACANAK)

Keywords

• Machine learning apprenticeship
• AI engineer training
• Peer-led coding bootcamp
• Software engineering education
• Apprenticeship levy training

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Apprenticeship Levy Funding: Training programme funded entirely through the UK apprenticeship levy. Employers who pay the levy have funds drawn from their existing levy account. The £22,000 cost per place covers training and assessment.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Founders and Coders runs a single primary programme: a 52-week, Level 6 AI & ML Engineer Apprenticeship for experienced software engineers and data scientists. Training is delivered through 51 in-person workshops at their Old Street campus in London, one afternoon per week, covering 10 modules spanning RAG and evaluation, agent building and voice agents, MLOps and workflow automation, production deep learning, and a final employer-aligned project. The programme is funded at £22,000 per place through the UK apprenticeship levy.

Product overview

Founders and Coders runs a single primary programme: the AI & ML Engineer Apprenticeship, a 52-week machine learning apprenticeship for experienced software engineers. The programme consists of 10 modules delivered through weekly in-person workshops at their London campus, covering topics from RAG and evaluation through autonomous agents, voice agents, MLOps, production deep learning, and a capstone project for the apprentice's employer. Funding is provided through the apprenticeship levy at no cost to the participant or their employer.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• AI & ML Engineer Apprenticeship A 52-week, Level 6 machine learning engineer apprenticeship for experienced software engineers and data scientists, delivered through 51 in-person workshops at the Old Street campus in London (one afternoon per week). The programme covers 10 modules spanning RAG and evaluation, building an agent and voice agents (including multi-agent orchestration and real-time voice), MLOps and workflow automation, production deep learning (transformers from scratch, fine-tuning and LoRA, quantization, red-teaming), and a final capstone project for the apprentice's employer. Funded at £22,000 per place through the UK apprenticeship levy, with no cost to the apprentice or their employer.

Quantifiable outcome

• Apprentices report feeling prepared to join AI engineering teams and successfully transitioning to AI roles at companies including xAI, Neo4j, Sony, and Sky
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability10 records

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Multiverse: Multiverse is a UK-based apprenticeship provider delivering tech and data apprenticeships (including AI engineering) to employer clients, using the same apprenticeship levy funding model. It is a much larger incumbent in the same regulated apprenticeship space that Founders and Coders operates in.
• Le Wagon: Le Wagon is a global coding bootcamp with a London campus offering full-stack web development and data science bootcamps. It is a broader incumbent serving a similar bootcamp-style technical training market, overlapping with Founders and Coders' trainee profile.
• Springboard: Springboard is an online mentor-led training provider offering AI engineering, data science, and software engineering tracks. While online-only, it competes for the same self-funded and employer-sponsored learners pursuing AI upskilling.
• Ironhack: Ironhack is an international bootcamp operator with a London campus offering web development and data analytics bootcamps. Overlaps with Founders and Coders in cohort-based technical training targeting aspiring developers.
• General Assembly: General Assembly is a well-established global provider of tech bootcamps and corporate training in software engineering, data, and AI. While much larger, it competes with Founders and Coders for corporate L&D budgets focused on upskilling engineering teams.

Direct peers

• Codeworks: Codeworks is a London-based tech training provider running intensive software engineering programmes. It targets a similar cohort of career changers and junior developers in the UK tech-training ecosystem as Founders and Coders.
• Makers Academy: Makers Academy is a UK-based software engineering bootcamp that originated in the same London developer-training community as Founders and Coders. Both organizations deliver intensive, cohort-based technical training targeting career changers and junior engineers, though Makers focuses more on entry-level web development.
• QA (QA Training): QA is one of the UK's largest apprenticeship and technical training providers, heavily reliant on apprenticeship levy funding to deliver digital, IT, and AI apprenticeships. Directly competes for employer apprenticeship nominations in the same regulated, levy-funded market.
• Cambridge Spark: Cambridge Spark is a UK training provider specializing in data science and AI upskilling for enterprise engineering teams, with apprenticeship-aligned programmes. It directly competes for the same UK employer customers seeking to build AI capability in existing engineering staff.

Regional players

• Wild Code School: Wild Code School is a European coding bootcamp with UK operations offering web development and data programmes. Comparable cohort-based technical training but primarily serves Continental European markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Founders and Coders