The move forms part of Umbrella’s strategy to invest in the future of learning. Umbrella has already invested in the development of virtual reality educational games which will be showcased at Skills London later this year.  

A recent report from PwC found that 91% of learners preferred virtual reality training over classroom environments, and learner confidence increased by 80% when learning through VR.

Adele Oxberry, founder and chief executive of Umbrella Training, said: “Investing in Metaverse Learning is a significant step for us and marks the beginning of what we believe will be a vastly changing landscape in learning.

“We have spent a lot of time working through our own gamification strategies to help attract and engage young people in our learning programmes, and believe this is that natural next step on our journey. We see so many synergies with the team at Metaverse Learning, who are all equally as passionate as us in looking to develop new ways of supporting young people in their career and personal development.”

Metaverse Learning enables colleges and employers to offer tailored virtual, augmented reality and virtual environment programmes to people of all ages across a multitude of sectors.

Jason Holt, founder of Metaverse Learning, added: “We have lots of exciting plans to work with Umbrella and other partners in hospitality to develop careers and address the recurrent skills gaps.”