ivee, a seed-stage AI upskilling platform, has been named the UK Government’s primary events partner for its AI Skills Hub. It took them less than a week.
There’s a version of this story where a large consultancy, a household-name training provider, or a Russel Group university lands the UK Government’s AI upskilling brief. That’s not what happened.
Instead, DSIT chose ivee, a London-based startup founded by two sisters, backed by a seven-figure seed round, and operating at the sharpest edge of how AI skills are actually built in the modern workplace. The deal was made after just 7 days of the founders declaring their mission to land the deal publicly on LinkedIn.
ivee is now the primary events partner for the UK Government’s AI Skills Hub, part of the Government’s £2bn AI upskilling initiative. The appointment puts a founder-led startup at the centre of the most significant workforce programme the UK has ever run.
It isn’t hard to see why. ivee has spent two years building the infrastructure that organisations actually need to close the AI adoption gap. The platform curates the most relevant AI tools for any given role, delivers practical lessons and courses built around real tasks, and generates validated AI skills profiles that give employers genuine visibility into capability. Its talent network stands at over 80,000 candidates, all AI-verified.
“Companies are investing in AI technology their workforce isn’t trained to use,” says co-founder and CEO Amelia Miller. “We built ivee because no one should be left behind as work changes. Being trusted by the UK Government to lead on that is the validation that this problem is too big to ignore.”
The partnership will see ivee running events directly through the Government’s AI Skills Hub. Upcoming events include the flagship Core AI Series, designed to build foundational fluency across teams, and the AI Agent Building Series for those ready to go deeper. ivee also runs tool-specific courses such as on Microsoft Copilot, the tool most UK workers already have access to but few use effectively. Then there’s OH, SH*P, ivee’s build day where participants master a new AI tool and ship something real within 24 hours.
“The way people learn has to match the pace of AI itself,” says co-founder Lydia Miller. “That’s why every programme we build is designed around doing, not just watching. This partnership gives us the reach to make that the new standard.”
Sifted recently announced ivee’s seven-figure seed round, backed by Social Impact Enterprises, with angels including Steven Bartlett, a strategy executive at Microsoft’s AI Superintelligence Lab, and investors from Dawn Capital and Balderton.
Seven days from LinkedIn post to trusted government partner. The AI upskilling race has a new name at the front of it.
