Leading Latinx Led Software Developer Bootcamp Sabio expands its program with a new round of funding to train more women and minorities for high paying jobs in tech
Sabio– a Los Angeles based coding bootcamp gains momentum in becoming the leading dev bootcamp for women and people from diverse populations looking to transition into tech. With a new round of funding, they aim to expand their on-line operations and create new public private partnerships.
Despite Q3 being the lowest drop in funding for women founders since 2017, Liliana Aide Monge, Co-Founder & CEO of Sabio convinced investors that coding bootcamps are the solution to getting people employed amid a growing pandemic and her approach is making a difference – “55% of Sabios graduates are Latino or Black and 20% are women and these folks are getting placed at Microsoft and Twilio. Our targeted outreach and scholarships are helping them transition from low-paying jobs to high-paying jobs as software developers.” said Monge.
Monge and her co-founder Gregorio Rojas raised over half a million dollars from new Latino tech investors, including Patty Arvielo, President and Co-Founder, New American Funding, L’Attitude and Hispanics In Philanthropy PowerUp Fund. Sabio also took home first prize in FastPath’s pitch competition. “There is a huge opportunity in the market right now to support Latinx founders to build the next generation of products and services and getting more Latinos into technical jobs is fundamental to overall Latino economic empowerment so it was an easy decision for me to invest,” said Arvielo.
While the tech industry has been talking about increasing minority hiring for decades, progress has been slow. A 2019 Wired study estimated that Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous people combined to make up only 5% of employees at the top Silicon Valley firms, and a recent analysis of mega company diversity reports shows only single-digit increases in hiring.
Sabio not only trains their fellows in the latest coding languages but provides white-glove treatment in preparing them for the notorious white board interview. They have an 82% placement rate, beating out competitors like HackReactor and UCLA coding bootcamp. The new funding will allow Sabio to expand it’s live remote training to the west coast and launch new employer partnerships that include Twitter, Qualcomm, and the NBA.
