This week’s featured startup
College Contact (Sophie Smith, CEO/Co-Founder) – upskills and trains undergraduate students to serve as college mentors & advisors for high school students. We are solving the guidance counselor gap in schools & the inequitable college admissions system. Techstars-backed; InvestHer product of the year for EdTech.
Data Dive
Share in Total Number of Tech Startups (Labor Matters) – Despite indications of Silicon Valley’s fall from grace as startup mecca, the reality is that the Bay Area has increased its share of tech startups in recent years.
Investment
K-12 Dealmaking: Bain Capital Completes $5.6B Acquisition of PowerSchool; Financial Literacy Startup Raises $1M – PowerSchool is a cloud-based software company that provides a student information system (SIS) to help schools and districts manage their operations and improve student outcomes.
Lendorse secures €10M for study now, pay later student financing model – Many bright students are unable to pursue higher education in Europe due to financial barriers. Lendorse’s ‘Study Now, Pay Later’ model overcomes traditional barriers such as credit checks or the need for loan collateral.
Berlin-based Smalt raises €8 million to address the talent supply for the energy transition – The European talent supply for installation/service of climate tech products is constrained. Smalt’s workforce development and service delivery platform increases labor supply and productivity at scale.
Paris-based La Solive raises €4 million to launch new energy renovation training programmes – The talent-starved building sector occupies an outsized share of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. La Solive’s response is to support people looking to retrain in energy renovation.
Lablabee bags $3.4M seed funding to accelerate 5G, cloud, and AI adoption for telcos and more – Lack of skilled labor is the #1 barrier to cloud-native adoption for telecoms. LabLabee’s solution is industry-specific, on-demand and affordable practice labs to simplify upskilling/reskilling talent.
Invest4Edu pockets $3 million to offer education and career planning services – Offering education planning, saving and investment services alongside skill-building and career planning services to school and college students.
Gaia Learning gets venture investment to extend support for neuro-diverse kids – Helping children who would otherwise be left behind, with live, online learning classes and courses for neurodivergent children aged 8-16 with ADHD and autism.
Education comparison site Enrola schools up on $800,000 pre-seed – Streamlining the process of choosing vocational education courses, by helping students find the right provider based on goals, experience, and lifestyle.
Budapest-based Voovo raises €500K pre-seed to scale microlearning in education – Integrating microlearning into mainstream education: an AI-powered flashcard app designed to revolutionize how students and educators engage with learning content.
Resources
Indeed’s Pathfinder Product: Smart Sourcing and the Future of Work (Indeed) – Pathfinder is an AI-powered product that will provide job seekers with the resources to develop a career path, while helping employers fill talent gaps.
Events
Getting to PMF: B2B in Workforce and Upskilling (ECMC Education Impact Fund) – (Oct 17) Explore strategies to align your product with market needs and drive adoption — to achieve early customer traction and product-market fit in the B2B workforce and upskilling sector.
Opportunities
Applications Open for 100x Impact Accelerators 2025-2026 Cohort – Looking for highly scalable models, that can be for-profit or non-profit, addressing global challenges in the areas of climate and environment, democracy, education, health, and social cohesion, among others.
In the news
National grantmakers bet this rural education program can scale (KTBS) – The program has helped leaders in rural districts identify programming gaps and tap into comprehensive services, largely funded by federal grants. It measures community progress across a range of indicators.
The skills revolution and the future of learning and earning (McKinsey & Company) – Covering eight megatrends in the industry, including the rising demand for social and emotional skills, and the demonstrated link between upskilling and earning potential.
CEO pay declined in 2023 (Economic Policy Institute) – From 1978–2023, top CEO compensation rose over 1000% vs. 24% for a typical worker. But last year, there was an uncharacteristic dip in the bosses’ pay.
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