This week’s featured startup
AwakeTeams (Laura Wells, Founder & CEO) – Every year, companies lose $450 Billion to disengaged employees, despite spending over $26 Billion on interpersonal skills development. AwakeTeams is an AI-powered collaborative learning platform designed to improve employee productivity, performance, and communication, and give leaders a way to quantify the impact of their spend.
Data Dive
Turnover risk is lower when employees can choose where they work (Great Place To Work Institute) – In the words of luminary thinker Daniel Pink: “Companies instituted mandatory return-to-office measures to boost productivity and deepen employee commitment. Turns out those moves had the *opposite* effect.”
Investment
Lettuce Financial secures $15M in Series A to bolster solopreneur support – The new funding will be used to expand Lettuce’s capabilities and reach, beyond tax and accounting support.
Italian HR Tech Startup Skillvue Bags €2.8M to Bridge Skills Gap with AI – Skillvue will help address $11T in lost GDP growth due to skill gaps, by improving predictions of candidates’ job performance by up to 5X.
Wethos AI Secures $7.5M in Seed Funding to Revolutionize the Future of Work – Wethos streamlines workforce management by optimizing remote work processes and connecting businesses with freelance talent.
Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions Raises USD 4 Million in Series A Funding – Kreedo enhances early learning through a play-based approach, combining curated educational resources with interactive activities, assessments, and progress tracking.
Teamology raises seed round to revolutionize kids’ mental health – The product combines AI-driven assessments with personalized interventions, to help children develop coping skills, emotional resilience, and self-awareness.
LoveHeart AI Secures $2.3M in Seed Round to Transform Early Childhood Education – The platform provides personalized learning experiences by analyzing children’s behavior and engagement levels, to generate tailored educational content and activities.
Jobilla raises $6.7M to fuel AI-driven recruitment platform – They’re simplifying the hiring process by matching candidates with job opportunities based on skills/preferences, while streamlining candidate selection for employers.
AnswersAI AI Start-Up Secures 1.5 Million Pre-Seed Funding with Technology Offering Necessary Educational Solutions – Features include ‘Lecture Mode,’ which distills lengthy lectures into concise summaries, and ‘Snapsolve Mode,’ capable of interpreting even the most illegible handwriting.
Events
Why Open Education Will Become Generative AI Education (University of Regina) – Presented by Dr. David Wiley, Chief Academic Officer of Lumen Learning: a company dedicated to eliminating race, gender, and income as predictors of student success in US higher education.
Science of Learning and Education Policy in an AI world: towards new dialogue (Global Science of Learning Education Network) – Exploring how research findings on the science of learning can be leveraged in education policy-making to improve equity and education outcomes.
Opportunities
US Department of Commerce Announces New $25 Million Good Jobs Challenge – Another round of investment supporting the Biden Administration’s efforts to modernize workforce development by investing in training and creating pathways to good jobs for workers in various high-demand sectors.
California AI Partnership Invests in the Future of Work – The $250M-funded accelerator will empower organizations to use AI in day-to-day responsibilities, teaching newsrooms & other businesses to benefit from AI automation and build viable business models for the future.
Biden-Harris Administration Awards More Than $80 Million to Improve College Readiness, Access, and Success for Low-Income Students – GEAR UP provides grants to provide services at middle and high schools serving a large proportion of students from low-income backgrounds.
VA awards over $800 million in grants to help homeless and at-risk veterans and their families – Funded programs will prioritize housing Veterans, providing them wraparound support to stay housed, including health care, job training, legal and education assistance.
In the news
Yale announces $150 million to support leadership in AI (Yale University) – The commitment will benefit all of campus while contributing to school- and unit-specific AI strategies, including curricular, research, and recruitment goals.
The Metacognition Revolution (The Atlantic) – Advocating for a shift towards metacognitive awareness in education, so students can better assess their understanding and improve their academic performance.
Gig Economy Startups Are Failing Their Workers (Stanford Social Innovation Review) – Gig workers often lack benefits and job security, and startups are encouraged to adopt fair practices e.g. providing health insurance and support for workers’ rights.
Why Large Graph Models Are the Future of Workforce Skills Management (YourStory) – LGMs help identify skill gaps, match employees with suitable roles, and facilitate personalized learning paths — helping businesses enhance predictive capabilities & anticipate future skill needs.
Labor Day 2024 and the Future of Work (New America) – Recapping recent trends in the impact of tech on employment, the rise of gig/remote work, struggles for workers’ rights, and the need for policies supporting fair wages, job security, and benefits.
American kids are losing fundamental skills due to pandemic disruptions (Yahoo Finance) – Evidence abounds that interactive learning and socialization have been hindered by remote schooling. Parents and educators are urged to focus on rebuilding these skills through engaging and supportive learning environments to help children recover.
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