This week’s featured startup
Harpier (Robert Sovik, Founder/Director) – Where the middle of the school enrollment funnel and meets the base of the fundraising pyramid — “Curated Stories of Outcomes” assist individuals in making informed career/life through storytelling and connection.
Data Dive
How likely is Generative AI to take your job? (Nick Bunker) – “Researchers assessed the feasibility of a current Large Language Model performing tasks based on specific skills. They examined over 2,800 skills in Indeed’s taxonomy. And guess how many of those skills were rated as “very likely” to be automated by GenAI? Zero.”
Investment
Ambr Technologies Raises Investment from Look AI Ventures – It anonymizes and aggregates data and then analyzes it to uncover patterns related to employee well-being — improving workplace well-being through AI-driven insights.
Brisk Teaching Raises $5M in Seed Funding – Brisk is a classroom tool that empowers educators to differentiate texts, create content, give feedback, and authenticate writing — leveraging AI to increase the quality and efficiency of instruction.
Edtech Startup LumiQ Receives Strategic Investment from Vertu Capital – Obtaining professional education credits is a pain point for chartered professional accountants (CPAs). LumiQ produces podcasts aimed at helping CPAs complete their annual training and professional development requirements.
Freelancer-focused startup Jump raises $12.2M in funding – An administrative companion to help freelance workers remain independent, Jump offers full-time contracts to freelancers looking for some stability and the benefits involved with a full-time job.
AI scribe Scribenote raises USD 8.2M to ease vet burnout – 86% of veterinarians report severe stress levels. Scribenote addresses this with an AI-powered medical scribe for vets, to assist them in writing medical records. The funding round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Swedish learning platform Learnster bags €2.6M – With a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 76, Learnster LMS enhances communication and information sharing across organisations, providing a constantly available and updated tool for individual learning.
Swiss digital coaching platform Flowit raises €4.2M in seed funding – Traditional employee development often overlooks front line workers like service technicians, healthcare workers, and hospitality staff. FLOWIT enhances employee engagement with access to real-time feedback and development.
Edventures expands its investment portfolio with 8 new edtech startups – The new startups join a distinguished roster, underscoring EdVentures’ strong belief in the transformative power of innovation in education.
Teamology Secures Seed Round to Revolutionize Mental Health Support for Kids – Teamology’s personalized solution to meet students’ social, emotional, and mental health needs is an AI/human powered solution helping kids connect and be supported by characters that grow with them.
Resources
A New Data Product for Occupational Skills (Bureau of Labor Statistics) – To make forecasts about the nation’s labor market, BLS has introduced a suite of data tables presenting skills data in an easy-to-use framework of skills categories linked to 10-year occupational projections.
Events
Innovation in Learning and Development (ThingLink) – (Oct 9) Increase learner engagement and fostere innovation with immersive learning strategies like 360-degree visuals, simulations, and AI-powered interactive content. Learn how to integrate these technologies into corporate learning for better skill development and organizational growth.
The Looming Labor Shortage: Anticipated Impacts on Higher Education and the Future (Lightcast) – (Oct 8) Exploring how the looming labor crisis will impact workforce development priorities and higher ed’s role in preparing learners for the future world of work.
Redesigning Education for the Future of Work: Lunchtime Dialogue Series(Harvard Project on Workforce) – (Oct 9) Join Chike Aguh, former Chief Innovation Officer at the U.S. Department of Labor, and Geoffrey Roche, Director of Workforce Development at Siemens Healthineers, for a discussion about workforce inequalities and scaling innovative training models in healthcare.
Opportunities
DOL Awards $12.7 Million in Workplace Safety Training Grants – To reach workers in high-risk industries, grants focus on targeted topic training, the development of training and educational materials, and capacity building.
Youth Skills and Employment Accelerator 2025 – The accelerator helps nonprofits working with young people from underserved communities to connect with other organizations, businesses, and funders to improve young people’s skills and employment prospects.
$1.5 billion commitment for education and skills training in lower-middle-income countries – 800 million young people – more than half of the world’s youth – will leave school without any skills for the modern workforce.
In the news
LearnLaunch Fund Accelerator Returns to EdTech Week in NY for Demo Day Experience (VC Wire) – Following a 12-week program, founders in the Breakthrough to Scale program will showcase their solutions at EDTECH WEEK in New York City next week.
EdTech: An Industry That Scaled by 200% ARR with Remote Teams (Medium) – Outlining three key profit drivers: internet adoption & device access, demand for personalized learning, and government/institutional support.
Americans Have Not Actually Turned Against Higher Education Like the Media Says (New America) – Arguing that the picture is more complicated — citing trends in political polarization, demographic shifts/economic factors, bad polling and overall waning confidence in public institutions.
AI for Education Cohort (Google Blog) – Selected from 600+ applicants across EMEA, these startups are all using AI to create more inclusive, engaging and effective educational pathways.
Edtech startup Ello named No. 5 on Fortune’s Change the World list 2024 (eSchool News) – Ello’s AI-based reading app uses the world’s largest child speech data set & library of children’s books, to support parents of struggling readers at a fraction of the cost of a reading tutor.
New Data: Amazon Employees Rethinking Their Future Following RTO Mandate (Inc.) – “This uncertainty points to potential risks for companies implementing rigid RTO policies — such as increased attrition or decreased morale.” says Glassdoor lead economist Daniel Zhao.
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