VILLAGE ENTREPRENEURS: Village Capital’s ongoing social entrepreneurship programs is like a friendlier—and perhaps more impactful—version of cable TV game-show competitions. Twelve startups partake in a four-month program where they participate in workshops and meet with mentors, all while ranking one another and ultimately selecting two of their peers to win $125,000 in seed funding. This year, Educational Testing Service will be contributing to this prize money, alongside VilCap Investments (Village Capital’s affiliated fund).
This marks Village Capital’s fourth competition for U.S. education startups, which focuses on supporting startups that aim to close the skills gap between underemployed Americans and unfilled jobs.
Village Capital has selected the following 12 participants:
- Boon (Los Angeles): enables companies to automate their employee referral process by leveraging employee networks to provide a more consistent, reliable, and effective way to source talent
- Knack (Tampa, FL): peer-to-peer college tutoring platform focused on student development for employability
- Nextplay.ai (San Francisco, CA): enables the world’s professionals to have equal access to career advancement and mentorship opportunities at their workplace
- NurseDash (Houston, TX): a marketplace for nurses that enables workers to earn additional income and experience
- Parker Dewey (Chicago, IL): connects college students with employers through paid micro-internships
- Quartolio (New York, NY): an AI-powered knowledge management platform that accelerates research by connecting the dots across scientific articles, clinical trials, and patents
- Quinncia (Boston, MA): an AI-based job preparation platform for students to get automated feedback on their resumes and interview skills based on computerized interviews
- Sorcero: (Washington, DC): learning solutions company that provides AI-assisted workforce training and knowledge solutions
- Spotkew Technologies (Atlanta, GA): truck-driver exchange platform for the trucking industry
- Wisr (Cleveland, OH): student and alumni networking platform that matches every student with impactful alumni and advisors, leveling the playing field for students
- Workhound (Des Moines, IA): real-time feedback platform for frontline workers
- Yobs Technologies (Los Angeles, CA): soft skills assessment tools for hiring to remove costly bias from talent acquisition and development
The four-month program will run through early November, when the two investment winners will be selected by their peers. To date, Village Capital has invested in 12 education startups through this competition. Previous winners include classroom presentation tool Pear Deck, career exploration platform PAIRIN, and Nepris, a service that connects classrooms with industry professionals.
