Reach Capital

Job openings buzzing in the Reach portfolio ?? Check out this week’s sweet openings in learning and work organizations ?? GPTZero is hiring a Senior Fullstack Engineer and Founding Frontend Engineer Learning, Series A https://lnkd.in/e5sKdpUi https://lnkd.in/efaRDnpy Speaksage is hiring a Senior Machine Learning Engineer Learning, Seed https://lnkd.in/ekset6gg Derivita is hiring for their Sales team Learning, Seed https://lnkd.in/eF-sYwTQ Stellic is hiring across the board Learning, Series A https://lnkd.in/eScdMS7e Hopps is hiring Head of Growth and Head of Marketplace Operations Work, Seed https://lnkd.in/eBJURFJG https://lnkd.in/eCp-TtFW Polygence is hiring a Scholar in Residence (AI and Education) Learning, Seed https://lnkd.in/ePdZpVqV If you are or know someone who would be a great fit, comment below! #hiring #learning #work #sales #engineer #growth

Calling all entrepreneurs, educators, investors, and anyone building in the future of learning, health and work ?? ?? Join us and the Edtech Insiders community next Wednesday (Sep. 18, 4pm) for a Happy Hour at beautiful Salesforce Park in SF! Come for good times in good company over good drinks (and beautiful weather in the forecast ??)

??Labor Market Insights: Jomayra Herrera's Latest Workforce Wrap Up! Dive into the pulse of the evolving workforce landscape including: slowing labor market, some worrying signs for the average consumer (hello housing rates), intergenerational economic mobility, and presidential candidate economic proposals. Take a look below ??

As we’ve written about in recent years, every company will be an edtech company, and every industry will need verticalized edtech solutions that provide #training and #reskilling tailored to the needs of its workforce. These two theses recently came together in a couple of new investments in the future of work: ?? LabLabee,? led by Samir T. and Mahfoud Sidi Ali Mebarek, is pioneering lab-based training for telecommunications workers at a time when the networking industry is undergoing major transformation, accelerated by 5G, AI, IoT, and AR/VR. We’re delighted to lead its seed round and be joined by our friends at Brighteye Ventures! ?? Take2 AI, co-founded by Yaniv Shimoni and Kaushik Narasimhan, is tackling one of the most acute pain points for many companies — recruiting and keeping good salespeople — with AI-powered simulations that vet candidates for skills, behavioral attributes, and culture fit. We’re happy to co-lead its seed round with SemperVirens Venture Capital . ? Learn more about our exciting new #workforce investments here!?? https://lnkd.in/eiZ2yWFj

?? The Game Has Changed! ?? The future of college sports is NOW! At Reach Capital, we’re diving deep into the NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) revolution that’s empowering student-athletes to take control of their personal brands and unlock a world of opportunities. In Part 1 of our "Beyond the Game" series, Wayee Chu and Demetrius Palmer teamed up with National Champions jayden Denegal and Stone Anderson from the University of Michigan ?? to explore how NIL is rewriting the rules of college sports—and it’s just the beginning. From $1.2B in deals to the explosive growth in athlete-driven startups, NIL is shaking up everything from recruitment to life after sports. The evolution of NIL rights is not just a market opportunity but a chance to empower student-athletes with tools for financial independence, educational advancement, and career development. If you are an entrepreneur who cares about the future of youth and collegiate sports and is building solutions that align with these values and vision, reach out! #NIL #CollegeSports #SportsTech #FutureOfLearning

This Labor Day week, we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the countless workers who strive to make this world better for everyone. Stories like these from WorkWhile, which helps frontline workers find and thrive in flexible gig work, inspire us every day. In recent years, Reach has broadened its investment focus to workforce education, economic empowerment, and career mobility. This expansion has led us to cultivate a community of Future of Work advisors, deepen our expertise in all things HR and Talent, launch our “People Matters” blog series, and refine our thesis. You'll find a link to our #ReimagineWork report in the comments section. Through incredible founders like Jarah Euston, our investments strive to champion all workers and educators.

In proper back-to-school fashion, the Reach team has been quite busy lately. Last week, our team attended the Swing Education Summit 2024. Wayee Chu shared insights on macro-level trends in #VC and #edtech, the value VCs add through portfolio support, and how we specifically support Swing's team. The remarkable team is dedicated to matching and placing #substitute teachers in #k12 districts nationwide at a time when staffing shortages remain acute across the country. “One of the most energizing aspects of the Swing Offsite was seeing firsthand the thoughtfulness, mission-driven focus, and ambition of the Swing Education team,” says Demetrius Palmer. “They are deeply committed to addressing the critical challenge of labor capacity in classrooms across the country. At a time when this issue is so desperately urgent, Swing is not just filling gaps, but doing so with a clear vision for the future of education.” Thank you for inviting Reach Capital and Kapor Capital, we are all so excited for the next phase of growth and impact Swing Education! #FOL

???? Event Alert Shauntel Garvey, General Partner at Reach, will discuss the Future of #Work and #Learning in Wednesday's How Women Invest conversation. She'll join other expert investors and founders from across the VC ecosystem to share the latest trends and valuable insights into #FOW and #FOL. Can't wait!

Always a great way to end the week with a little roast — as informative and insightful as it is fun and sizzle ?? Earlier today Jonathan Levav, Professor of Marketing at?Stanford University Graduate School of Business, led a masterclass with the Reach portfolio on website messaging, using visual illusions, actual websites, and wisdom from Mister Rogers and Snoop Dogg to show how consumer behavior and behavioral decision theory influence how people view your website and the actions they take. Three important principles to keep in mind: 1?? Simplicity rules: Keep stories simple and focus on expressing one clear solution, as people can really only concentrate on one thing at a time. 2?? The mind fills in the blanks: Make sure your story is tight and has no gaps that people can fill in with incorrect information or assumptions. ?3?? Expectations and context determine judgment: Perception is contextual. Value is relative to what it’s compared to, and it’s your job to manage the comparison (i.e., how you position your product). And finally, this quote from Mister Rogers below, which is beautiful yet incredibly difficult to pull off. Yet the endeavor “will inform your product in ways that you don’t expect. It will make you stop thinking of just building features and make you start thinking of building value,” says Jonathan. (Thank you for joining us and our founders!!)

Please help by resharing this post! ?????? I’m working to reduce the fragmentation of resources within the #Edtech space. While Reach Capital has a strong network, it’s not all-encompassing. To address this, I’m compiling a list of resources across various domains to share openly, to benefit the broader education tech ecosystem. ???????? The questions are straightforward. If you’re affiliated with, know of, or work at an organization— or even if you just have the name and website —please contribute. You can add to the list here: https://lnkd.in/gXYpA_x5 If you’re interested in receiving the final list, please comment “Interested.”