Plug and Play is a seed and early-stage investor focused on great teams leading emerging growth companies.  Plug and Play runs 12 industry-specific accelerator programs twice a year, that acts as a platform for major corporations and high quality startups to connect and collaborate.  Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, Plug and Play participates in Seed, Angel and Series A funding where they often co-invest with their strategic partners. Through years of experience and as part of their network, Plug and Play has put together a world-class network of serial entrepreneurs, strategic investors, and industry leaders who actively assist the firm with its successful and growing investment portfolio.  SEED ROUND. Plug and Play participates in seed round investing through a program called Startup Camp. Startup Camp is a 10-week program based in Silicon Valley for top-notch entrepreneurs to work intensively on building out their business model. Select startups will refine their business models and prototypes with help from a combination of structured workshops, speaker series and mentorship sessions, as well as active coaching from their investment team. At the culmination of Startup Camp, founders will have crystalized their business plans and pitched their company to the venture capital community at EXPO Demo Day.''  ANGEL ROUND Plug and Play makes angel round investments throughout the year, sourced from their monthly Plug and Play Angels (PAPA) sessions. They are partnered with local angel investors in Silicon Valley who participate in PAPA to find the most promising startups and best new technologies.  SERIES A. Series A typical Series A round is in the range of $2 million to $10 million, and is intended to provide operating capital for the company for six months to two years. This round capitalizes the company as it develops its products, performs initial marketing and branding, acquires talent, and conducts other early-stage business operations. It is in this stage that Plug and Play will co-invest with over 180 venture capital partners.  Plug and Play has helped grow market leaders such as PayPal, Danger, Google, DropBox, LendingClub, Zoosk, SoundHound, CreditSesame, Skytree, and has over 400 more early-stage startups in its portfolio.

Plug and Play

Owl Ventures is a venture capital fund that invests in education technology companies. The firm has invested in 24 companies across the education spectrum encompassing early childhood, K-12, higher education, and career mobility/professional learning. Owl leverages its deep domain expertise and takes an active hands-on approach to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category-leading companies. The firm was founded in 2014 and has over $600 million in assets under management.

Owl Ventures

AI Fund is a venture capital firm that strives to move humanity forward by accelerating the adoption of AI. We work intensively with entrepreneurs during their startups’ most critical and risky phase, from 0 to 1.  At the earliest stages, your company strategy is still being formed, and you’re still on the path to demonstrating your idea’s full potential — this is a reality we well understand. This is the period when decisions on product strategy, market fit, and team are most critical and a time when your company is most under-resourced. Even if you have a sense for the changes you need to make to be attractive to investors, moving fast and fixing parts of your business when you have limited resources is a challenge. We believe we help entrepreneurs best by providing our time, expertise, and resources to help flesh out these key strategic decisions. Making these choices well can often be the difference between success and failure. AI Fund is here to improve these dynamics, at a time when the help matters the most, leading to a significant upgrade in your company’s opportunity, strategy, and fundability.

AI Fund

Tech Square Ventures is an Atlanta-based early-stage venture capital firm investing in enterprise, marketplace, platform, and tech-enabled service companies. We are a team of founders, operators, and investors that partner with visionary entrepreneurs to help them with what they need most – access to markets and customers. Our platform is built on a strategic network of innovation ecosystem and corporate, and university relationships that help founders inform and accelerate go-to-market strategies.

Tech Square Ventures

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. is a global venture capital firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors, and geographies. With over $19 billion in cumulative committed capital since the firm’s founding in 1977, NEA invests in technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from the seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 210 portfolio company IPOs and more than 360 acquisitions.

New Enterprise Associates

Richard

Jump Capital is a thesis-led, sector-focused, and operating-centric venture capital firm specializing in Seed/Series A. Jump invests in data-driven technology companies within the FinTech, B2B SaaS, IT/Data Infrastructure, and Media sectors. With offices in Chicago and New York, Jump provides advocacy and support through a platform of institutional-level resources for entrepreneurs.  Jump's philosophy is to align with talented management teams that desire a trusted partner with real-world operating experience and a firm with an operating platform targeting initial investment checks between $2M to $10M.

Jump Capital

Sozo Ventures was formed in 2011 to invest in and support IT ventures with their global expansion. We invest in category leaders in advanced data technologies, ecommerce, enterprise cloud, fintech, IOT and healthcare IT, among other emerging sectors. We are structured to connect the most ambitious entrepreneurial teams with the world's most advanced and respected customers and distributors. We are at our best when we can share our expertise well before expansion strategies are set.

Sozo Ventures

Workera

Workera is a precision upskilling platform that helps enterprises, governments, and individuals upskill and reskill to meet the critical demand for key technological capabilities, including data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. The Workera platform provides AI-driven mentorship at scale with its adaptive assessments and personalized learning plans that drive measurable results to close the skills gap.

<div>Founded in 2020 by Kian Katanforoosh and James Lee, Workera.ai offers a library of over 3,000 personalized learning plans and microskills for professionals to upskill and re-skill, and for corporations to train their workforce in data science, machine learning, and other AI technologies. The company has a B2B model with more than 30 corporate clients in 12 countries and across multiple industries including Fortune 500 companies such as Siemens Energy, as well as a B2C business model used by professionals in over 150 countries.</div>

Modern tools to train and motivate staff, and bridge emerging skill gaps.

EdTech: Corporate Learning

Workera.ai

<div>
 
 Founded in 2020 by Kian Katanforoosh and James Lee, Workera.ai offers a library of over 3,000 personalized learning plans and microskills for professionals to upskill and re-skill, and for corporations to train their workforce in data science, machine learning, and other AI technologies. The company has a B2B model with more than 30 corporate clients in 12 countries and across multiple industries including Fortune 500 companies such as Siemens Energy, as well as a B2C business model used by professionals in over 150 countries.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In March 2023, the firm raised 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17290">
 USD 23.5 million in a Series B funding
 </a>
 round led by Jump Capital, to expand its comprehensive ontology to cover soft skills assessments like leadership and management, accelerate its growth, and expand its operations. The round follows its USD 16 million Series A funding led by 
 New Enterprise Associates
 in August 2021. 
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Coursera is a massive open online course provider (MOOC) founded in 2012 by Stanford University professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller. Coursera partners with universities and organizations to offer classes, courses, specialization programs, projects, certificates, degree programs, and workforce development products. The platform hosts classes from more than 200 universities and contains a suite of video lectures, auto-graded homework assignments, and discussion forums.&nbsp;
 
 
 Launched in 2016, Coursera for Business is the company's enterprise platform; Coursera for Government and Nonprofits, introduced in 2017, offers skill development courses for government and nonprofit workforces; and Coursera for Campus allows universities to offer online education to students, alumni, faculty, and staff. As of August 2021, the Coursera platform was being used by about 87 million learners, with Coursera for Business being used by more than 2,300 organizations and 550,000 enterprise learners as of September 2020.
 
 
 In April 2021, Coursera announced that it was testing a new program that allows learners to create courses by making its Guided Project teaching tool available to its learner community. In August 2021, the company announced a new fee structure for universities where fees paid to Coursera progressively reduce from 40% to 25% of total online tuition fees. The company also launched a Leadership Academy within Coursera for Business, to provide soft skills training to corporate leaders. &ldquo;LevelSets,&rdquo; an assessment tool with over 20 different machine learning-based skill assessments, was launched in November 2021 to enable learners to determine their current proficiency in business, technology, and data skills. More recently, in May 2022, the company launched Clips, a learning program that comprises 200,000+ videos for skill development for companies and universities. Additionally, the company released new tools, including personalized schedules, data-driven deadlines, lecture summaries, and adobe-guided projects. In conjunction with the release of new features, the company announced the launch of Career Academy for institutions, a career training program for learners that provide entry-level professional certification from notable corporations such as&nbsp; Google, IBM, and Meta.&nbsp;
 In February 2024, Coursera launched the Generative AI (GenAI) Academy in the UAE, partnering with top universities and companies like Microsoft and Google, to train executives and employees in AI skills.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 Coursera continues to deploy collaborations to introduce new courses and expand its audience. The company selected Persona, a provider of identity verification infrastructure, as its identity verification partner to ensure that learners receive their credentials. The company partnered with K16 Solutions, a specialist in LMS course migration, course design, and course archiving, allowing Coursera users to quickly move course content from their LMS onto the Coursera platform as a result of its integration with K16 Solutions' Scaffold Migration tool. In May 2022, the company partnered with several institutions and enterprises, including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Indore, IIIT Bangalore, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Hero Mindmine, PwC India, and Tally Education, to meet the demand for job-relevant credentials.
 
 
 The company has entered into several notable client partnerships. In September 2021, it partnered with EFMD, a non-profit accreditation body, to provide business school students across 700 member institutions in 90 countries access to more than 4,000 courses and 1,900 Guided Projects on Coursera. The program will include courses from Google, Facebook, BCG, IBM, and Microsoft and they will be developed with support from partner schools and companies. In August 2022, Coursera partnered with corporate learning solution provider Skillsoft, to allow Skillsoft users access to Coursera for Business directly within Skillsoft Percipio.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In July 2020, Coursera raised USD 130 million as part of its Series F funding round, led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA). The funding will be used toward product development and engineering, expanding its job-relevant catalog, and furthering the company's overseas expansion. Specifically, the funding will allow the company to meet increased demand for two Covid-focused initiatives: Campus Response Initiative to help universities teach affected students, and Workforce Recovery Initiative to help governments reskill unemployed workers.&nbsp;
 
 
 In March 2021, Coursera went public and reportedly raised USD 519 million, with a post money-valuation of USD 5.86 billion.&nbsp;
 
 
 For the 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16316">
 full-year 2022,
 </a>
 the company's revenue increased by 26% YoY to USD 523.8 million. However, the company also reported an operating loss of USD 177.4 million (up 24% YoY) and an adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 36.9 million (up 4.1% YoY), resulting in a net loss of USD 1.21 per share (down by 5.5% YoY). The company 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20536">
 upgraded its full-year guidance for FY2023,
 </a>
 with revenue expected to range from USD 617 million&ndash;USD 623 million, and revised its adjusted EBITDA loss to range USD 19 million&ndash;USD 24 million.
 
</div>

Coursera

<div>
 
 Founded by David Blake, David Wiley, and Eric Sharp in 2012, Degreed is a professional and lifelong learning platform that provides curated educational content such as courses, videos, articles, books, and podcasts for employee skill building and skill certification. Degreed is free for individual users while Degreed for Enterprise, launched in 2014 as the company’s corporate offering that links to companies’ internal training systems, is available for a fee. In addition to providing training and coursework, Degreed for Enterprise matches employees' skill profiles, roles, and goals with opportunities, projects, and gigs. As of April 2021, the platform had been used by more than seven million people across more than 350 organizations.
 
 
 Degreed’s acquisitions include Gibbon, a Dutch platform for creating learning content playlists in 2016; Pathgather, a New York-based learning experience platform for enterprises in 2018; and London’s Adepto, a contract and gig work platform in 2019. Its most recent acquisition was in June 2022, when it 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11296">
 acquired Learn In,
 </a>
 the upskilling-as-a-service platform, to strengthen Degreed’s suite of services by integrating Learn In’s solutions across the areas of user development, individual upskilling opportunities, and organizational innovation.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships 
 
 
 The company has used collaborations and partnerships to expand its portfolio of offerings. In November 2020, Degreed announced a partnership with TED to launch TED@Work on its platform. TED@Work is a library of more than 500 TED Talks and TED-Ed animations—each including a business-focused framework designed to create actionable outcomes. In February 2021, Pluralsight, a technology learning platform, expanded its partnership with Degreed, allowing Pluralsight’s enterprise users to incorporate assessment data from Pluralsight’s Skill IQ into Degreed’s skill analytics and gain greater visibility into individual and team technology skills. Historically, Degreed users were able to integrate Pluralsight’s technology content. In April 2021, the company partnered with Watershed, a provider of learning analytics platforms and part of UK-based Learning Technologies Group, allowing Degreed users access to enhanced learning analytics and reporting. In May 2021, the company announced a collaboration with Credly, a digital credentialing company, to render Credly’s digital credentials visible in Degreed’s talent development programs. This allows organizations to build transparent, centralized records of skill gaps and learning opportunities. Degreed partnered with Learn In, a developer of marketplace and funding solutions for skill building through bootcamp and certificate programs. Degreed users gain access to a marketplace of learning experiences, tools for employer tuition assistance, and support via personal coaches. In June 2021, Degreed deepened its five-year old partnership with CredSpark, a provider of audience engagement and insights solutions. Existing “CredSpark for Degreed'' users will gain access to additional tools and enhancements, and a new paid offering, “CredSpark+”, will give its users access to more sophisticated CredSpark tools. In May 2021, the company partnered with BoostUp.ai, the developer of a revenue intelligence and operations platform, to gain insight into its sales pipeline and improve pipeline management. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In June 2020, the company raised USD 32 million in a Series C extension round led by Owl Ventures. The funds will be used to develop its career mobility product that helps companies train their employees to fill internal opportunities. Degreed will also allow employees to showcase their skills and connect with job opportunities. In April 2021, Degreed raised USD 153 million in Series D funding to accelerate product development, enhance data infrastructure, fuel global expansion, and pursue strategic acquisitions. In August 2021, the company appointed Wendy Steinle as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Janice Burns as Chief People Officer.
 
</div>

Degreed

<div>
 
 Founded in 2015 by Rachel Carlson and Brittany Stich, Guild Education partners with businesses, non-profits, and universities to offer education as a benefit in the form of online classes, programs, and degrees from more than 80 universities and more than a dozen community colleges. Companies may provide their employees with partial or full tuition support to upskill or earn a degree. Guild works with employers to select programs that are most relevant to its employees, earning a percentage of the fees paid to the universities. The universities then save the expense and effort involved in marketing and recruitment. The company also provides its own support and mentoring services to help students plan, apply for, and finish their programs. As of November 2019, about 400,000 working adults joined the program–around 3%-5% of employees at partner companies. As of May 2020, the Guild Education platform offered more than 1,600 online degree programs.
 
 
 In June 2021, the company announced the formation of a new Advisory Board of diverse business education leaders to generate insights and better serve all stakeholders.
 
 
 In May 2020, Guild Education launched Next Chapter, a program that replaces outplacement services by using algorithms to match employees with new roles in fields that are hiring and recommend programs for retraining. The company also acquired Entangled Group, an educational technology (EdTech) consulting and venture studio that also served as an initial investor in Guild Education. Entangled Group's portfolio of 21 EdTech companies will be managed independently of Guild Education.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In February 2021, the company partnered with 2U, Inc., a developer of digital educational offerings in partnership with colleges and universities, to make 2U’s portfolio of more than 500 digital programs (including online degree programs, online short courses, and boot camps) available on the Guild Education platform. In March 2021, Ancora Corporate Training, a part of Ancora Education, an operator of private, post-secondary schools across the US, partnered with Guild Education by joining the Guild Education Learning Marketplace. In February 2022, the company partnered with UCHealth to launch the UCHealth Ascend Career Program, an educational and upskilling program investing up to USD 50 million for UCHealth employees. 
 More recently, In June 2022, Guild Education partnered with Snowflake, a cloud computing–based data warehousing firm, to deploy Snowflake’s new cybersecurity workload solution to strengthen its data security. 
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 In June 2022, Guild Education reportedly raised 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10883">
 USD 175 million in a Series F 
 </a>
 funding round led by Wellington Management. It planned to use the funds to expand into in-demand markets such as healthcare, childcare solutions, and career assessments. The company’s valuation rose to USD 4.4 billion from USD 3.75 billion a year ago. The company also reported that its annual recurring revenue (ARR) was more than USD 100 million in FY2020.
 
</div>

Guild Education

<div>
 
 Strivr has developed a virtual reality (VR) product for workplace training that simulates real-world and on-the-job situations. Strivr was incubated at Stanford University when co-founder and CEO Derek Belch developed a VR application in 2014 to help football players train off the field. The company's focus later shifted to workplace training. Its products combine interactive 360-degree videos with computer-generated scenarios in which trainees must actively participate. Strivr exclusively uses Oculus headsets for its VR experiences. As of March 2020, Strivr’s 22,000 VR headsets in operation had registered 1.6 million sessions.
 
 
 In 2017, Strivr partnered with Walmart to bring VR instruction 200 “Walmart Academy” instruction centers and all Walmart stores. In March 2021, Bank of America announced that it was rolling out Strivr’s VR product to thousands of employees across its 4,000 banks after a pilot program with about 400 employees. The bank plans to incorporate VR into its corporate learning program, “The Academy,” and apply the technology across a range of training areas such as notary services, fraud detection, and practicing empathy with customers.
 
 
 In April 2022, Strivr raised 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9834">
 USD 35 million in a funding round
 </a>
 led by Georgian Partners and will use the funds for platform development. The company also announced that it is part of Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, a program focused on investing in developers of disruptive technologies. Additionally, the company is part of the Workday Software Partner Program, with plans to integrate its technology with Workday Content Cloud. 
 
</div>

Strivr

<div>
 
 Torch Leadership Labs is a leadership development platform founded by coaches, psychologists, entrepreneurs, and people managers. Torch conducts 360-degree interviews with executives, their direct reports, and peers, and scores them on empathy, visionary thinking, communication, conflict resolution, management, and collaboration. Torch lays out improvement goals and timelines, and arranges video chat sessions with specialized coaches. Sessions remain confidential and only performance goals and metrics are shared with the HR team through a dashboard on the platform. As of April 2020, Torch had worked with more than 10,000 leaders across more than 200 organizations.
 
 
 In April 2020, Torch launched Small Group Coaching, a month-long course that provides personalized coaching to small groups and individuals that also incorporates peer-to-peer learning.
 
 
 Funding and financials 
 
 
 In May 2022, the company raised USD 40 million in a Series C funding round 
 led by 137 Ventures. It planned to use the funds for product development and to scale operations. The round follows its USD 25 million Series B fundraise in February 2021.
 
</div>

Torch Leadership Labs

Virtual, augmented, and mixed reality technologies create immersive and interactive learning experiences

Technologies use algorithms and data analysis to improve employee training and development

LLearning platforms and D&I learning modules to promote a more inclusive and equitable workplace culture

Solutions provide insight into employee performance and areas for improvement

Learning content | Career development includes providers of content libraries and customized courses focusing on learning and developing skills directly related to job roles and careers (including hard skills, soft skills, and skills in demand). Delivery styles are varied and include in-person or virtual classrooms, mobile learning, and micro-learning. A variety of technologies may be employed such as video-based learning, artificial intelligence-based (AI-based) and adaptive learning, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

Workera.ai

EdTech: Corporate Learning

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