Praxis Labs

Founded in 2019 by Elise Smith and Heather Shen, Praxis Labs is the developer of an immersive virtual reality learning platform that aids corporations with training employees on, and measuring, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI). The simulations depict incidents of bias and discrimination in the workplace from the perspective of an employee who experiences it first-hand or of a coworker who is complicit in the incident. Employees practice their responses to the incident, reflect on it, and provide anonymous feedback on their JEDI experience in their workplace. Praxis Labs uses the data gathered to provide companies with insights on their JEDI practices and interventions to make the workplace more equitable. The platform also provides employees with a dashboard to set goals for behaviors and interventions, revisit certain incidents, and review their progress. Praxis Labs offers 6-month and 12-month program packages containing 30-minute learning modules. The platform was beta tested by eBay, Amazon, Google, Uber, Zoom, and Target, among others.

The Praxis Labs platform and its proprietary curriculum, Pivotal Experiences, were launched in February 2021, following a year of beta testing.

Funding and financials

In June 2023, the firm secured an undisclosed investment from Accenture Ventures.