In an exciting move for Atypical AI, Kevin Wiggen, the former CTO of Blackboard, has joined us as our Founding CTO - as well as industry veterans Nate Edwards, former founding team of Flipgrid, and Reinhold Staudinger, former Chief Architect at Blackboard.

Kevin managed the global onboarding of 100M+ students at Microsoft during the COVID-19 pandemic and has successfully executed tech transformations impacting 150M users in 80 countries. Kevin led tech management of 14 key products at billion-dollar Learning Management System Blackboard. He has deep startup DNA - having co-founded a startup that scaled from 2 to 85 employees. It is rare to find someone with both hacker abilities and the ability to scale to worldwide operations - for example, his focus on efficiency led to a significant data center to AWS transition, streamlining operations and reducing costs. Kevin’s strong track record is marked by a successful startup exit and leadership roles at major tech firms. His international experience will be a cornerstone in Atyical’s global strategies.

Nate has developed and scaled products and teams from startups to industry leaders used by millions across the world. As part of the founding team and the VP of Engineering for Flipgrid, Nate led engineering vision and operations that were rooted in community-driven development which eventually led to the company’s acquisition by Microsoft in 2018. As a part of Microsoft, he led multiple integrations across the organization that served the EdTech community and beyond.

Formerly Chief Architect of Blackboard and VP of Analytics at Anthology, Reinhold led the modernization of a large EdTech portfolio. His team’s cross-product data solutions have been implemented in over 800 education systems around the world. We know that the combination of software excellence and generative AI understanding is profoundly impactful - and Reinhold is key to unlocking the value of LLMs in Atypical for teachers and learners.

This marks a significant milestone in our journey. The addition of Kevin, along with our expanded engineering team, positions Atypical AI at the forefront of innovation and growth in the AI for education world.

ETCH Announcements is a news feed where EdTech and Future of Work companies announce new funding rounds, M&A, and other strategically important moves. It is a sister publication to ETCH Weekend Reading and the ETCH Funding + M&A Update, which provide additional context and analysis of what is happening in the EdTech ecosystem. If you enjoyed this edition, we hope you will subscribe and/or forward it to your friends!

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FutureFit AI wants to be the “GPS” for workers’ careers. The company uses labor market data to help organizations better manage their internal talent and individuals better understand their career prospects. FutureFit AI, which announced a $4.5M funding round in May 2022, now partners with a number of Fortune 500 organizations and workforce development agencies to bring these services to frontline and unemployed workers, respectively.

What is Career Copilot?

FutureFit AI spent most of its first 3 years of operation becoming an industry leader in career guidance through an end-to-end technology platform that includes skills profiling, career exploration, reskilling, and job search.

Career Copilot is the company’s newest effort that offers an intelligent career assistant through a conversational experience, providing a more modular and scalable solution for customers and more accessible and personalized support for users:

• Receive personalized career guidance in 50+ languages based on their background, skills, and interests, including motivational nudges and emotional support

• Search and apply for jobs, including tailored support for each opportunity with job applications, resumes, and cover letters

• Search for and enroll in educational programs and other career resources that are offered by the company or workforce agency

Why should we care?

We are in the midst of a global labor shift. The gig economy continues to grow, removing the stability and protections afforded by full-time jobs. At the same time, labor is pushing back - on college campuses, in Hollywood, and in Detroit.

FutureFit AI has spent the last 3 years demystifying labor market data, and turning that data into actionable insights. The company was already well-positioned to help both organizations and individuals navigate this rapidly changing labor market, and Career Copilot provides a simple (to the user) experience to access the company’s insights.

Does it use AI?

So happy you asked! It does indeed. Founded in 2020, FutureFit AI has been built from the ground up leveraging the latest and greatest AI models across their entire product suite. Career Copilot is no different. It uses chatGPT 3.5 as its base large language model (LLM), layering in the company’s proprietary datasets to provide a specific generative AI experience focused on career navigation.

How does Career Copilot enable FutureFit AI’s 5-year vision?

The FutureFit AI team believes that the concept of a “career” will continue to grow in complexity and that virtually all workers will need tools to support their personal growth. The team is excited by the possibilities that a domain-adapted generative AI experience can bring to this problem, helping every worker receive a previously unthinkable level of personalized service.

ETCH Announcements is a news feed where EdTech and Future of Work companies announce new funding rounds, M&A, and other strategically important moves. It is a sister publication to ETCH Weekend Reading and the ETCH Weekly Update, which provide additional context and analysis of what is happening in the EdTech ecosystem. If you enjoyed this edition, we hope you will subscribe and/or forward it to your friends!

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Curipod helps teachers create interactive lessons in seconds with AI, sparking students’ curiosity and excitement for learning.

Teaching is an immensely challenging job. Workloads that were already unsustainable are now heavier, as teachers wrestle with the role of AI in education. Many students are academically behind and/or disengaged. It is difficult for many teachers to tailor instruction to their needs and interests. 

Curipod is an efficient way for teachers to create new ways to engage students, save time, and bring AI into the classroom in a safe and responsible way.

Who did they raise from?

Reach Capital led the round, with participation from Emerson Collective, Sondo Capital, and Edovate Capital.

Can you tell me more about the Curipod team?

Founders Jens Aarre Seip, Eirik Hernes Berre, and Frikk Fossan met each other at Norwegian tech unicorn Cognite. As both former teachers and high school dropouts, the team cares deeply about empowering teachers and finding ways to engage students. Headquartered in Norway they are building on the Nordic pedagogical values and principles, working every day to spark curiosity in students all over the world.

How much traction does Curipod have?

More than 150,000 teachers have used Curipod to create over 240,000 lessons that have reached over 1 million students around the world. You can see examples of how teachers use Curipod on Twitter and TikTok. 

Curipod has also received more than 500 school and district applications for their innovative AI accelerator program, which includes cutting-edge, AI-focused professional development for the administration and for the educators.

Who should I contact to learn more?

jens@curipod.com

ETCH Announcements is a news feed where EdTech and Future of Work companies announce new funding rounds, M&A, and other strategically important moves. It is a sister publication to ETCH Weekend Reading, ETCH Weekly Update, and ETCH Jobs of the Week, which provide additional context and analysis of what is happening in the EdTech ecosystem. If you enjoyed this edition, we hope you will subscribe and/or forward it to your friends!

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The Workforce Talent Educators Association, or WTEA, is an accreditation organization focused on the US postsecondary market. WTEA was started by former economics professor Jennifer Dirmeyer to be the first accreditor recognized by the US Education Department (ED) with a specific emphasis on holding institutions accountable for post-graduate employment outcomes. Recognizing that ED recognition would take some time, WTEA’s first offering was a private market quality assurance offering, which the organization will continue to offer after their accreditation initiative moves to the Postsecondary Commission (PSC).

Founded by Stig Leschly,PSC is also an aspiring accreditation organization focused on postsecondary outcomes. Like WTEA under Dirmeyer’s leadership, PSC is building their organization to become ED-recognized in the next 4-6 years.

Why combining forces to become a new accreditor makes sense

Jennifer, Stig, and every member of their respective organizations are passionate about making post-graduate employment outcomes a core feature of US postsecondary education. Having launched their organizations around the same time, they both kept getting a version of the question, “This sounds great, have you talked to the folks at ___?” Becoming an accreditor is a long, complicated process; With aligned values and vision, both sides realized that together they could move smarter and faster. 

Anything else we should know about the move?

Jennifer has joined PSC full-time as their VP of Accreditation. WTEA will launch a search for a new Managing Director of the organization this fall. This MD will be responsible for stewarding the organization’s current, market-based approach to accreditation including working with existing clients. Prospective applicants should reach out to Jen Dirmeyer at jen@workforcetalent.org to learn more.

Who should we contact if we want to learn more?

WTEA: jen@workforcetalent.org

PSC: info@postsecondarycommission.org

ETCH Announcements is a news feed where EdTech and Future of Work companies announce new funding rounds, M&A, and other strategically important moves. It is a sister publication to ETCH Weekend Reading and the ETCH Weekly Update, which provide additional context and analysis of what is happening in the EdTech ecosystem. If you enjoyed this edition, we hope you will subscribe and/or forward it to your friends!

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KaiPod Learning is a network of in-person learning centers and micro-schools that support students in alternative learning environments.

What is the Catalyst program?

KaiPod’s Catalyst program is an accelerator program that supports educators who want to build their own learning pods. The program is a 16-week accelerator where participants take micro-school concepts from idea to launch.

Why should we care?

This will be KaiPod’s second Catalyst cohort. Keeping the first cohort small allowed KaiPod’s team to identify the most important inflection points in the creation and launch of micro-schools. Particularly where scaled support operations increase quality and expedite time-to-launch. KaiPod intends to take these learnings and apply them to a significantly larger cohort this fall.

What is KaiPod’s 5-year vision and how will this program enable it?

KaiPod’s vision is to offer the largest network of micro-schools in the US. The Catalyst program finds and trains the best educator-entrepreneurs - the most critical component of a micro-school - to power this network.

Listen to KaiPod Learning founder Amar Kumar talk about the announcement

ETCH Announcements is a news feed where EdTech and Future of Work companies announce new funding rounds, M&A, and other strategically important moves. It is a sister publication to ETCH Weekend Reading and the ETCH Weekly Update, which provide additional context and analysis of what is happening in the EdTech ecosystem. If you enjoyed this edition, we hope you will subscribe and/or forward it to your friends!

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