VWV Volumes #24: Our Investment in Apprenta

Van Wickle Ventures is excited to announce that we have finalized an investment in
Apprenta! Apprenta is a HR/SaaS company that builds micro-apprenticeship
software that can be integrated into the hiring process for mid-skill roles. The
venture, founded by Amanda Bakerlee, Brown ‘14, brings innovation to the mid-skill
market with a product that aims to make hiring more equitable and efficient.

Apprenta’s Value Proposition:

Mid-skill workers are currently employed through temp-to-perm firms that have
inefficient, expensive, and bias-prone hiring processes. These firms put workers
through a traditional hiring system, which often fails to give both the candidates
and the companies hiring a fair assessment of a candidate’s potential. Apprenta
seeks to address this problem with the “micro-apprenticeship”: a paid 10-hr
program which not only serves as a skills-based assessment of a candidate’s job-fit,
but also allows the candidate to learn more about their potential employer and
become pre-skilled for a role. Besides developing and implementing the micro-
apprenticeship program, Apprenta also provides companies with a data-driven
analysis of a candidate's job-fit—using machine learning to predict performance and
retention. These standardized micro-apprenticeships can be seamlessly integrated
into existing hiring processes, with low-lift and minimal onboarding required by the
companies implementing it.

Our Conviction:

The recruitment market for mid-skill jobs is a $20B industry, and while the demand
for mid-skill jobs—those that require more education and training than a high school
diploma but less than a four-year college degree—remains high, challenges remain
in the hiring space with little innovation over the past few years. Apprenta solves
critical problems in mid-skill hiring, such as retention and job-fit, by introducing a
new way and better way to hire. Candidates become more than just a name on a
resume, and employers are given with practical and concrete insights into a
candidate’s suitability for the role. We believe that this market is ripe for disruption,
and that Apprenta is the right company to do it. Beyond the idea, we have faith in
the people behind Apprenta. Apprenta is driven by an amazing team that has
worked successfully together in the past. Their first company, Medumo, was
acquired by Phillips within 4 years of operation, and we are confident that they have
the technical skill, experience, and industry connections to scale Apprenta
successfully. Finally, we believe in Apprenta’s vision of making mid-skill roles more
accessible to the people who need these jobs the most. Mid-skill work represents an
important opportunity for lower-income families, and Apprenta’s micro-
apprenticeship program is the most equitable way to hire.

We are excited to back Amanda and Apprenta, and to see them grow into a major
player in the mid-skill recruitment market!