Techstars launches new workforce-development accelerator 

BOULDER — Techstars, along with partners ZomaLab, Strada Education Network, and Colorado Thrives, is launching a new workforce development accelerator program to foster startup companies hoping to develop products and services to address the “realities of the COVID-19 pandemic and the long-term future needs of the global workforce,” according an announcement from Techstars managing director Taylor McLemore. 

“At the Techstars Workforce Development Accelerator, we believe measuring impact is the only method to ensure we do not confuse motion for progress,” he wrote. “Our goal is to support these founders to improve the lives of millions of people in the United States, enabling economic mobility and agency for those that need and deserve it most. This will take years. These founders have made a long-term commitment to necessary essential change, and we are excited to stand next to them in support of their missions.”

According to Techstars, participants in the new program, which began Monday and will wrap up with a demonstration day on Feb. 11, 2021, are:

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• Caresplit — Provides community enrichment for kids while filling care gaps for working parents. Built specifically for flexible work patterns, the platform connects families to vetted activities and learning near their new office — their homes. 
• FutureFit AI — A reskilling and outskilling platform that partners with employers and governments to provide an AI-powered career GPS to individuals as they navigate career transitions. The company’s program allows people to understand what skills they have, identify possible career paths in the labor market, and craft a personalized roadmap of learning programs and other support resources to make a successful career transition.
• Grit — An educational capital service that increases the fundability of under-tapped communities for the future of work. 
• Honest Jobs — Helps people with criminal records find employment fast. The company works with employers nationwide as well aggregating fair-chance opportunities from other job sites. The company’s proprietary “PassCheck” technology makes it possible and practical for employers to offer fair-chance employment by reducing risk and helping companies stay within the EEOC guidelines. 
• Increment — Tracks on-the-job training and upskilling for manufacturing wage workers to help fill “Industry 4.0” skills shortages that currently cost the 248,000 U.S. manufacturers hundreds of billions of dollars in lost additional yearly revenue because they can’t reach full production capacity. 
• International Scientific Advisors Inc. — A marketplace accelerating biomedical commercialization by connecting early-stage biomedical companies with experienced, highly trained, and well-equipped scientific advisory teams. 
• Mentor Spaces is a virtual mentorship company for emerging Black and Latinx professionals that helps companies scale their diversity and inclusion efforts while advancing the careers of underrepresented minorities. Companies use Mentor Spaces to build a diverse talent pipeline, improve retention and enhance corporate culture.
• Talk Hiring — Offers tech-accessible, automated mock interviews across the most common industries, plus dashboards for staff to follow along. 
• Tassel Software — Builds a career readiness community currently focused on helping community college students to support academic and career pathways to middle-skill professions.
• TiLT — A leave alignment solution that helps companies improve retention, streamline processes, reinforce culture, support teams, and stay compliant. 
• AdvanceEDU (Nonprofit) — An innovative higher education model that seeks equity gaps in credential attainment and career mobility for “New Gen” (first generation, low-income, and BIPOC) Coloradans.
• Climb Hire (Nonprofit) — Trains diverse, high-potential talent stuck in minimum wage jobs to break into the “new collar” economy. 

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