Condense – the world’s first company to deliver the power, connection and immersiveness of live, real-world events into the metaverse – has raised a $4.5 million round led by LocalGlobe, 7percent Ventures and Deeptech Labs, alongside angels including a platinum-selling grime artist, former England footballer and sports presenter, Tom Blomfield (Monzo), renowned music manager Grace Ladoja MBE and Ian Hogarth (Song Kick).

Founded in Bristol in 2019, Condense is the only company in the world with the end-to-end capture and streaming technology to live stream real-world events like music and sports events into 3D applications. The company uses cutting-edge computer vision, machine learning and proprietary streaming infrastructure to capture and embed live 3D video (Video 3.0) into any metaverse game, mobile app or platform created with Unity or Unreal Engine.

This means true-to-life live performances can be streamed directly into the virtual worlds and games platforms used by billions of people worldwide – without the need for VR headsets. Because the events are streamed live as three-dimensional “real-world” video, every player’s perspective is as unique and dynamic as if they were at a physical live event – and their experience just as memorable.

In addition to the funding announcement, the company has also opened the world’s first metaverse studio in partnership with Watershed – Bristol’s cultural cinema and creative technology venue – to give established artists and emerging talent access to the technology. The studio is a “metaverse-first” event space, and can also accommodate a live audience. In partnership with another organisation, a London studio will open soon followed by other studios internationally.

With Condense, broadcasting live in three-dimensions to the metaverse is as natural and easy as performing in front of a conventional camera, with no need for green screens or post-production, allowing for an immediate connection with the audience in real-time.

• Check out a video of Grove performing live, captured and streamed by Condense in Video 3.0, here: https://youtu.be/bEmO1rrqOtI

Bristol-based vocalist and producer Grove, who was among the first artists to pioneer Condense technology, said, “The minds behind the technology are pushing the boundaries of tech-informed performance sharing. This is great for accessibility and opens up exciting new opportunities for fans to connect with their favourite artists.”

Video 3.0 gives fans completely new experiences online. Audiences can attend gigs or sporting events with friends, with the freedom to move among the virtual crowds and get up close to the action. Because performances are live, fans can interact with the artist – a digital step forward from holding a banner at a gig – and artists can respond in real-time, giving shout-outs, answering questions or performing a requested track.

Condense harnesses the feelings of connection you get from seeing your favourite band, artist, team or sports star perform live, while introducing an unprecedented level of access, participation and inclusion never before seen – all while providing artists, rights holders and metaverse platforms the opportunity to create completely new revenue streams.

Grace Ladoja MBE, co-founder of METALLIC INC and renowned artist manager said: “Culture and community are what drives music forward. It’s how we connect with where we’ve come from and where we want to go. Condense’s technology is opening up a new platform for these communities and cultures, diversifying the voices in the metaverse by making it live and accessible. It’s got the potential to inspire and empower a new movement of artists and fans. This is both exciting, and significant.”

Ziv Reichert, partner at LocalGlobe (recently ranked the UK’s number one seed investor by Dealroom) said: “Hundreds of millions of people are hanging out in immersive 3D platforms like Roblox, Rec Room, Fortnite, Sandbox, Decentraland and VRChat; attending virtual events, socialising and being creative. At the same time, player demand for live entertainment inside these virtual worlds has never been greater. Condense has built the infrastructure to connect the two – now music artists, sports stars and creatives can perform and play live in the metaverse, to the largest stadium audience imaginable.”

Andrew Gault, founding partner of 7percent ventures said: “When I invested in Oculus nearly 10 years ago, the dream was to deliver experiences that seamlessly merge the digital and the physical. Condense has now made that possible inside all video games and platforms, without the need for VR headsets. What they have built is already a reality and it’s going to change the way the whole world engages online.”

Miles Kirby, CEO of Deeptech Labs said, “The metaverse requires a new infrastructure, much of it breaking new ground and requiring next-generation machine learning and machine vision. Condense has the deeptech experience and vision to make the metaverse the number one destination for live events.”

Condense’s CEO and co-founder Nick Fellingham said, “The Bristol scene has long been a world-renowned melting pot of different cultures and music and, in the last few years, it’s become a hub for games development too. Now we’re going to put Bristol on the map once again with the world’s first metaverse live streaming studio to bring together the energy of live events with the massive scale of the metaverse. The Video 3.0 infrastructure we’ve built takes out the technical complexity of streaming live into the metaverse, so people are free to put their creativity in. Video 3.0 is going to change not just how we experience live events online, but fundamentally how we engage with each other.”

The original press release can be found on Business Wire.

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PriceLabs a leading provider of dynamic pricing and revenue management solutions for the short-term rental industry, today announced a $30 million minority growth investment from Summit Partners. This funding represents the first financing for the profitable business and will support PriceLabs’ continued commitment to building leading revenue management solutions and fuel global team growth.

PriceLabs was founded in 2014 to bring sophisticated AI and analytical tools to owners and managers of vacation homes and short-term rentals. The idea was born from co-founder Richie Khandelwal’s frustrations while managing personal rental property and the inability to efficiently adjust prices based on changes in demand. Teaming up with friends Anurag Verma and Sana Hassan, the group built a solution designed to address the similar challenges faced by the thousands of small business owners operating in the short-term rental market.

Today, PriceLabs powers over 150,000 listings in more than 100 countries. The company has been growing steadily since its founding, with an offering that has resonated with vacation rental businesses of all sizes, from single-property owners to large property managers. Recently, PriceLabs won SaaSBoomi’s 2021 Bootstrapped Startup of the Year award after having grown nearly 3x in 2021.

“Pricing can be the single biggest growth lever when running any business, particularly in the hospitality space, where most businesses still use archaic methods and static pricing that can leave anywhere from 10 – 40% of revenue on the table,” said Richie Khandelwal. “We purpose-built PriceLabs from the ground up to serve the needs of short-term rental operators, offering an easy-to-use and highly configurable solution that allows operators to combine our AI and algorithms with their own unique knowledge of the local market and property.”

PriceLabs’ automated dynamic pricing solution is designed to continuously analyze historical and forward-looking hyper-local data to sense changes in demand and recommend optimal daily pricing tailored to each property’s unique characteristics. The company’s comprehensive software provides users with data and tools to monitor and research local market conditions and adjust prices to suit the needs of the property and operations. Prices update automatically through direct integrations with over 70 property management software solutions, helping property owners efficiently manage their operations and maximize the profitability of their listings.

“Our product democratizes powerful tools that, historically, have only been available to large hospitality businesses,” said Sana Hassan, co-founder of PriceLabs. “From an individual host seasonally renting their apartment in Paris to a multi-thousand unit vacation rental manager in Florida, we’ve built a solution that is easy to use, affordable, and integrates seamlessly with the software they’ve already adopted.”

“Consumer preference has continued to shift in favor of alternative accommodations across every demographic, which has led to rapid growth in the short-term rental industry and over 8 million unique listings on Airbnb and Vrbo alone. We see PriceLabs as ideally positioned to serve this growing market with an intuitive, easily customizable and comprehensive solution designed to deliver ROI to owners and managers almost immediately,” said Colin Mistele, Managing Director at Summit Partners, who has joined the PriceLabs Board of Directors. “We believe this deeply experienced team has a significant opportunity to capitalize on a substantial unpenetrated market as they continue to develop and launch innovative products.”

“At PriceLabs, we believe every business in the accommodation space should have access to data-driven pricing and associated capabilities. We’ve been at the forefront of innovation – from building a pricing solution that can be used worldwide to building an industry-first minimum stay recommendation engine,” said Anurag Verma, co-founder of PriceLabs. “With the support and growth-oriented resources that Summit offers, we are excited to continue our mission of delivering innovation to the short-term rental market and accelerate our global hiring.”

PriceLabs is hiring professionals globally with a passion for the short-term rental industry to join our remote team. If you’re interested in learning more about careers at PriceLabs, please visit our career center.

About PriceLabs

Headquartered in Chicago and founded in 2014, PriceLabs is a leading provider of innovative and easy-to-use dynamic pricing and revenue management solutions for the accommodation industry. PriceLabs provides a data-driven approach, automation rules, and customizations to manage pricing and stay restrictions that help the owners and managers of vacation rentals increase revenues with efficiency and ease. With over 70 integrations and a growing list of channels and property management systems, PriceLabs’ automated revenue management solution is built to serve the needs of everyone from large property managers to single-property owners. Learn more at www.pricelabs.co.

About Summit Partners

Founded in 1984, Summit Partners is a global alternative investment firm that is currently managing more than $39 billion in capital dedicated to growth equity, fixed income and public equity opportunities. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries. Summit maintains offices in North America and Europe and invests in companies around the world. For more information, please see www.summitpartners.com or Follow on LinkedIn.

The original press release can be found on Summit Partners’ website.

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The idea of corporate gifting to maintain client relationships isn’t a novel concept. In fact, there’s a cottage industry of “gifting-as-a-service” startups that promise to streamline the task, ranging from companies such as Reachdesk and &Open to Sendoso and Goody. Vendors claim their industry is a profitable one (worth an estimated $258 billion) because the evidence suggests corporate gifting works. One study found that 66% of people who received a promotional product or gift could recall the brand that sent it, and 79% would be likely to do business with the company again.

But according to Rabi Gupta, the co-founder of Evabot, there’s “a lot of clutter” in the corporate gifting space. He argues that many vendors do little more than send company-branded swag like T-shirts and thermoses, which don’t exactly foster loyalty. In one recent survey, companies cited the inability to purchase from multiple brands, managing inventory and storage, and the limited range of products as their top challenges where it concerned gifting.

Evabot itself is a vendor. But Gupta asserts that the company’s AI-driven approach, which uses a chatbot to poll potential gift recipients about their likes, preferences and lifestyles to personalize presents, is more effective than most.

Investors agree. Today, Evabot announced that it raised $10.83 million in a funding round led by Comcast Ventures with participation from Alumni Ventures, Bloomberg Beta, Precursor Ventures, Forefront Venture Partners and Silicon Valley Bank. Gupta said that the proceeds will be used to scale Evabot’s operations, product development and growth, as well as its investments in AI to build “fully automated” gifting experiences.

“Every enterprise wants to really ‘know’ their customers and employees so as to be able to create thoughtful experiences and touch points. Every enterprise cares about building relationships but they need to do that at scale,” Gupta told TechCrunch via email. “Since most of us are remote now, businesses need a better way to connect with their customers and employees.”

Gupta co-launched Evabot, which previously went by the name Vizzi, in 2016 with Satwick Saxena, Ashish Kumar and Akshay Gupta shortly after they immigrated to the U.S. Prior to Evabot, Rabi Gupta, Kumar and Akshay Gupta worked together at India-based iCouchApp, a social app for discussing TV shows and channels.

Like other corporate gifting platforms, Evabot provides an array of gifting services ranging from holiday and birthday gifts to employee onboarding items. To autofill details like names and contact information, Evabot connects to customer relationship and HR systems like Salesforce and Workday. Once recipients finish a questionnaire sent via the aforementioned chatbot, Evabot automatically selects and mails the gift — complete with a handwritten note.

Evabot rival Alyce uses AI, too, to plug into various apps and track relationships to personalize gift recommendations. But Rabi Gupta says that Evabot leverages AI in a variety of ways, not just for gift suggestions.

“[Gifts are] picked by our AI based on the data collected and attributes like past gift ratings, weather in a location, gift budget, and more,” Rabi Gupta said. “[To create the] personalized note that’s added to every gift, we use the data collected by our AI and the natural language generation tool GPT-3. Evabot also collects birthdays from the gift recipients, and then data like this becomes a trigger for the sender to send another gift or a thoughtful note or email.”

Rabi Gupta tells TechCrunch that the business model is a combination of software-as-a-service subscriptions and per-gift revenue. It’s pricing that’s proven attractive — Evabot has shipped more than 125,000 unique gifts to date for over 1,000 customers, including health services giant Cigna. Most of the gifts come from “artisanal” direct-to-consumer brands and local vendors, Rabi Gupta says.

But what of future growth? The corporate gifting market had a rosy outlook as of 2020, when a poll found that 54% of companies planned to increase their investment in gifting over the next two years. Despite Rabi Gupta admitting that he’s seen a “slowdown,” Evabot’s co-founders believe the company is in a position to perform despite the headwinds.

“There is definitely some short-term slowdown [in the corporate gifting space] since companies are slowing down hiring … But overall, we are seeing very strong interest from enterprises who care about long-term relationship building,” Rabi Gupta said. “Before raising our Series A, we were profitable. Right now, we have two years of runway, and the idea is to get to profitability and scale 4x within the next 18 months.”

Evabot has raised a total of $13.83 million in capital to date, which includes a previously undisclosed $3 million seed round. The company employs 60 people across offices in San Francisco, Dallas, and cities in Canada and India, a headcount Rabi Gupta intends to grow to 70 by the end of the year.

The original article can be found on TechCrunch.

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With crops being grown indoors under controlled environments, a selling point used by multiple vertical farms is that they can grow crops anywhere – even in the heart of a city. This has led to proponents of the industry envisioning “smart cities”, where vertical farms in city skyscrapers help feed the urban population. While this is achievable in principle, the truth is that the choice of location for vertical farming is much more involved and intricate than it may appear from these claims alone. Choosing an ideal location can be one of the most important factors in determining the success of a vertical farm.

Some vertical farms may choose to set up their facilities in pre-existing facilities, such as abandoned warehouses. In these cases, identifying the suitability of the venue is the first point of consideration: vertical farms are very energy intensive, and it is important to ensure the facilities chosen can support these energy loads. In addition, the ergonomics of the facility is also important; should the layout not be given proper consideration, this can impede workers and decrease worker efficiency. As labor costs are typically among the largest sources of expenditure for a vertical farm, improving labor efficiency to reduce these costs is of paramount importance.

While growing crops in the center of a city may seem ideal, the reality is that this may be counterproductive. Obtaining and maintaining such a location is expensive and can contribute significantly to the operating expenditure of a vertical farm while presenting logistical challenges in distributing produce; the “last mile” of food distribution is often the hardest. Having a farm right next to the consumers themselves may also be less ideal than instead choosing a location near food distribution centers, as this allows for more efficient delivery of produce. As distribution centers are typically located on the outskirts of cities, the cost of land is also much cheaper. This is the approach chosen by UK-based Jones Food Company, which chose Scunthorpe as a location for its vertical farm – this is a relatively low-cost location located near food distribution centers and a network of motorways that can reach many consumers in a day, even if it isn’t right in the middle of the capital city. Vertical farms should carefully consider their place in the supply chain before establishing a base.

On a larger scale, vertical farms may prove more profitable in different geographical regions. Vertical farms can reduce water usage significantly over conventional agriculture, and the high degree of control over the growing environment allows them to grow crops in extreme climates – where such crops may otherwise be unable to grow. In return, vertical farms demand more energy to carry out growing operations. To maximize their potential, vertical farms would ideally be located in regions of water scarcity, such as Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, or in areas with extreme climates, such as in Scandinavian countries, where the low amounts of sunlight and high costs of regulating greenhouse environments single out vertical farms as an optimal solution. The amount of agricultural land available is also an important factor – regions looking to increase food security and reduce reliance on imports while facing challenges in acquiring sufficient agricultural land would find vertical farms to be ideal. A particularly prominent example of such a country is Singapore, which has demonstrated much interest in vertical farming over the last few years.

Beyond the considerations of water scarcity and temperature, the general availability of fresh produce and the distribution networks of given countries should also be considered. Vertical farms use the added freshness and higher quality of their crops as a primary selling point, but these are typically offset by higher prices. Should there already be a large supply of high-quality produce available at lower costs, vertical farms will find it hard to distinguish their own produce and may struggle to establish a significant market share. The converse would also be true; should a country lack easy access to fresh produce, vertical farms are expected to see much demand for their produce. An example of such a region would be the Middle East: leafy greens typically travel several thousand miles to reach stores, resulting in consumers facing high prices and low-quality products. The high price of conventionally farmed leafy greens, alongside government subsidies, makes it easier for vertically farmed produce to approach price parity while providing much fresher, higher-quality products.

While the choice of location is an important consideration, it is only one of many others that must be given proper thought. Only through proper optimization of growing operations to improve efficiency and reduce costs can vertical farms reach their true potential. In the IDTechEx report, “Vertical Farming 2022-2032”, many further important factors for consideration are discussed in detail, and the future of vertical farming is evaluated through 10-year market forecasts.

The post Research Finds Location Is Key to Success of Vertical Farms appeared first on Grit Daily News.

But the effective practice of organizational learning can be difficult and expensive, especially since it requires the proper creation, retention, and transfer of knowledge. Each step is vital but requires a lot of time and resources to perfect, particularly if done manually.

That is where organizational learning technology comes into play. The evolution of technology and the workforce has created a greater demand for managers and executives to deliver effective learning experiences for their employees. Moreover, it must all be easy to use, understand, and manage to truly be effective.

However, despite the rise of technology and increased demand, it can be difficult to show the impact of learning technology on an organization. According to the IAB and Columbia Business School, 87% of executive decision-makers agree that capturing and sharing the right data is important to effectively measure their company’s return on investment (ROI). Yet, 39% admit they cannot turn their data into actionable insights.

Because the impact is so difficult to see, decision-makers often turn to learning and development experts with questions like:

• Why is corporate training essential for our company?
• What are the ramifications if we don’t engage in some sort of corporate training?
• Why does it need its own (and often increasing) budget?

The questions put a degree of strain on the learning and development department because it has to show results, just like any other department at a company. If it doesn’t, the department is likely to receive less attention or be discontinued.

In many instances, the main problem isn’t the process of organizational learning. Instead, training teams struggle because existing technology isn’t able to properly connect the data to tangible outcomes. Thus, even if positive results exist, they might not be noticed.

Companies that miss out on such results and do not properly implement organizational learning stand to miss out on a lot of benefits. That includes the aforementioned satisfaction, leadership development, and productivity. There are also decreased turnover rates, increased adaptability, and even higher profits and efficiency.

With so much on the line, companies cannot afford to forgo organizational learning, which is heavily dependent on effective learning technology. So, why are some unable to show real ROI with their current tools, and what can be done to change things?

The answer depends on the organization, with each having its own unique circumstances, tools, and potential deficiencies. The solution is to use prescriptive analytics to identify gaps in learning technology strategy, as seen with Administrate’s Scalability Index Assessment.

John Peebles, CEO at Administrate, comments, “There are many terrific learning tools and software out there, but the very practical challenge is that none of them were really created to work together – yet, they will be required to work together within your organization. Often, this creates tremendous manual labor for training teams, the labor they often do not have. That is where adopting a learning technology infrastructure with a consistent data model becomes a game-changer. Training teams remain able to select and use the learning technologies that best serve their organization’s learning and development needs while also maintaining an enduring learning tech environment that will connect with other crucial business systems, like HRIS or Finance.”

Identifying the unique circumstances of a business and selecting the right learning technologies to use is vital. Moreover, having the proper infrastructure to do so without excess labor makes a massive difference.

But there are plenty of ways to implement an effective learning technology strategy, which include optimizing training reports, automating communications to shareholders, and leveraging customized reports to show impact across departments. In general, automation is incredibly effective, implementing learning technology to improve various aspects and training operations.

In addition, upskilling the team’s data literacy is effective because it is a critical but often underdeveloped skill across organizations. In the same vein, improving data accuracy using training operations is highly important. Ensure that daily tasks are optimized to make the captured data more accurate.

Evaluating existing learning technology for agility is also effective. Identify the characteristics of highly resilient training software and explore how a unified tech stack might provide additional resilience. That is where a platform like Administrate comes into the picture.

Administrate allows all enterprise training operations to occur on a single platform. It is not only configured to a company’s individual needs but scalable and efficient, which are vital to a growing organization.

Implementing learning technology like Administrate allows for integration across business systems, insights on training needs, and the support needed to not only make training a success but a visible one. It is the existence of technology like this that puts companies without learning technology at such a severe disadvantage.

In fact, without the proper learning technology, a company will likely face difficulties scaling its training operations. They might even try filling the increasing deficiencies with additional staff and an ever-expanding team. However, doing so will be not only costly but also potentially ineffective. The true solution is investing in system infrastructure, and every day counts.

The post Why Companies That Wait to Implement Learning Technology May Never Catch Up appeared first on Grit Daily News.

Unfortunately, for many years and still today, public web data collection – or “web scraping” – has had a negative connotation for several organizations. But it’s time to face reality. To maintain a strong foothold in your industry, get the answers you need for your business, and thrive ahead, you must disregard several common myths. Let’s break them together:

#1 – It’s illegal.

The short answer is, no it’s not. If the website is public, or does not require a log-in, it’s legally accessible. This verdict was most recently displayed in the hiQ Labs vs. LinkedIn case, where the Ninth Circuit ruled data scraping to not be unlawful.

Public web scraping is performed by organizations of all sizes globally. It’s used to evaluate internal operations, back up key business decisions, and get a full grasp of the market to pursue new innovations and boost revenues. Of course, as part of this, compliance regulations must play a major role. Businesses (or their public web data collection providers) have guidelines they must follow to remain legal. This entails a strong understanding of what you are and aren’t allowed to collect. And since there is still limited regulation in the industry, companies are mainly held to moral and ethical standards when it comes to legal data collection.

#2 – It hinders your organization.

Contrary to this belief, public web scraping enhances your organization. It offers real-time, precise insights into your competitors and your customers. This could include anything from pricing to shopping habits, as well as crucial trends and innovations that you should take advantage of in the market.

The pandemic sparked a massive shift to a digital economy. Legacy business strategies like undercover shoppers therefore shifted to online data collection. Now, you can receive even greater and more accurate insights while cutting the time and energy required by your organization as much as 80%. You can increase your teams’ time spent on innovation and truly push your business forward. As result, public data collection strongly benefits consumers as well. They receive more appealing or advanced  products, obviously better pricing, and greater shopping experiences overall.

#3 – It’s legal, but unethical.

This falls on either the organization or the external web data provider. When accessing public data, they must be professional and act with transparency when sourcing the data. This includes all parties firmly abiding by both global compliance regulations and deeply-rooted ethical guidelines. To put it simply, ethical and legal public web scraping offers the same internet view, insights, and transparency that an individual user has access to – and enjoys.

#4 – The sources are private.

In fact, most of today’s web data is public. According to researchers, as of January 2022, roughly 62.5% of our global population (4.95 billion people) uses the internet. And of the data being created from this significant online use, it’s estimated that nearly 70% is public. Essentially, anything that can be opened via a standard browser without a log in. This is what businesses and providers are accessing through web scraping – and the data set only expands each year as more and more people use the internet globally.

#5 – It makes you untrustworthy.

The final common misconception we’ll walk through is that if you collect web data, then you’re up to no good. In reality, various organizations (from startups to large enterprises) around the world are acquiring, analyzing, and employing it to their day-to-day operations – even as you read this article. In order to succeed in today’s constantly moving and highly competitive business world, companies must receive the full picture by utilizing this massive data resource that is only growing.

The web data industry will continue to expand as more and more market sectors begin to take advantage of its benefits. To survive, and as part of our moral obligation, all participants must remember to act legally and ethically at all times. This is essential.

The post Ignore Common Misconceptions About Web Data Collection appeared first on Grit Daily News.

At issue is what’s been deemed a “technological blackout” in Brazil that has already seen more than 100,000 tech jobs go unfilled this year due to a lack of qualified, educated talent. That number is expected to grow by more than 5x by 2025 to about 530,000 tech jobs – including software developers and coders, data scientists, AI engineers, and U/X designers – going unfilled unless there are more people trained in STEM disciplines to fill those roles. 

On July 20, iFood and XP unveiled the tech-education initiative and announced the two founding companies (a.k.a. “Maintainers) have invested BRL $5 million and 18 other companies or institutions have committed BRL $10 million to the various projects. The goal is to raise and invest a total of BRL $100 million (US $18 million) between now and 2025. 

“In the last year, we saw many companies investing in education, but these efforts are still very dispersed. Thus, we realized the importance of joining forces with others to help solve this deficit in this area that hinders the development of Brazil. Even expanding isolated efforts will not solve the problem. With this union of forces, we hope to promote the meeting between talented people who are just waiting for an opportunity, while contributing to a social transformation and the development of the country,” said Fabrício Bloisi, CEO of iFood.

The main beneficiaries of the coalition’s efforts are underrepresented populations in the tech industry today, including women, Black and low-income people. The Tech Movement’s initiatives range from high school students to adults. The member companies will be able to act at different levels, whether through investments, projects, or execution.

“Our objective is to contribute to making Brazil a prosperous country and a protagonist in terms of technology, with job and career opportunities for all Brazilians. Our big dream is to make a difference in the training of young professionals, so they’re prepared for the challenges of the new digital economy in terms of technology, innovation, and business. We believe that, through social investment, we can generate a structural impact in Brazil that is transformational,” said Thiago Maffra, CEO of XP Inc.

To learn more about the Tech Movement initiative, Grit Daily recent sat down to speak with Gustavo Vitti, Chief People and Sustainability Officer at iFood, to learn more about the progress the collective has made so far, and what to expect next from the coalition’s efforts to increase the diversity and preparedness of Brazil’s future tech-industry workforce:

Grit Daily: Tell us more about how the Tech Movement initiative came about. 

Gustavo Vitti: The Tech Movement is a private, social-investment platform for technology. It started a year ago, in a conversation between companies who were suffering from the tech-talent scarcity combined with a shared ESG goal of developing and hiring professionals from non-privileged backgrounds. In other words we have a mutual dream of transforming Brazil into a technological power through diversity.

Today, Brazil is a country with 10 million people who are unemployed, and at the same time, there are plenty of job opportunities in the tech sector that are not being filled due to a lack of qualified labor. This is not because Brazilians don’t want good jobs or higher levels of education, but because opportunities aren’t finding the right people; for example those who live in the favelas. This challenge is exactly what this movement aims to tackle.

So, with this dream in mind and a pinch of reality, we all know this is a marathon and not a sprint. We need to inspire our children to think and dream about working in technology fields which are forecast to see significant growth in the years ahead. In addition, we need to foster easy access to training for these jobs of the future and build bridges between these freshly qualified tech professionals and the Brazilian big tech companies.

What we’ve done so far: we’ve launched two initiatives that have already impacted more than 150,000 people. The first one is the Tech Marathon, for high school students at public and private schools. Set up as an Olympiad-style tech competition between educational institutions, teachers, and students, the first edition in May, earlier this year, had more than 80,000 students compete, including schools from 21 Brazilian states. The second one is Tech Power that has already awarded more than 6,000 intensive scholarships for tech education to underprivileged groups. There’s another two new initiatives being baked that we will launch over the next 3-6 months and the  Movement will continue to seek out or create similar initiatives and provide funding to accelerate them.

Today, iFood and XP Inc. are the two original maintainers and there are 20 sponsor companies and institutions in the collective that can contribute to the cause with investments or services, including: Accenture, Arco, Buser, CI&T, Cubos Academy, Descomplica, Digital House, English First (EF), F. Behring, Gama Academy, Grupo Boticário, Instituto Localiza, Kenzie, Let’s Code, ONE Oracle, Raia Drogasi, Rocketseat, Semantix, Telles Foundation, and VTEX. 

GD: What are the roles iFood and XP play as founding members? 

GV: Companies can take part in the Tech Movement as either Maintainers or Sponsors. For the Maintainers, they play a role in the strategic agenda of the initiative and in the decisions of the projects, being part of the Strategic Council. Sponsors play a role in the execution and funding projects. They also take part in the Consultative Council.

The Tech Movement seeks to attract more companies and organizations from all segments and areas. Participation can occur as a Maintainer or Sponsor, involving financial commitments as well as services. iFood and XP Inc are the first Maintainers. To find out how to participate and contribute to the Movement, just access www.movtech.org.

GD: Brazil is projected to need around 500,000 more tech workers by 2025 than are expected to be available. How many people do you anticipate can be trained by 2025 with R$100M being raised?

GV: With the initial projects, which are already underway, we expect to train one million people by 2025. The more companies and organizations that join the Tech Movement, the more scale we will gain to benefit an increasing number of people.

In the two examples we mentioned before, Tech Marathon and Tech Power, we believe both projects will have a scale of 10-15x bigger than today as we expand the coalition’s resources and gain more visibility. It’s incredible to see how fast we’ve been iterating and improving on the offerings. As an example, today we can provide high-quality tech learning almost 6x cheaper than we did for our first groups.

GD: The U.S. tech industry is predominantly white and male, with women, Black people and other minorities present in much smaller numbers than in the general population. What is the demographic of the Brazilian tech sector today?

GV: It is a similar situation in Brazil compared to the U.S. today The Tech Movement will prioritize underrepresented minorities and low-income people. As a result of the  “technological blackout,” as the lack of tech professionals in Brazil has been called, there are already more than 100,000 job vacancies open this year, with little prospect of being filled. 

Also, the digitization of the economy and companies, accelerated by the pandemic, has increased the demand for skilled labor, while the number of available professionals remains limited. That’s why our movement is focused on low-income public and non-privileged backgrounds, and prioritizes women and Black people, for example. We want to change the current inequities and have a positive impact on a different future from the one that is projected today.

We believe and invest in education – from basic education, so young people have a better education in Portuguese, Mathematics and Logic, to professional training that is specialized in technology. We also want to develop the technical and emotional skills for those who are already in the marketplace and are seeking new opportunities. That’s why we offer practical tech courses too. We dream to be a quality tech-education platform that will drive the growing tech ecosystem forward so qualified, trained talent are ready to dive into new opportunities and help drive innovation and social transformation.

GD: How and where will you recruit for the program? 

GV: Our purpose is to awaken more people’s interest in working in the tech industry, empower them through training – from basic education to practical knowledge,  and then help employ for the jobs of the future by building bridges between them and tech companies. 

Based on the various programs, courses and partnerships involved, people we’ll be approached from different communication channels as it fits to each initiative invested, and work together with private, public, and non-governmental organizations. We need and we’re calling for others to help with these important efforts.

GD: I can see how cultivating a more diverse workforce could help solve the labor shortage, but what are the less obvious benefits of more diversity?

GV: The inclusion of different people, life stories, and backgrounds is a way to promote more tolerance and societal integration. All innovation, services, products and ways of leading will be enriched by a broader world view; one in which solutions and achievements are sustainable. And most importantly, we will be truly changing lives. We want to reach 2030 with so many lives impacted that we’ll  be able to change social inequality in Brazil, with those who have always been the base of the social pyramids as the main protagonists who are creating the country’s prosperity.

GD: The Potentia Tech Platform, which was initiated by iFood, has awarded 6,000 scholarships over the past nine months and 450 of those people have already been hired. How many of those scholarship recipients are from underrepresented groups?

GV: The scholarships are being offered exclusively for low-income people. We prioritize people who are underrepresented in the society, having at least half of the people inside Potencia Tech being women or Black people.

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Conservation efforts are vital to protecting nature and the future of the planet, and these efforts come in many different forms. It can be as simple as going green and trying to recycle, or it can be something much grander, such as the “America the Beautiful” campaign, which wants to restore and conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters.

The campaign seeks to make significant changes by 2030, restoring ecosystems and putting measures in place to protect them in the future. And it is all being done with a localized approach, where local experts will be a part of the efforts.

Clearly, it is something important that a lot of people care about, but it is not always the easiest thing to do, especially in and around cities where people live. Humans have complex needs, and convenience often trumps everything else. That is where conservation communities show incredible value.

Conservation communities are a combination between real estate and conservation, which provides beautiful protected landscapes with the necessary convenience and thoughtfulness to make living comfortable. Such communities strike a delicate balance between human settlement and protected wildlife and tend to make a big difference in local greenery.

In fact, while conservative communities provide a beautiful place to live, their primary goal is to save large parcels of land from ecological degradation. They are tailored to different regions and protect various ecosystems depending on the development plans and using low-impact infrastructure.

An example of a conservation community is Lagoon Valley, the Bay Area’s first conservation community. The community recently announced the homebuilders responsible for making the community’s plans a reality after 20 years of designing and planning.

Lagoon Valley is focusing on sustainable design principles, in line with what conservation communities strive to achieve. These sustainable practices will be part of every facet of the homes built on the land, ensuring they are low-impact while also being generational homes for those who buy them.

Lagoon Valley even seeks to exceed the standard set by the Greenbelt Alliance, which is a Bay Area organization dedicated to protecting important open space lands.

The homes in Lagoon Valley are a short walk away from many conveniences, including neighborhood shops, restaurants, and workplaces in the 750,000-square-foot Ascend Business Village. It is all surrounded by open space and recreational areas, with three-quarters of the 2,400 acres to be dedicated to open space.

Included in the open area are a 400-acre public park, a 71-acre wetland preserve, and 1,300 acres for hiking and mountain biking trails. The space will go hand-in-hand with the sustainability practices that strive to be eco-friendly and meet energy-saving mandates.

The overall goal of conservation communities like these is to sit communities within nature, integrating them to preserve and protect the areas around them. Moreover, it is not limited to residential areas like Lagoon Valley.

Other types of conservation development include private clubs and small-scale industrial activity constructed to ensure the protection or ecological restoration of an area.

Overall, conservation communities offer a way for residential and other areas to be designed and built in a way that is low-impact and actually helps rebuild and protect ecological systems. Energy, land, and other resources are used more efficiently, renewable energy is in abundance, and pollution is reduced to protect wildlife.

These are things that America desperately needs, especially as it enacts its “America the Beautiful” campaign, which seeks to take a more local approach. After all, it doesn’t get more local than creating a community dedicated to building and living in a way that promotes conservation every day. And if it can be done in a way that is diverse and suited for anyone and everyone, that’s even better.

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Bryte, Inc., the leader in restorative sleep technology, announced today a $20 million strategic investment round led by Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX), the company synonymous with innovation in the mattress industry. Additionally, the two companies intend to collaborate on future products, services, and technology. ARCHina Capital and other existing Bryte investors also participated in the funding round.

“Our mission is to empower lives through restorative sleep, which starts by reaching as many people as possible, with the most technically advanced products and first-rate services at a complete range of price points. There is simply no company in the world with a more complete and desirable portfolio of brands than Tempur Sealy, and we couldn’t be more excited about their investment,” said Luke Kelly, CEO, Bryte.

“It has long been clear to us that meaningful innovation improves sleep outcomes for millions of people. With Bryte we have invested in a company that is committed to innovation with an elegant, seamless integrated product that we believe fits our long-term brand strategy. We are excited to form a relationship with their talented team,” said Scott Thompson, Tempur Sealy Chairman and CEO.

Bryte is best known for its flagship product The Restorative Bed, which is popular with celebrities and top CEOs alike, and can be found in the suites of luxury hotels such as The Four Seasons Beverly Hills, Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, Park Hyatt NYC, as well as Rosewood locations, among others.

Bryte’s in-bed technology measures, learns, tests, and applies what each sleeper needs to optimize their restorative sleep through real-time in-bed personalized comfort adjustments and relaxation experiences and services. Furthermore, the technology is purpose-built as a platform of hardware, software and AI services that can be seamlessly integrated into the product lines of select mattress brands, in service of reaching and benefiting more sleepers, more quickly.

“We founded Bryte with the vision to integrate the latest technology and sleep science into delightful experiences that truly deliver impactful restorative sleep products & services. With Tempur Sealy, we have an amazing investor that shares our vision. We are excited to develop technologies and capabilities to lead the industry in creating breakthrough products and experiences together,” said Ely Tsern, Co-Founder and CTO of Bryte.

About Bryte

Founded in 2016 in Silicon Valley, Bryte is the Restorative Sleep Technology platform powering the future of sleep through licensing to leading mattress manufacturing partners, supplying hotels and selling direct to consumers. Prior to this round, the company has raised over $30M with investors including ARCHina Capital, 10x Group, Evolution VC Partners and more. For more information, visit Bryte.com.

About Tempur Sealy International, Inc.

Tempur Sealy International, Inc. (NYSE: TPX) develops, manufactures, and markets mattresses, foundations, pillows and other products. The Company’s products are sold worldwide through third party retailers, its own stores, and online. The Company’s brand portfolio includes many highly recognized brands in the industry, including Tempur®, Tempur-Pedic®, Sealy® featuring Posturepedic® Technology, and Stearns & Foster®. World headquarters for Tempur Sealy International is in Lexington, KY. For more information, visit http://www.tempursealy.com or call 800-805-3635.

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Paragon, a startup building a platform that integrates and aggregates various software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps for enterprise clients, has raised $13 million in a series A round led by Inspired Capital, alongside previous investors FundersClub and Garuda Ventures. CEO and co-founder Brandon Foo said that the tranche will be put toward “scaling” and expanding Paragon’s team across the engineering and go-to-market teams.

Paragon, a part of Y Combinator’s winter 2020 cohort, is designed to allow software products to integrate with third-party apps without disrupting existing workflows. Companies can use the platform to build SaaS integrations into their products that are then provided to their end users, with features such as fully managed authentication and prebuilt integration interfaces.

Foo founded Paragon in 2019 with Ishmael Samuel, a former Uber engineer. Paragon is Foo’s second venture after Polymail, an email app focused on collaboration.

“While building Polymail, we had to spend months becoming experts in the different vendor-specific authentication methods, APIs, and documentation for every integration we built. It felt like we were reinventing the wheel every time. Yet customers kept asking for more integrations, which quickly made it impossible to keep up, let alone maintain all these integrations we’d built,” Foo told TechCrunch in an email interview. “I later realized that this is a problem that every SaaS company faces today. When Ishmael and I started Paragon, we sought to solve a never-ending problem we’d experienced firsthand as software developers.”

Foo says that Paragon currently supports around 45 prebuilt integrations with SaaS apps, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack and Shopify. Recently, the company launched an integration builder that allows customers to create their own custom integrations on Paragon with public SaaS APIs without needing to write code.

Paragon offers two versions of its service: cloud-hosted and on-premise. Both store and manage end-user authentication credentials so that companies don’t have to manually build and maintain authentication for each app integration individually. They both also store integration data for logging and observability purposes.

“Software companies must offer integrations in order to stay competitive in the market — it has simply become an expectation of SaaS buyers … However, building integrations from scratch requires tremendous engineering resources — not to mention the work it takes to maintain integrations as SaaS APIs constantly change,” Foo said. “Paragon provides a simple, productized solution that abstracts the complexities of every SaaS integration into a single software development kit, which can be natively embedded in any product to provide a seamless end-user experience.”

Foo claims that Paragon is currently servicing about 100 million requests per month across its customer base. That’s an auspicious start, but the challenge will be maintaining growth as rival products emerge. While not tackling exactly the same problem, Pipedream offers an integration platform for building workflows and connecting cloud apps and services. With an eye toward financial applications, Stripe recently launched App Marketplace, a collection of scripts and tools incorporating third-party SaaS apps that work alongside Stripe’s payment processing.

Foo says, though, that the slowdown in tech has been unexpectedly fortuitous (minus the layoffs).

“It’s actually been an accelerant for Paragon, since engineering efficiency has become more crucial than ever before. Software companies need to do more with less, yet can’t afford to continue losing valuable deals by not meeting their customers’ integration requirements,” he said. “The top challenge Paragon solves for is engineering resources. To spend in-house engineering resources focused on external integrations takes valuable time away from building their core product.”

To date, Paragon has raised $16.5 million in capital.

The original article can be found on TechCrunch.

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