Robin Cowie has been on the road constantly for the last three months, criss-crossing the country to meet with investors and large corporations who are trying to figure out the future of work.
His startup, Skillmaker, is addressing skilled labor needs through its AI-powered and XR-focused workforce development platform. The goal is to cut training time down for skilled labor-strapped industries, like auto technician training.
That time on the road and away from his homebase in Wilmington, North Carolina has been fruitful for Crowie and the Skillmaker team, as they recently announced the close of their pre-seed round of investment.
Landing Pre-Seed Funding
The $2.5 million SAFE was $1 million oversubscribed from their target, Cowie told Hypepotamus. While he was pitching in what he described as a difficult fundraising climate, Cowie said he remained focused on finding investment partners that were “strategically aligned” with Skillmaker’s future, particularly in the EdTech, WorkEd space, and corporate training spaces.
The investors in the round are heavily concentrated in the Southeast, including North Carolina-based firms Idea Fund Partners, Cape Fear Ventures, First Talent Ventures, and the WALE Angel Network.
Other investors in the round include Strada Education Foundation, StartEd Advisors, and Greenwave Ventures. Angel investors, including Lelon Winstead and Allan Cantle, also joined the round.
“Skillmaker is solving America’s worker shortage and training bottleneck in a novel way,” said Richard Stroupe of Cape Fear Ventures in a press release about the funding news.
Opportunities In Training and Assistance
Hypeotamus wrote about Skillmaker in April of this year, as the Cowie, the filmmaker-turned-entrepreneur, announced a new immersive training partnership with NAPA Auto Parts through its NAPA Autotech XcceleratoR program, which uses simulations and AI feedback to reduce automotive technicians training from years to weeks.
Matt Crumpton, Director of NAPA Auto Parts, said working with Skillmaker is “more than just a training upgrade,” as it has accelerated learning opportunities for NAPA technicians.
The new pool of funding will go towards expanding Sillmaker’s XR‑enabled training through NAPA stores while broadening its curriculum into other crucial trade areas.
Over the last few months of working with NAPA, Cowie said he learned that Skillmaker is not only helping companies with the early part of training new employees.
“What we’ve really uncovered is people need technical assistance in addition to the training solutions,” he added, pointing to Skillmaker’s ability to provide safe, consistent training in on-the-ground job sites as employees as they continue their careers.