WorkerTech newsletter: June 2023

Last month we let you know about our first WorkerTech Pre-investment Workshop which included the opportunity to win a cash prize and additional mentoring from our team. We welcomed a great group of diverse founders, and had some great conversations – thanks to everyone who came. I’m also pleased to announce the winner of the on-the-day pitching competition, Isa Mutlib, founder of Careers Camp. You can read more about the event and the winner below.

As always, if you’re working on a WorkerTech idea or want to know more about our work, please get in touch.

Emma
Ventures Manager
Resolution Ventures

Supporting WorkerTech founders at a pre-investment stage

Earlier this year, we worked with Shift to carry out user research to help us understand how we could better support WorkerTech founders through the idea development stage, and prepare to access investment from us and other impact investors.

One of the key takeaways was that some founders lack access to mentors and experts to provide validation and guidance on how to take their ideas forward. We felt we could help by convening people with WorkerTech ideas with each other, and those who can guide founders towards investment readiness.

To test this, last week Resolution Ventures and Bethnal Green Ventures brought together 18 founders and five mentors to give founders feedback and advice, and the opportunity to pitch for a small grant and further mentoring from our team. The room was full of brilliant WorkerTech founders who gave impressive pitches at the end of the day.

I’m excited to share that Isa Mutlib, founder of Careers Camp, won the pitching competition. Careers Camp is a platform that prepares and connects underrepresented young people with high-quality careers opportunities across the UK. We’re excited to work more with Isa and support Careers Camp to develop.

If you have a WorkerTech idea, at any stage, and you would like to know more about future pre-investment support, please get in touch.

Latest insights from the Resolution Foundation

Left behind – this note finds that economic inactivity due to ill health among young people has nearly doubled over the past decade, and is heavily concentrated among those with low levels of skills. Boosting labour market participation for this group should be a key priority for the government.

The Mortgage Crunch – households are set for prolonged higher mortgage repayments with the prospects of even more rate raises from the Bank of England. Annual repayments for those re-mortgaging next year are set to rise by £2,900 on average, with lower-income mortgagors feeling the impact of rises the most.

Punchy pay data set to cause more mortgage misery – June’s labour market statistics showed strong nominal pay growth, indicating an end of the real pay squeeze. The workforce is continuing to expand, and working hours have also increased to above pre-pandemic levels.

WorkerTech stories

• Our portfolio company, Earlybird, has been selected to join Google’s Black Founders Fund, receiving funding and hands-on support from experts to accelerate their business. Founder, Claudine Adeyemi, is among three other founders in the cohort also looking at the future of work including Slinger, Tangent and Upskill Digital.
• A podcast episode from The Times investigated the dangers of the gig economy for undocumented workers. We’ve previously written about Fairwork who are campaigning for better quality gig work and tighter regulation that tackles these kind of issues, and who recently published a report about gender inequality in the gig economy.
• Our partners, Ufi, announced a new place-based skills initiative with Learning and Work Institute. They launched an ambitious £3 million programme to deliver a step-change in the numbers of adults taking part in learning and address the growing skills shortages holding back people, industry and regions across the UK.

Get involved

Apply for direct investment from Resolution Ventures. We accept applications from WorkerTech ventures on a rolling basis. Or you can book a slot in our office hours for an initial conversation.

LSE’s new impact venture accelerator, 100X, is open for applications until 3rd July. Applications are welcome from social ventures across the globe. Successful founders will receive £150k in capital and participate in a 12 week accelerator programme.

Our partners, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, are hosting a conference on 11th July exploring the future of philanthropy and investing. Next Frontiers will bring together innovators and investors to discuss the transition to a fairer future.