Thanks to For the Long Term and the Omidyar Network for hosting a thought-provoking forum and pitch competition on generative AI and labor surveillance! We at Working Capital are so proud to share that one of our partners, Ed Marcum, won the pitch competition, where fund managers presented pitches on the intersection of AI and the workforce to an audience of investors representing over $1T in capital. In his presentation, Ed shared the great work of our portfolio company, CompScience, a Computer Vision company that uses existing camera infrastructure in a facility to identify systemic safety risks (while respecting privacy), and provide incentives for remedy through reduced workers’ comp costs. CompScience has demonstrated a meaningful impact for workers, as well as a ‘Return on Impact’ for clients. For example, in 2023, CompScience reduced workplace injuries by 63% in one facility, leading to $250K in savings. Working Capital Fund is invested in worker wellbeing and safety, and we invest in many other impact verticals focused on technology to reduce inequality and build responsible, sustainable global supply chains. We look forward to being in conversation with colleagues and brilliant minds alike in raising questions about the protection of labor rights and how technology and tools can serve as tools to promote decent work. #DecentWork #LaborRights #GenerativeAI
I'm still buzzing from For the Long Term’s inaugural San Francisco Forum last week. Huge thank you to my fellow Generative AI and Labor Surveillance pitch competition judges - The Future of Workers Initiative founder Dr. Wilneida Negrón and Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read. 🏆Congratulations to Ed Marcum of Working Capital Fund for his winning pitch on CompScience! Caroline Winnett of Berkeley SkyDeck and Anik Bose of BGV made it a tough competition with their deftly delivered pitches of Ozaru.io and BoostUp.ai, respectively. Across incisive queries from audience and judges alike, a few key open-ended questions kept coming up: 🤖 Is augmentation the gateway to replacement? 📈 How are the economic benefits of productivity gains distributed? 🤝 How do we ensure protection for labor rights when employers are the paying customer for most workplace productivity and safety tools? The Forum’s full agenda covered a lot of ground beyond AI, from affordable housing and catastrophe insurance to DEI in portfolio management. My main takeaways: 👷♀️ Labor rights and workforce development are a through line: Worker voices are central to issues ranging from how we build thriving communities to how we ensure companies don’t privatize gains and socialize costs (shoutout to Dr. Wilneida Negrón for surfacing this point). 🔐 The antidotes to DEI backlash are leadership and logic: We need to maintain the courage of our convictions and ditch box checking exercises in favor of mathematical arguments, e.g. against concentration risk and autopilot re-upping with legacy managers. 🏛️ Systemic risk exposure requires system-level stewardship: Universal and long-term owners like For the Long Term’s membership view sustainability and diversity as fiduciary duties. They’re eagerly raising the bar on GP transparency and accountability. It’s an honor to be in community with so many State Treasurers and other public servants working through these crucial topics. Many thanks to Dave Wallack for inviting Lucid Capitalism to collaborate, and to Elena Botella of Omidyar Network for kicking off the partnership and enabling us to make the event a success. Finally, as always, grateful to my brilliant copilot Cecilia Young. #artificialintelligence #investment #sustainability
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