Carolina Beach-based Skillmaker has closed a $4.5 million oversubscribed seed round to expand its AI-powered workforce training platform. The startup plans to grow its auto technician training programme with NAPA Auto Care, expand into other trades, and build its team. Founded in 2024 by Robin Cowie, Skillmaker uses extended reality and artificial intelligence to train auto technicians in 25 days, compared to the traditional two years. The company's NAPA Autotech Xccelerator programme has been deployed across 20 states under a five-year distribution agreement with Genuine Parts Company. New investors include Potencia Ventures, FullCircle and the NC Tweener Fund, whilst Idea Fund Partners, Cape Fear Ventures and Lelon Winstead increased their commitments. Skillmaker recently partnered with Black's Tire & Auto Service for a pilot programme at Southeastern Community College.

WorkHero raises $5M seed round. WorkHero, the AI-powered back office for small HVAC contractors, today announced a $5 million seed round led by Navitas Capital, with participation from Workshop Ventures, York IE, and several strategic angels, including a former ServiceTitan executive. Small HVAC business owners are drowning in paperwork. Data from a recent survey that WorkHero conducted with HVAC School shows that small HVAC business owners spend over 20 hours per week on administrative tasks. Legacy software platforms remain difficult for busy owners to manage and hiring a full-time office manager is often cost-prohibitive. This problem is particularly acute in a fragmented industry where 85 percent of companies have fewer than 20 employees. "WorkHero has built a novel solution for a massive, underserved market. This is exactly where agentic AI should be applied, solving real-world problems for small businesses overlooked by traditional software," said Jenny Song, a Partner at Navitas Capital. Unlike traditional software that requires business owners to learn a new tool, WorkHero's platform handles back-office work autonomously. The system can invoice customers, pull permits, file rebates, register warranties, and build pricebooks, all without the owner having to open their laptop. While AI agents execute the repetitive workflows, dedicated account managers with industry expertise provide oversight and coach contractors on their finances and operations. "It's time to use AI to support small businesses, who drive job creation in local economies. At WorkHero, we are giving independent owners the same back-office efficiencies as larger PE-backed companies," said WorkHero co-founder Furman Haynes. The company's platform also advances climate and electrification goals. In states like Colorado, Oregon and New York, WorkHero is deploying automation that removes friction in the heat pump rebate submission process, cutting processing time by 50 percent while achieving nearly perfect approval rates from program administrators. "It's exciting to be able to deliver agentic tools that complete real work for our contractors. This is the end-to-end support that these small business owners need," said WorkHero co-founder Kyler Evitt, "and our expert office managers ensure we deliver results they can trust." With this new funding, WorkHero will expand its engineering and product teams and add new services, including call answering and bookkeeping, to deliver a full suite of office operations. For more information about open roles at WorkHero, visit: https://www.workhero.pro/careers About WorkHero WorkHero is the AI-powered back office for small HVAC contractors, combining industry experts with custom AI agents to handle invoicing, permits, rebates, equipment warranties, pricebook creation, and much more. Founded in 2024 by Furman Haynes, Kyler Evitt, and Gerald Chertavian, WorkHero is a Workshop Ventures company. Learn more at workhero.pro.