Eindhoven-based FruitPunch, a global ‘AI for Good’ community that aims to solve humanity’s greatest challenges, announced on Wednesday, May 31, that it has secured €500K in a round of funding led by Shamrock Ventures with participation from LUMO Labs and various angels.
With this money, FruitPunch AI says it will develop its platform’s features to support personalised learning journeys. It will also hire strategic roles to expand in the HR market and turn currently running pilot programmes into sustainable partnerships.
FruitPunch AI currently provides AI engineering power to industry-leading NGOs, impact startups & research centres like NXP, Stanford University and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).”
“We’re thrilled to have Shamrock Ventures & LUMO Labs on board who are mission aligned with us to do maximal good by building an impact business that scales. Now we have the funding and expertise to realise this vision and help companies around the world find, retain & skill the best AI talent,” says Buster Franken, CEO and co-founder of FruitPunch AI.
FruitPunch AI: AI for Good
Founded in 2018 by Buster Franken and Sako Arts, FruitPunch AI is on a mission to build a worldwide community of ‘AI for Good’ engineers. This is to solve the world’s greatest problems through education programmes.
The platform lets AI engineers collaboratively solve AI for Good challenges to train their AI skills with partners like Stanford University, the European Space Agency, and WWF.
Companies use it to upskill and retain their current workforce, and find new, real-world vetted AI talent.
The community members, mostly students, focus on AI for Good projects directly related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These include protecting our biodiversity, fighting climate change, and improving healthcare and wellbeing.
The investors
Based out of Amsterdam, Shamrock Ventures is an early-stage impact venture capital fund managed by experienced entrepreneurs and operators.
Last year, Shamrock closed a €10M pre-Seed and early-Seed impact fund focused on purpose-driven tech startups in the Netherlands.
“With the increasing range of AI possibilities it is ever more important that developers can use those possibilities for good purposes. FruitPunch AI facilitates this for developers throughout their careers. Shamrock is very excited to assist FruitPunch AI in their ambition to become the global AI for good community,” says Tommy Hurley, Founder & Managing Partner at Shamrock Ventures.
Founded in 2016 by Andy Lurling and Sven Bakkes, LUMO Labs creates opportunities for impact-driven software and smart hardware startups. It invests in sectors such as Artificial Intelligence/Data, Blockchain, the Internet of Things, Robotics and Drones, and Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality.
“Keeping up with the speed of advancements in Artificial Intelligence is challenging, but a massive competitive advantage for those who succeed in doing so,” says Andy Lürling, Founding Partner of LUMO Labs.
“The FruitPunch AI platform allows medium, large, and giant organisations to continuously understand and improve the skills and mindset of their software developers, data engineers, and related staff. The cake underneath this cherry is that the platform is designed to put forward urgent social challenges as the grindstone to sharpen the skills and mindset of every single individual on the platform,” adds Lürling
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