Emerge sells online job training to the government. For example, Connecticut has allocated $840K to pay Emerge to train 140 incarcerated people to become truck drivers. The US government allocates ~$10 billion in job training funds every year, which is distributed to state and local governments, and eventually paid off to small brick-and-mortar job training programs, with horrible track records. In just three months since launch, we’ve already signed $2.25 million in LOIs with three cities. Our first deal for $82.5K / month starts next week. Each year, more than 600,000 individuals are released from state and federal prisons. Another nine million are released from local jails. Yet, a year after reentry, 60% of formerly incarcerated people remain unemployed. The success of Emerge creates a win-win-win situation: (1) jobs for reentrants, (2) workers for labor-starved industries, and (3) reduction in crime and recidivism.
Co-founder. In 2022, Zo and Gabe co-founded Ameelio, a tech nonprofit that builds education and communication products for prisons. While scaling Ameelio, they stumbled upon the issue of unemployment post-incarceration which Emerge seeks to address. Zo holds a Masters degree in Criminology from the University of Cambridge, and a JD-MBA from Yale Law School and Yale School of Management.
Co-founder. In 2020, Gabe and Zo co-founded Ameelio, a tech nonprofit that builds education and communication tools for prisons. While scaling Ameelio, they stumbled upon the issue of unemployment post-incarceration which Emerge Career seeks to address. Previously, he was a YC intern and the first product manager at Zippi (YC19). Gabe is a Yale grad, where he co-founded an organization connecting refugees with their new communities, and built an app to assist homeless communities in New Haven.