A shipped product, an exclusive five-year NAPA distribution partnership, and an industry Blue Seal of Excellence. Now Skillmaker is taking its platform to other trades that keep the economy running.
For more information, visit www.skillmaker.ai and www.NAPAXcceleratoR.com
WILMINGTON, N.C. — June 9, 2026 – Skillmaker, the AI-native workforce development platform for the skilled trades, today announced the close of its oversubscribed $4.5 million Seed round — capital that arrives at a milestone rare at this stage: a product already shipping across early deployments, and recognized by the industry’s leading standards and certification body.
Skillmaker has built and deployed the NAPA Autotech XcceleratoR through an exclusive five-year distribution agreement with Genuine Parts Company (NYSE: GPC) and National Automotive Parts Association (NAPA),the largest automotive aftermarket ecosystem in North America. The platform has earned the Blue Seal of Excellence from the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and is now deployed across more than 20 states. Its full commercial release follows at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas, November 3–6, 2026, the world’s largest automotive trade show.
“AI, used the right way, gives the American worker superpowers. We’re compressing years of training into weeks, making every technician more productive on day one, and giving skilled labor the respect and leverage it deserves.”
A New Standard for the Trades
Skillmaker’s first white-labeled product, built in collaboration with NAPA, runs on the company’s proprietary Assess, Accelerate, Assist framework: first-person simulations delivered through XR goggles and smart glasses, paired with real-time AI guidance that coaches technicians in the flow of work. The result compresses onboarding from years to weeks and lifts productivity from a technician’s first day in the bay, attacking the costliest problem in the trades head-on. Early adopters include Black’s Tire & Auto Service across the Carolinas and Southeastern Community College, with dealer groups, independent shops, and workforce institutions onboarding through 2026.
Backed for the Scale of the Problem
According to the TechForce Foundation, the automotive industry alone needs nearly one million new technicians through 2028, while post-secondary programs supply just 59 percent of annual demand. Skillmaker’s investors see the platform as one of the most credible paths to closing that skilled worker gap at scale.
“We don’t have a shortage of ASE techs — we have a crisis. Skillmaker is poised to solve it while being uniquely positioned to monetize the opportunity.”
The round attracted a distinguished group of investors spanning workforce development, education, enterprise technology, and venture capital, reflecting broad confidence in Skillmaker’s vision and market opportunity. Participants included IDEA Fund Partners, Cape Fear Ventures, Potencia Ventures, Strada Education Foundation, StartEd, Camden James Ventures, FullCircle, Workshop Venture Partners, NC Tweener Fund, NC State’s Wolfpack Investor Network, WALE and a select group of strategic angel investors, including Allan Cantle, founder of Nallasway, Inc., Lee Prevost, co-founder of SchoolDude (later Dude Solutions), and energy and utilities entrepreneur Lelon Winstead.
Collectively, the investor group brings deep expertise across workforce development, education technology, enterprise software, skilled trades, and company building, providing strategic relationships, industry knowledge, and operational experience that extend well beyond capital to support Skillmaker’s ambitions.
“We invest in companies that use technology to expand opportunity, not just efficiency, and Skillmaker is doing exactly that for the skilled trades. It gives workers real agency over their careers and a faster path to economic mobility, which is the kind of impact we exist to fund.”
“The buildout underway in energy and data center infrastructure will demand millions of skilled workers this country does not yet have. Skillmaker’s platform can address exactly that, which is why I keep backing this visionary team.”
From One Trade to Every Trade
The new capital will expand Skillmaker’s automotive deployments across NAPA’s network, deepen its AI curriculum and product capabilities, grow its development and go-to-market teams, and extend the platform into adjacent skilled trades. To lead that expansion, founding partner Camden Weis has stepped into a full-time role as Chief Revenue Officer, owning go-to-market strategy, enterprise partnerships, and
revenue operations.
“Customers and workforce partners keep telling us the same thing: reduce onboarding time, support technicians in the flow of work, and scale capability faster than traditional models can and that’s exactly what we’re delivering. The future of work isn’t about replacing the American worker, it’s about equipping them with the tools to thrive. Our vision is to bring that to every trade that keeps this country running.”
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