Investment Notes: NextWork

We're excited to share that Blackbird has participated in NextWork's recent US$4.45M seed round, led by Shakti VC, with participation from Cake Ventures and repeat investors GD1, Icehouse Ventures, Phase One Ventures and angels. This marks our second investment in Amber Winton and the NextWork team, who are building the verification layer for the AI skills economy.

When content is commodity, proof is everything 

AI is remaking the workforce at breakneck speed. The half-life of skills is shrinking. Millions of professionals need to upskill in AI, cloud and automation tools. Yet the systems that verify capability remain stuck in a world of credentials rather than demonstrated ability.

NextWork closes this gap by serving as the verification layer for AI skills, shifting hiring and learning from inferred qualifications to proven outcomes. Through hands-on projects, authenticated skills and public portfolios, NextWork turns learning into verifiable proof of work, enabling individuals and employers to move at the pace AI demands with confidence.

Since launching in 2024, more than 190,000 learners across 190+ countries have used NextWork to build practical AI projects: chatbots, automated workflows, cloud infrastructure; using their portfolios to pursue promotion or career transition.

Two structural shifts underpin the opportunity:

Content is a commodity: AI has made information abundant. The bottleneck is skill acquisition, not access to knowledge.

Skills are harder to verify: As AI tools proliferate, traditional testing and credentialing lose signal. Anyone can generate impressive-sounding outputs. What matters is who can actually build.

NextWork's response is to build an AI-native platform that turns learning into verifiable proof-of-work. Learners complete hands-on projects and publish authenticated portfolios. The platform tracks granular user interactions - from highlights to submissions - moving toward a behavioural layer of skill verification.

If successful, NextWork becomes more than an education company. It becomes the infrastructure for hiring in the age of AI.

Backing Amber and the 30-year vision

This investment reflects our conviction in Amber Winton.

Amber is building with a mult-decade horizon: a world where learning is tied directly to solving real problems, and where portfolios replace resumes. Few founders articulate such an ambitious vision with such clarity.

Her ability to attract and inspire talent is increasingly evident. Maximus joined from Zuru and has built a growth machine. Natasha, fresh out of university has her finger prints across every element of the business, ops, content, community and increasingly product.

The team culture is cult-like. The entire company has relocated to Austin to accelerate US expansion.

A verification layer for the AI age

NextWork's ambition is to become the verification layer for skills in the AI economy.

Today, the focus is AI, cloud and software engineering. Tomorrow, this model could extend to renewable energy engineering and other hard-skill domains.

For anyone looking to upskill in AI, check out NextWork's roadmaps at nextwork.org.

We're excited to continue partnering with Amber and the NextWork team as they work to realign learning, work and value around what people can actually build.

James and Phoebe 

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