🌷 Our April Update: A New Work Identity?
Hi all,
We hope you are enjoying longer days and a bit of ☀️ sunshine!
It’s been another busy month, including travels and events in several European and US cities. In between, Easter 🐣 has come and gone, we really hope you managed to squeeze in a bit of a break over the holidays. Now it’s back to work - but is the way we are working about to change completely? Check out our blog on how AI may reshape skilled corporate work below!
Thanks for reading our update, which this month includes:
Selected News from the Portfolio – Impressive recognition for Visibly and YouSchool
Insights – Is the future of high-skilled, corporate work fractional/ part-time?
Events – EU-Startups Summit this week
Happy Thursday!
Best,
Team Brighteye
📣 SELECTED NEWS FROM THE PORTFOLIO
🏗️ Visibly on European Top 100 Cloud list
Big congrats to Visibly 🇬🇧 on making it onto Notion VC’s “Cloud Challengers Top 100 Report,” recently published for the fourth time, aiming “to identify the very best early stage business software start-ups in Europe.”
Visibly is rebuilding regulated training for the infrastructure sector from the ground up, focusing on competence, not classrooms, so frontline workforces get training that adapts to their individual capabilities and translates to the world around them.
Getting on this list helps recognise the team’s hard work “to give safety teams the support they actually need,” in Founder and CEO Kane’s words – well done Visibly!
🗺️ YouSchool on France’s Mapping Impact 2025
Well done, YouSchool 🇫🇷, for being included in the France Mapping Impact 2025. Done every year by France Digitale, Bpifrance Le Hub et le Mouvement Impact France, the Mapping highlights more than 1 200 startups whose core activity generates a positive, measurable and significant impact on society or the environment.
YouSchool is an online school for regulated blue-collar service industries. Being on this list of startups in impact is a great recognition of their commitment to inclusion, the digitalisation of learning, and social innovation.
🔎 INSIGHTS
✂️ Is the future of high-skilled, corporate work fractional/part-time?
In this recent blog, Rhys Spence thought about how AI could reshape skilled corporate work, not by replacing it, but by reconfiguring it.
A few core ideas:
🔹 AI as a force multiplier: High-skilled professionals may not be replaced, but augmented, freeing them to focus on uniquely human strengths
🔹 Rise of fractional work: As AI handles more operational load, demand for part-time, high-impact contributors could grow
🔹 Changing incentives: Professionals may seek out more flexible roles, prioritising autonomy and balance over traditional full-time positions
🔹 A new work identity: We may see a shift from company-centric careers to portfolio-based careers, where individuals apply their expertise across multiple contexts
🔹 Implications for education & training: Continuous learning and adaptability will matter more than ever
This isn’t just about efficiency... it’s about rethinking the structure of skilled work itself...
📊 Beyond NPS: Why evidence-led thinking matters
At Brighteye, we back ambitious founders building products that aim to drive real, measurable change. But one challenge we see time and again is demonstrating that impact, especially in a way that resonates with customers, and with investors. This is particularly true for companies in the early years, K12 and Higher Education.
In her latest guest piece on our Sidekick resource hub, Libby Hills from the Jacobs Foundation explores why relying solely on Net Promoter Score (NPS) just isn’t enough...
The real unlock? Embedding research and evidence-gathering into your strategy from day one...
💡 Highlights:
➡️ Why impact needs more than anecdotes and single metrics
➡️ How the right data, collected at the right time, can validate your mission
➡️ Practical advice for founders building in high-trust sectors like education and health
If you're a startup aiming to prove value and drive outcomes, this is essential reading!
📕 The EU AI Act Uncovered - Part II
❮❮How do we regulate something as transformative, versatile, and fast-evolving as artificial intelligence without stifling the very innovation we hope to cultivate?❯❯
The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act is set to influence the global 🌏 AI landscape - but how did it come together behind the scenes?
Across two Brighteye Sidekick guest blogs,Gabriele Mazzini, who was closely involved in the drafting and development of the Act, shares his views on how the legislation came together, where it goes too far and where it holds promise.In Part 𝟮, you can read his take on the central question he “spent a significant amount of time grappling with.”
🔗 Click image ⬇️ for the full story:
🎙️ The Sidekick Podcast - Season 1 completed
Earlier this year we proudly launched the Sidekick Podcast - where our Principal David presents a host of short recordings on building and growing your startups. The full Season 1 is now out, covering episodes on Hiring, Costcutting, M&As and crafting Investor updates - to mention a few.
🎪 EVENTS
Happening now and coming up…
🇪🇺 EU-Startups Summit this week
We are doing some learning & connecting at the EU-Startups Summit in Malta this week, Thursday 24 - Friday 25 April. Let our Head of Community Hege know if you’re around and free for a chat about helping people learn, work and thrive – and don’t miss our Brighteye Ventures intro on stage on Friday, 25 April!
🪑 15M Users and an Exit - Fireside chat
Join Novabook and Brighteye Ventures for an exclusive chat with Stephen Wilks, co-founder of Seneca Learning (exited) and Novabook - a second-time founder who's been there, done that, and has the stories to prove it. Stephen and his team scaled EdTech platform Seneca Learning to 15M users in just six years, resulting in an eight-figure exit with GoStudent. Discover hard-earned insights, gain practical takeaways and connect with founders in the same space.
Looking back …
🥑 Female VC Breakfast Berlin
We loved Co-hosting a Female VC Breakfast in Berlin early this month, where our Associate Isabella Vahdati partnered with Alena Redeker at Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund on inviting a group of investors to kick the day off. We’ve hosted similar events in London, with a great turnout and 💥 energy – and the Berlin one was another event full of great connections and conversations. Look out for more to come!
🇮🇹 Young VC Spritz in Rome
Early April also saw our team visiting Rome, where Ghita Targhi and Alfredo Catalano got a group of young VCs together for an informal networking session. We enjoyed connecting with the community – there will, for sure, be more of these to come, too!
💻 AI for L&D Leaders Sessions wrap
Earlier this week we hosted the final event in our AI for L&D and People Leaders, concluding a series of 4 intense Sessions designed to help understand and get practical learnings from our experts on how to integrate and make the most of AI within your organisation’s Learning & Development function. Thanks to all who have been part of making these sessions interactive and productive - write-ups to follow shortly!
🌏 VC Platform Community Global Summit
We had a productive few days at the VC Platform Community Global Summit in Miami 🌴 – where Hege from our Platform team was learning and exchanging best practices and experience around portfolio support, community, events and communications with the best crowd of 500+ Platform people from VC Funds across the world. Fantastic format, content and people!
🎓 Our Annual Minerva Visit
Getting a late March 🍃 visit from a group of Minerva University students has become a tradition at our Notting Hill office! Isabella Vahdati & Hege Tollerud spent a morning talking to the cohort from the University’s Graduate Program in Decision Analysing about working in VC and backing companies that help people learn, work and thrive. Thanks for bringing your students once again! ☀️
