Reports

Automation and artificial intelligence may create as many jobs as they replace. Is our workforce ready? In June 2018 Village Capital and Autodesk Foundation brought together startups, investors, business leaders, and academics for a daylong discussion about how startups can harness automation as a positive force for the workers of the future.

We’re never going to stop moving: transporting people, food and other goods from place to place. But we can get smarter about it. In the past century we’ve evolved from steam engines to gas-guzzling carburetors to electric motors, and now we’re putting those electric motors in the sky. We’re re-learning how to recycle things, and finding new ways to conserve energy.

Fintech in Africa is evolving quickly. Today, there are hundreds of fintech startups across the continent – but how has the sector changed in recent years? For our latest Fintech Africa program, we selected twelve startups that are building on top of the strong infrastructure of payments technology. We saw entrepreneurs building solutions for a population that is living longer, entering the middle class, and rethinking the way they finance sectors like agriculture and retail.

In 2016 we launched VilCap Communities, a 26-city pilot to license our curriculum and investment model to accelerators, incubators and investors around the globe. This report compiles lessons learned, based on survey data and interviews with >100 ecosystem leaders and entrepreneurs.