The Gates Foundation and its partners announced the launch of NextLadder Ventures on Thursday, signaling their combined philanthropic investment effort to develop technologies for “frontline workers.” The group will invest $1 billion over the next 15 years, though the targeted group is not what many would expect.
The press release states that the founding group is “combining efforts to catalyze a thriving market that can attract ongoing investment in tools that ensure life’s pivotal moments don’t become permanent barriers to upward mobility.”
NextLadder Ventures will purportedly focus on helping nearly one-third of the US population ‘as well as the more than 1.6 million helpers like social workers, legal aid attorneys, and other frontline professionals.’
The Ballmer Group; the Gates Foundation; Stand Together, a nonprofit started by Kansas-based billionaire Charles Koch; the Valhalla Foundation, a group funded by Intuit billionaire Scott Cook; and John Overdeck are listed as founding members of the group.
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NextLadder Ventures will purportedly focus on helping nearly one-third of the U.S. population “as well as the more than 1.6 million helpers like social workers, legal aid attorneys, and other frontline professionals who guide people through critical life moments.”
It is unclear how they plan to reach over 90 million people through this program or why NextLadder Ventures considers social workers and lawyers to be “frontline professionals.”
NextLadder Ventures will initially be partnering with the AI group Anthropic to seek solutions for these “frontline workers.” The group’s AI is called Claude.
“Core to our mission is helping AI benefit humanity,” said Elizabeth Kelly, head of beneficial deployments at Anthropic. “This is exactly the kind of real-world impact we want to see — AI making essential services work better for the people who need them most.”
Ryan Rippel, who previously directed the Gates Foundation’s economic mobility and opportunity program, will serve as the CEO of NextLadder Ventures.
“To better serve those in need, we need new, practical pathways to opportunity that helps the helpers and the people they serve,” Rippel said in the press release.
This latest Gates initiative may raise some eyebrows given his own group’s questionable investments in the past.
Gates and his affiliates played a major role in funding the effort behind the COVID vaccines during the pandemic, partnering with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.
Gates has also invested heavily in African agriculture. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reportedly bought 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock, which equated to roughly $23 million. Monsanto is known for developing genetically modified seeds.
The foundation also invested in Cargill, another agricultural giant that was widely criticized by small farmers.
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Nextladder ventures, Bill gates, Charles koch, Anthropic ai, Valhalla foundation, Artificial intelligence, Gavi, Monsanto, Philanthropy, Politics
