San-Francisco based Nana Technologies, a free online vocational school Nana Academy and appliance repair marketplace, raised US$6 million in seed funding on 12 November 2020.
The funding round was led by Shripriya Mahesh of Spero Ventures. Other participants include Jeff Weiner’s Next Play Ventures, Lachy Groom, Scott Belsky, Geoff Donaker of Burst Capital and Michael Staton of Learn Capital among others. Nana has now raised $10.7 million, with past backers including Alpha Bridge Ventures, Bob Lee and the Uber Syndicate, an investment vehicle to back Uber alums in new ventures.
Nana will utilize the funds to help address the massive shortage of skilled trade labour in the U.S. and up-skill the people who have lost their jobs as a result of tech automation.
About Nana
Founded in 2017 by David Zamir, Nana is a free online vocational school for appliance repair that helps graduates get jobs and then helps them build their career through an AI-powered marketplace platform. It is headquartered in San Francisco and operates in 12 markets across the U.S.
With tech automation, skilled labour is in high demand, but the current workforce isn’t equipped to meet it. The U.S. is also dealing with massive unemployment and underemployment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nana is therefore creating a pipeline of skilled tradespeople to meet the demand and providing opportunities to millions of unemployed individuals across the country.
“There are 5.9 million tons of municipal solid waste in the U.S. and only 50% of that is capable of getting recycled. We’re in a vicious cycle with appliances, and it’s partly because there aren’t enough people with the knowledge to repair them. But what if you had the liquidity to do that? We’re talking about creating jobs, but also saving the environment”, said David Zamir.
Nana’s courses start with free lessons to fix a range of appliances like dishwashers, refrigerators, ovens, stoves, washers and dryers and their typical breakdown/poor performance issues to anyone who wants to know how to repair them.
Nana has partnerships with the major appliance and warranty companies, including GE, Miele, Samsung, Assurant, Cinch and First American Home Warranty. It also accepts direct requests from consumers for the repair of dishwashers, refrigerators, ovens, stoves, washers and dryers.
Nana has to date registered hundreds of technicians in 12 markets across the U.S. and expects to expand to 20 markets by the end of 2021.
According to Nana’s estimates, the appliance repair market is a US$ 4 billion opportunity, with some 80 million appliances in need of being serviced annually in the U.S. But currently, there are only some 31,000 trained technicians in the market. It estimates that to meet the demand of growing numbers, an additional 28,000 new technicians will be needed by 2025.
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