Pioneering Education and Workforce Investors Close $450 Million Fund to Tackle AI-Driven Labor Market Disruption

Backed by Cambridge Associates, JP Morgan Asset Management, and Prudential, among others, Achieve Partners' latest fund expands on its success building apprenticeships in talent-starved industries

NEW YORK, April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Achieve Partners today announced the close of Achieve Partners Workforce II, a $450 million fund designed to respond to AI's impact on the labor market and address talent shortages in the fastest-growing segments of the economy. Backed by institutional investment leaders including Cambridge Associates, JP Morgan Asset Management, Prudential, Ingka Investments, and ZOMA Capital, the new fund – more than double the size of Achieve Partners Workforce I – reflects a unique strategy to build apprenticeship programs to accelerate growth in sectors with talent shortages.

"Achieve is proving that private capital—paired with an innovative approach to talent—can drive meaningful economic mobility for American workers while delivering strong returns for investors," said Tyler Jayroe, Portfolio Manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management's Private Equity Group. "That combination is rare and increasingly valuable in an AI-enabled workplace."

The new fund arrives as artificial intelligence is reshaping the global economy at an unprecedented pace, eliminating some jobs, transforming others, and creating urgent demand for workers with AI-ready skills. Built to respond to – and anticipate – the needs of a fast-changing and increasingly AI-dependent labor market, Achieve's model focuses on transforming its companies into engines of new AI talent.

Achieve Workforce I has delivered significant returns on the strength of this strategy. As of September 30, 2025, Achieve Partners Workforce Fund I was in the top quartile of the Cambridge Associates U.S. Buyouts benchmark across net DPI, TVPI, and IRR metrics and in the top 5% for DPI. Workforce I has announced three exits, including the recent agreement to sell Optimum Healthcare IT to Infosys for $465M.

"Throughout history, every technological revolution has created more jobs. While AI will cause immense disruption, it will also reward companies that can effectively deploy talent to succeed in a technology-enabled environment," said Daniel Pianko, co-founder of Achieve Partners. "This is about helping companies develop AI-enabled workforces at scale — and in the process, putting thousands of Americans on new pathways to economic mobility."

The foundation of Achieve Partners' approach is apprenticeship, the earn-and-learn model that generates a 144 percent return-on-investment for businesses that hire apprentices, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Achieve will deploy capital from the fund in high-growth, talent-starved sectors including behavioral health, biotech, cloud migration, data centers, and energy, with the aim of building and scaling apprenticeship programs in each acquired company.

"Private equity has spent the last decade asking how technology can replace workers. Our approach is rooted in a different question: how do you build the talent that makes technology actually work?" said Ryan Craig, co-founder of Achieve Partners and author of Apprentice Nation and A New U: Faster + Cheaper Alternatives to College, which address the need for new models of talent development to meet changing labor market demand. "AI will always fail without the people to deploy it, manage it, and build on top of it. Building that talent is good for the companies who commit to it and good for the country."

"At Ingka Investments, we support innovative projects that create a better everyday life for many people," said Samuel Rundle, Head of Financial Markets Investments at Ingka. "Achieve Partners' focus on apprenticeships offers a smart way to develop talent, providing valuable career paths and building strong businesses, especially as AI reshapes our world. It's a testament to how practical learning can lead to both great opportunities and impressive growth."

About Achieve Partners
Achieve Partners is engineering the future of learning and earning by investing in cutting-edge technologies and novel business models to bolster skill development and secure the future of work for millions of Americans. By harnessing digital transformation to build new models for learning and new pathways to good jobs, Achieve is helping to level the playing field, improve socioeconomic mobility, and rekindle the American Dream.
www.achievepartners.com

SOURCE Achieve Partners