PLATO Testing Receives $500,000 Investment
FREDERICTON – PLATO Testing, Canada’s only Indigenous-led and staffed software testing company, received a $500,000 investment from Raven Indigenous Capital Partners.
The funding from the investment will be used to support the training and employment of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students as software testers.
“Since inception, PLATO has demonstrated a singular commitment to lifting up Indigenous Peoples by providing low barrier pathways to skills development and careers in the technology sector,” said Jeff Cyr, Managing Partner of Raven Indigenous Capital Partners in a release. “Raven is excited to support the next phase of PLATO’s growth and development as it scales across Canada.”
PLATO provides training and employment for Indigenous peoples across Canada and with the investment, they hope to continue to expand to other regions of the country. They currently have offices in Fredericton, Miramichi, Sault Ste. Marie, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver.
“While PLATO was developed in response to the 92nd Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action on jobs and training, it’s always been about more than that,” said PLATO CEO and founder Keith McIntosh in a release.
“Representation matters and we have seen time and time again that when you provide the next generation with leaders in their own communities who have gone into a new industry and excelled, they are inspired to go even further.”
PLATO continued to provide training throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with hybrid online/in-person classes beginning in Sault Ste. Marie and Regina.
The program gives students five months of training on the fundamentals of software testing and then a three-month internship with one of Canada’s leading corporations.
After the program, students are guaranteed full-time stable jobs with PLATO Testing. Their goal is to create a network of 1000 Indigenous software testers across Canada.
“Keith’s commitment to growing Indigenous participation in tech continues to have a profound impact on not only the people he employs and their families and communities but on long-held mainstream beliefs about who Indigenous people are and where we belong,” said Tabatha Bull, President and CEO, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business. “He is dismantling some of the harmful narratives that have kept Indigenous people from taking their rightful place in the Canadian economy.”
Liam Floyd is a reporter for Huddle. Send him story suggestions: [email protected].