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Recruiting, investing, training and test prep are more effective thanks to the software created by these four American Underground startups. Their founders pitched the businesses earlier this year at the startup campus's weekly "HelpFest" event and fielded questions from their peers. Learn more in the videos below:

Trill Financial

This financial technology startup was founded by a group of developers who've all done algorithmic stock trading and made money doing it. Now they are making the artificial intelligence used by top tier investment firms to get 20 to 40 percent annualized returns available to average financial advisors and eventually to consumers.   

They mine data from websites, news articles and SEC corporate filings and combine it with global macro data to fuel a deep learning engine that analyzes stocks and makes recommendations for investors. B2B is the focus today, but Trill hopes to launch a consumer version and eventually, start its own fund. Watch this pitch by co-founder Akash Ganapathi for more:

Trill Financial is a Launch Chapel Hill graduate that is applying machine learning to the stock market, giving average people and investment advisors more information so they can actively invest their money in the markets. Co-founder Akash Ganapathi pitched the startup at American Underground in January 2016.

Testive

Using algorithms developed at MIT, this SAT/ACT test prep startup uses software to help coaches be "superhuman" for their students. Founded by Tom Rose, a behavioral scientist who has invested years studying 16-year-olds, Testive adapts its lessons to overcome their lack of discipline, helping increase test scores by huge percentages. Testive raised $2.1 million last year from dozens of investors, including four local firms.

Learn more about the company's methodology and business plan here:

Testive founder Tom Rose shares about his test prep startup, which includes both software and human coaches to drastically improve SAT/ACT scores. He pitched at American Underground in January 2016.

RetainEd

Serial entrepreneurs Danvers Fleury and Adam Schultz of Verified Studios are working on a mobile learning retention platform that lets people master topics over time with daily challenges delivered via an app. The problem they are trying to solve is the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of corporate training, an industry that's worth about $120 billion annually.  According to Fleury in the video below, "Training is broken and generally doesn't work ever."

Watch the pitch for how they plan to make it better:

Serial entrepreneurs Danvers Fleury and Adam Schultz are working on a solution to the ineffectiveness of corporate training. They pitched the startup, called RetainEd, at American Underground in February 2016.

Hiregrid

Founded by a guy experienced in the field of recruiting, Hiregrid helps companies analyze which of their talent recruitment strategies are working best and then suggests ways to improve job descriptions and applications to improve results. Founder Joel McLean shares his vision for HIregrid in the pitch below:

Joel McLean, founder and CEO of HireGrid, pitches his recruiting analytics software at American Underground in February 2016. HireGrid helps companies analyze which of their talent recruitment strategies are working best and then suggests ways to improve job descriptions and applications to improve results.

Laura Baverman

Editor

Laura Baverman manages the day-to-day at ExitEvent, writing and editing stories, lining up contributors and representing us in the community. She also works as a USA Today columnist, writing the Startups and Entrepreneurs column every other week in print and online. Laura has spent a decade in journalism, most of those years as a business reporter in her hometown Cincinnati. Her Ohio roots run deep, but she's learning to love the South. Especially sun, all months of the year.

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