Elise Smith is the co-founder and CEO of Praxis Labs, a learning and development company that uses immersive learning experiences and actionable insights to advance equity and inclusion for its clients. Prior to Praxis Labs, Smith invested in and coached entrepreneurs developing diversity and inclusion solutions at NewSchools Venture Fund and developed ed-tech products and led ed-tech partnerships at IBM Watson. She holds a B.A. in geography and social inequity from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. and M.A. in education from Stanford University. Inspired by her parents' fight for educational equity, Smith is dedicated to scaling access and opportunity with the goal of creating a more equitable society

When Elise Smith co-founded DEI learning platform Praxis Labs in 2019, she wasn't trying to gain fame. She was trying to level the corporate ecosystem. 

Smith and her co-founder, Heather Shen, designed New York City-based Praxis Labs to use mixed reality technology to train users to face a host of workplace scenarios, from presenting projects to navigating watercooler conversations. Praxis Labs has raised $18.7 million in venture capital to date: The company hosted a seed round in February 2021 that raised $3.2 million, and in October of the same year, Praxis raised $15.5 million through a Series A round. In June 2023, Accenture announced it was making an investment of an undisclosed amount. 

Smith's funding accomplishments have garnered her press buzz, landing her spotlights in Essence, Afrotech, and Marie Claire over the past year and a half. And for good reason: According to Digitalundivided's Project Diane, a biannual report on funding for Latina and Black entrepreneurs in technology, Smith has raised the most funds out of the approximately 750 founders tracked by the report.