Kelly Services Inc. (NASD: KELYA) launched a new fund, the Kelly Innovation Fund, to invest in workforce solutions companies. The fund made its first investment in Indianapolis-based tech apprenticeship program Kenzie Academy.

The investment in Kenzie, led by ReThink Education, totaled $4.2 million. The size of Kelly’s portion of the investment wasn’t disclosed.

Kenzie Academy’s college-alternative model combines one year of immersive learning with one year of paid work in Kenzie Studio, the company’s tech consulting subsidiary, providing students with work experience before they graduate. Kenzie Studio’s senior technologists oversee junior student consultants, delivering mid- to senior-level work product to clients.

Kelly’s fund looks for the following in potential investments:

• Innovations that help workers be more efficient using wearables and novel learning, training and credentialing models
• Innovations helping millennials (and future generations) transition to the world of work through new models of work, new employee benefits and new engagement tools
• Innovations facilitating new workstyles including independent and gig workers
• Innovations enabling the work to be more efficient by automating repetitive tasks using AI, robotics, data analytics and other technologies

Kenzie CEO Chok Leang Ooi told VentureBeat that Kenzie Academy decided on Indianapolis for its first program because it anticipates that San Francisco Bay Area companies will start to look toward the middle of the US for talent.