Simba Jonga had access to leading artificial intelligence companies and world-class investors in Silicon Valley, but not to the ideal first customers for his company.
He found those customers back in Knoxville, where he graduated from the University of Tennessee in 2022 before attending Stanford University for graduate studies. His platform, an AI-driven app called Laborup, connects skilled manufacturing workers with employers who desperately need them.
The company has been called, by Jonga and others, the LinkedIn for blue-collar workers. For those who don’t prefer the term “blue-collar,” Laborup has another term for machine operators and welders: “America’s most critical workforce.”
Laborup app founder Simba Jonga, right, and founding engineer Michael Sandor work together at 121 Tech Hub in downtown Knoxville’s Old City on Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
Basing the tech startup in Knoxville made sense not only because it’s familiar to Jonga, but because of the potent combination of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority and UT, all of which work in tandem and attract advanced manufacturers in industries like aerospace and defense.
Laborup’s team of five full-time employees works out of the 121 Tech Hub, a co-working space that launched last year and has attracted several startups. In the six months since the company launched its platform for job seekers, more than 12,500 skilled manufacturers have created profiles. Many have landed jobs.
“One of our biggest advantages is we’re using software to do what humans do,” Jonga told Knox News.
The company uses AI voice models to interview job seekers and help them create a profile that showcases their skills.
One of its voices is named Suzanne after Suzanne Sawicki, a key mentor for Jonga at the Tickle College of Engineering at UT. After graduating with degrees in chemical engineering and economics, Jonga headed for California, where he studied AI through Stanford’s selective Knight-Hennessey Scholars program.
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Like many successful Stanford students before him, he put academics on hold to focus on his company last year. He founded Laborup in 2023, launched its platform for job seekers last year and launched its platform for employers this month.
Jonga, who immigrated with his family to the Nashville area from Cape Town, South Africa, as a teenager, helped create multiple startups as an undergraduate. A fellow Laborup founder and UT alumnus, Logan O’Neal, now works as a software engineer at Microsoft.
Using AI has not only helped workers on the platform but has ensured employers find the right people for their jobs. Steve Mullins, owner and president of Oak Ridge Tool-Engineering, was an early user and enthusiast.
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“His vetting process is second to none,” Mullins said of Jonga. “When somebody shows up looking for a job, they’re pretty well-vetted and ready to go to work for me.”
Jonga and the team of engineers and business managers at Laborup brought a taste of Silicon Valley to Knoxville. They often work late into the night and on weekends.
“They’re hustling. I mean, they’re after it,” said Mullins, whose machine shop creates highly complex parts for aerospace and defense companies. “If you’re expecting a phone call back from them, you’re going to get it. That’s very important when we’re trying to hire somebody.”
Laborup has saved all of its customers at least 50% per hire, Jonga said. While skilled manufacturing companies may spend between $10,000 and $30,000 and as long as three months per hire using traditional staffing agencies, Laborup can cut the cost at least in half and the time to just days.
As major nuclear companies like Kairos Power and Orano move to the region, manufacturers are scrambling to find qualified labor, Jonga said. It’s both a local and national problem the platform can address.
“Our ambitions are nationwide,” Jonga said. “There’s a mismatch between people’s skills and what they’re actually paid. And because of that, a lot of people are checking weekly what opportunities are out there.”
The app wants to start by scaling up its operations in Tennessee to around 100,000 workers before expanding to other states in the region. Around one in five skilled manufacturers in the Knoxville area use the platform.
Joshua Wilkes left a job in manufacturing to start his own company, SourceKrate. When he entered the job market again, he found traditional staffing sites and LinkedIn landed few successes for a skilled candidate without a college degree. Laborup was different.
“It just felt a lot more personal. It felt like there’s actually results. There’s actually dialogue there. And it wasn’t just endlessly sending resumes,” Wilkes, who secured a job at Vol Case and Container in Oak Ridge through Laborup, told Knox News. “It didn’t feel cluttered, and it didn’t feel like it was going to be full of fake job listings.”
The other group Laborup is making happy with the move to Knoxville is its own employees.
“I think people in San Francisco just keep to themselves a bit more,” said Michael Sandor, the company’s founding engineer and a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. “Everyone here in Knoxville is extremely friendly.”
Daniel Dassow is a growth and development reporter focused on technology and energy. Email: daniel.dassow@knoxnews.com. Signal: @danieldassow.24.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Laborup app founder brings Silicon Valley technology to Tennessee
