Its niche because the idea can be easily replicated by the incumbents in the industry. And it will be hard to scale at a global scale because the perception about ex-cons varies a lot in different countries.

As such the profits wont be able to keep up with VCs expectations if they invest 100s of millions of dollars. OP has a great first mover advantage and knowledge of the market, and they can capitalize that but the idea isn't worth billions.

Because this 30% can't hire themselves, and they need companies to participate. This is a two-sided market, and "Companies willing to go out of their way to hire more felons" _is_ something of a niche market (unfortunately, given that the status quo is probably significant underhiring of people with records, to everyone's detriment).