IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Learn Capital
Education
Health and Wellbeing
Workforce Development, Upskilling and RetrainingFirm Overview
Since its founding in 2009, Learn Capital has reached over one billion people across the globe through its investments, transforming access and quality metrics that underlie lifelong learning and gainful employment, health & well-being, reduced inequality, and economic growth — in sum, human flourishing. At Learn, we’ve found that the most disruptive innovations in access and quality simultaneously unlock both superior financial returns and human flourishing. With the largest edtech portfolio in the world, Learn Capital invests thematically. The Firm has a wide purview of companies that address all phases of life from early childhood to formal schooling years to corporate learning and then on to lifelong learning. Learn Capital aims to empower entrepreneurs and founders who are innovating new ways to radically enhance education and learning around the world.
Years of Operation: 10 years or more
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
Learn Capital aims to empower entrepreneurs and founders who are innovating new ways to radically enhance education around the world, targeting disruptive innovations in access and quality matrices that underlie lifelong learning and gainful employment, health & well-being, reduced inequality, and economic growth — in sum, human flourishing.
People are left out of the systems that give them the skills to transform their lives and of their children. We believe that technology and digitally enabled solutions are transformative in that they become more affordable as they scale. Portfolio companies’ primary beneficiaries are learners of all ages from young children to adults in the workforce and range in socioeconomic status. While portfolio companies target customer segments that promise a market size large enough to scale, a significant number serve low-income and underrepresented population groups. Looking ahead, Learn Capital aims to seek out investments in companies that will reach underserved populations in areas like early childhood education, peer-to-peer learning, and technical skills training to create a greater social and financial impact across the Fund V portfolio and the communities it reaches.
History: Learn Capital launched over a decade ago as the first venture capital firm dedicated to pure play investments in the global technology-enabled education sector. Over the past decade, Learn Capital has backed more sector $1B+ breakouts and emerging breakouts than any other venture capital firm globally, showcasing that venture-style returns can be achieved in the sector. GP Experience: Partners have extensive experience founding, raising capital for, and operating early-stage startups; significant operating experience in the education section (e.g., 6+ exits as founders with $2B+ in market value, $500M+ in VC raised as operators, 40+ collective years of prior VC experience). Deal Access: Track record of earning early priority access to the highest frequency of deals in the global sector and the most competitive deals (e.g. Learn has earlier or prioritized access to 75% of other funds’ companies)
Investment Example
NewGlobe is the world’s leading cloud-powered learning services provider for students living in emerging markets. NewGlobe partners with governments, communities, teachers and parents globally to deliver evidence-based quality education for primary and pre-primary school children living in emerging markets. Children from low-income countries consistently perform in the 3rd percentile compared to OECD countries, trapping them in a cycle of poverty. NewGlobe’s programming rapidly shrinks the educational gap between low- and high-income countries. A randomized control trial conducted by Nobel Prize-winning economist Michael Kremer illustrated that in just two years, NewGlobe generated learning gains equivalent to 1.5 additional years of schooling. On its current trajectory, NewGlobe’s programs are expected to boost a country’s national income by 5% within two years and generate an additional $175B on economic output by 2050.
Leadership and Team
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Greg Mauro – Managing Partner & Founder More Info
Greg Mauro is the Founder & Managing Partner at Learn Capital and oversees the investing practice of the firm. Greg previously managed an affiliate of Founders Fund and co-founded several venture-backed startups used by millions across the education, wireless, and media sectors. Greg has helped lead Learn investments in companies such as Coursera, Udemy, General Assembly, OnDeck, Ascent, Wave Neuro and MindPortal. Greg is the co-founder of Edmodo, the worlds largest social network for learning with over 100M users. Greg also helped incubate and co-found Higher Ground Education, the worlds largest Montessori operator, where he serves on the board and is the largest investor. |
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Rob Hutter – Managing Partner & Founder More Info
Rob Hutter is the Founder & Managing Partner at Learn Capital where he has focused on seed, early stage and emerging growth companies dedicated to the transformation of learning and the improvement of individual and societal capacities at scale. He currently serves on the board for a number of Learn Capital companies including Amplify, Photomath, Smashcut, Brilliant, Andela, Brainly and several other breakthrough firms. In addition to his work with edtech companies, he is a participant in two academic neuroscience organizations. |
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Evan Baehr – Managing Partner More Info
Evan Baehr is a serial founder of venture-backed startups, best-selling author, and father to four—so he’s often tired and/or caffeinated. Baehr is managing partner of Learn Capital. Previously he cofounded Able, a financial technology company backed by Mike Maples and Peter Thiel, which sold in 2017. Able served the ‘fortune 5,000,000’—the millions of small businesses that create two-thirds of all jobs in the United States—with low interest loans to help them grow. Forbes called Able “capitalism at its best.” |
Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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Pre-investment, we complete an impact due diligence questionnaire with each portfolio company to determine their current and anticipated capacity for measuring impact and how core it is to their business model. We then map every company in our portfolio to one or more SDGs based on their product or service, and consult with them to identify an impact thesis on how they will increase quality and/or access within their SDG. We also rely on qualitative elements to contextualize impact for some early-stage ventures that are not yet able to collect data. Our experience is that once we begin discussing impact with a management team, an impact strategy and objectives often become baked into the DNA of the company. As the Learn team monitors each company, financial profitability and impact topics are discussed in tandem and often in the same conversations.
At Learn Capital, we are committed to fostering partnerships in which everyone is empowered to develop, to contribute, and to succeed. We see diversity and inclusion as the right thing to do and, as we consider any new investment or partnership, we strive to attract, invest in, and develop the talents of diverse people who reflect the society and community in which we live and do business. Nearly all of our companies are engaged in DEI and have engaged their employees in building a culture of inclusion. As we continue to evolve our impact data collection process, we plan to begin requesting data from our portfolio companies that include information on their internal employment and governance practices. Some of these metrics include number of jobs created; diversity of staff, management, or board; and gender wage equity.
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
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