New Markets Venture Partners

Education and workforce technology companies are the sole focus of New Markets Venture Partners, which says it has worked in the field for more than twenty years. Its premise is a theory of change that positive social impact and market-rate returns can go together, and it describes its investors as double bottom line investors who want both. The firm traces the start of its impact work to the socially responsible investing movement of the 1990s.

Who it invests in

The firm looks for growth-stage companies. It invests at the Series A stage and beyond, once a company has shown product-market fit, and it wants healthy gross margins and a scalable model, quick growth and an experienced management team. It also requires proven solutions and expects its companies to track whether their work is effective. The mission-driven businesses it favors remove obstacles and improve pathways to prosperity for most Americans, with particular attention to those most at risk, including low-income, minority and underserved workers and students.

Bridging education and employment

A recurring theme in the firm's writing is closing the gap between what students learn and what employers need. It sees an opportunity in aligning classroom teaching with workplace skills through approaches such as competency-based learning, and in companies that prepare people for work. Its team publishes commentary on trends in education and workforce technology investing, and a podcast on impact investing that looks at the ideas behind seeking returns in training and education companies in rising American cities.

Team and partners

The firm describes an investment and operations team whose members bring from ten to more than thirty years of institutional investing experience, supported by an advisory board of more than thirty thought leaders and operators from education and the workforce sector. Strategic partners include foundations, non-profit organizations, government bodies and corporations, which, together with its limited partners, contribute industry insight and deal flow to portfolio companies. Entrepreneurs are asked to read the material on the website about what the firm looks for before they get in touch, because different kinds of inquiry go to different places.