Education Portfolio Highlights
With our investments in the education market, we seek to improve teacher effectiveness and boost student outcomes. The success and impact of these investments led Jed Smith to co-found Owl Ventures, a venture firm focused on partnering with and scaling the leading education technology companies across the education spectrum. Here are a few other select examples of the work we’ve supported in the education space.
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EdSurge
What they do
Founded in 2011 as a single newsletter, EdSurge grew into a full newsroom with a research division, a podcast, a jobs board, and an index of education technology tools. The platform shares stories that elevate the voices and experiences of educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, and other stakeholders working to support equitable opportunities for all learners. With its award-winning journalism, research, and analysis, EdSurge is at the forefront of reporting on changes in education—and their consequences.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in EdSurge to help bridge the information gaps that often exist between those who drive change in education and those they serve.
Results
In 2019, EdSurge was acquired by the International Society for Technology in Education, a nonprofit membership organization for educators.
Linden Lab
What they do
Founded in 1999, Linden Lab is a leader in creating virtual worlds and experiences. Product highlights include Second Life, the pioneering virtual world that’s been enjoyed by millions of people and seen billions of dollars transacted among users in its economy; Blocksworld, a lighthearted build-and-play system on the iPad for kids and grownups alike; Sansar, a platform for creating social virtual reality (VR) experiences, making it easy for people to create, share, and sell their own social VR experiences; and Tilia, a registered money services business and fully licensed money transmitter that powers virtual economies.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in Linden Lab in support of its mission to create spaces where users could innovate and learn to craft powerful virtual experiences.
Results
In 2020, Linden Lab was acquired by Waterfield Groups, a financial services company.
MasteryConnect
What they do
MasteryConnect is a K-12 assessment and curriculum platform supporting educators as they drive student growth through formative and benchmark assessment, curriculum planning, and collaboration. With MasteryConnect, teachers can identify levels of understanding in the moment through a variety of assessments, immediately target interventions and evaluate their practice.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in MasteryConnect to support the shift in education from end-of-year assessments to real-time information about what students are learning relative to standards.
Results
MasteryConnect was acquired by Instructure (INST), an education technology company in 2019.
Panorama Education
What they do
Panorama Education is a technology platform that brings together social-emotional learning, a multi-tiered system of supports, response to intervention, school climate, and a student's voice to uncover actionable data and insights on the whole child, school, and district.
Why we partnered with them
Jed led this investment at Owl Ventures and served on its board of directors to support Panorama’s team of educators, engineers, designers, and researchers in their mission to improve K-12 student outcomes by helping schools and districts act on data.
Results
Panorama has helped more than 12 million K-12 students across 50 states and 21,000 schools achieve better student outcomes. Panorama was ranked the #1 social emotional learning measurement tool in a report from Tyton Partners and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
PresenceLearning
What they do
PresenceLearning is the leading provider of live online special education-related services to K-12 schools nationwide. The award-winning teletherapy platform provides students access to licensed clinical professionals who work with them face-to-face via secure, live, online video sessions. Over the years, their services have grown to include speech-language therapy, behavioral and mental health therapy, occupational therapy, and assessments. They also offer a vast library of therapy activities, and detailed progress monitoring and tracking tools.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in PresenceLearning to ensure that all public school students with Individualized Education Programs or behavioral mental health needs get the critical services they need and are entitled to.
Results
In 2021, PresenceLearning acquired Global Teletherapy, the leading teletherapy service provider to virtual K-12 schools. Spectrum Equity, a leading growth equity firm, and The Rise Fund, TPG’s multi-sector global impact investing strategy, also acquired a majority stake in the company. PresenceLearning has delivered more than 3 million teletherapy sessions across the globe with more than 1500 licensed clinicians.
RaiseLabs
What they do
Founded in 2012, RaiseMe is a social enterprise focused on expanding access to higher education, especially among low-income and first-generation students. The online platform partners with universities to offer students scholarships for their achievements during high school and community college. Starting as early as ninth grade, students earn scholarships from colleges for doing all the things that best prepare them to succeed: getting good grades, volunteering in the community, or participating in other extracurricular activities.
Why we partnered with them
Jed led this investment at Owl Ventures and served on its board of directors to support their mission of expanding access to higher education so that every student has a shot at the American Dream.
Results
Over a million students have signed up to earn 'micro-scholarships' from a diverse set of colleges and universities, including Northeastern, Colby, Penn State, Michigan State, Tulane, and Rollins College. There are 25,000+ high schools with students on RaiseMe, 330+ college partners, and the average annual scholarship earned on RaiseMe is $5k.
Revolution Foods
What they do
Revolution Foods expanded from transforming the way it feeds students across the nation to transforming citywide wellness by making healthy, great-tasting food accessible to all. Now, in addition to supporting students and their families, Revolution Foods provides snacks and meals to food banks, senior and community feeding centers, and homeless shelters—in 23 states. In response to COVID-19, they expanded their focus to closing the healthy food gap in underserved communities.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in Revolution Foods because of its vision and passion to ignite a healthy food revolution, starting with providing equal access to healthy food for all school children.
Results
As a Certified B Corporation, Revolution Foods is setting the national standard for school nutrition with clean, high-quality ingredients and culturally relevant meals. Since its inception, they have designed and produced 470 million meals for communities nationwide. They serve an average of 2 million meals and snacks weekly and have 2,500 school, city, and customer sites, in 564 cities and towns.
TenMarks
What they do
Created by teachers for teachers, TenMarks was founded on the principle that immediate feedback helps deepen conceptual understanding, leading to better outcomes. They created an approachable learning platform that provides tools that personalize learning, drives engagement, and saves teachers’ time on grading and lesson planning.
Why we partnered with them
We invested in the TenMarks education technology because of its potential to change the way students from across diverse socio-economic environments learn.
Results
Schools and families from 125 countries used TenMarks as a supplement to classroom instruction, positively impacting the lives of millions of students. The company was acquired by Amazon in 2013.
