London-based VC firm Emerge has raised £56 million in its second fund. Investors in Fund II include KfW Capital, Laerdal Invest, Jacobs Foundation, and Southern New Hampshire University. The second fund more than triples the investment from its first, bringing Emerge’s total assets under management to $100 million.
What do founders get?
Emerge Education will invest pre-seed and seed cheques of between £500k and £2 million in 25 to 27 startups working on learning and the future of work. It will take a 15% stake in startups and reserve about 25% of the fund for follow-on investments.
The VC fund is eyeing startups in areas like talent assessment and selection, language learning, career navigation, educator tools and co-pilots, self-improvement, talent sourcing, and workforce development.
In addition to investment, founders will learn from those who have been in their shoes and have built 50 of the top 100 future work and learning companies worldwide. It matches them with mentors, advisors, and independent board members from the community of 100+ Venture Partners. It helps them accelerate their journey from Series A and beyond.
The VC fund eyes founders who will change the world. It looks for those who think big, can move fast, and have the skills to create value.
What role does the VC play?
AI is reshaping the way we learn, find, and do our jobs, and the companies that harness this shift will define the future. Emerge’s vision is to democratise access to opportunity by being a catalytic partner for early-stage founders focused on this seismic shift.
Being kids of immigrants, refugees, and working-class parents, the partners at the VC received world-class education and training that gave them access to career opportunities their parents could only dream of. Via this VC firm, they are on a mission to support the most important transition the world will see this century. The opportunity to live up to your full potential should not be a privilege but a right for everyone.
Portfolio of investments
Emerge has strategically invested in several notable startups, particularly in the edtech and AI sectors. Here are five prominent companies from their portfolio:
- Colossyan – A Denmark-based AI video creation platform for its advanced text-to-video technology.
- Algor – An Italian edtech solution for primary education.
- Edurino – A German edtech platform for early education to expand digital learning tools for children.
- Mattilda – A Mexican fintech focused on school payment solutions.
- Futurefit AI – A New York startup to provide workers with an AI-powered tool to help them navigate their careers.
Over the past decade, we have made 80+ investments in companies now valued at over $2 billion and impacting more than 31 million people worldwide.
“Being able to rely on some of the world’s leading entrepreneurs in our industry for detailed advice on topics such as product expansion, positioning and pricing has massively accelerated our learning. Getting Emerge as a pre-seed investor was like getting a one year headstart on our competitors.” said Dominik Mate Kovacs, founder and CEO of Colossyan, the global AI video company.
More details about the VC
Founded by Jan Lynn-Matern in 2013, Emerge has nearly 110 venture partners to help source deals and support startups. The venture partners include co-founders and CEOs of edtechs Udemy, Coursera, Kahoot, and Springboard, as well as chief learning officers and chief human resources officers from IBM and McDonald’s.
“AI-driven solutions are poised to catalyse growth in early learning spending, as they provide new opportunities to tailor learning to each child and support parents’ capabilities as their children’s first teachers. Moreover, public investment in educational technology solutions for young children will increase as governments globally recognise the opportunity to improve outcomes for all young children, especially those from underserved communities,” said Sunil Gunderia, CIO at Age of Learning and Venture Partner at Emerge.
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