Owl Ventures Closes Over $1 Billion in New Funds for Global EdTech Investments
With over $2 billion in assets under management, Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in the world focused on the education technology sector
MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Owl Ventures, the largest venture capital fund in EdTech, announced today that it closed over $1 billion in new funds. The Silicon Valley based firm founded in 2014 closed $640 million for its fifth fund, $270 million for its second Opportunity Fund, and over $100 million in special purpose vehicles. The new funds will further fuel Owl Ventures' strategy of making early, growth, and later stage investments in the world's leading EdTech companies.
Led by Managing Directors Ian Chiu, Tom Costin, Amit Patel, Tory Patterson and Partners Malvika Bhagwat, and Kate Chhabra, Owl Ventures has been a major investor in many of the fastest growing companies in the global EdTech market. These include "unicorn" $1B+ valuation companies such as Apna, BYJU's, Degreed, Greenlight, MasterClass, Newsela, Quizlet and Stash.
The continued growth of Owl Ventures and its global portfolio across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America is in lockstep with the meteoric growth of the $6 trillion+ education and training market, which is undergoing a digital revolution. The growth in blended learning, remote work, rise of direct-to-consumer models, enterprise learning and skilling, emergence of AI-enabled learning, increased 1:1 device programs, and rapid integration of AR/VR have all contributed to the global rise of education technology.
Owl Ventures' unique insights into the global EdTech market opportunity are highlighted by their investment in and relationship with BYJU's, the most valuable EdTech company in the world and the most valuable start-up in India.
According to Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO of BYJU's, "Owl Ventures has been an invaluable partner to BYJU's as we have scaled over the years. As an EdTech specialist, Owl is a differentiated investor that has provided unique value across many functions including acquisitions, partnerships, talent, and international expansion."
The new funds that Owl Ventures has raised will allow the firm to continue to be a scaled and active lead investor in the next wave of innovative global EdTech companies. As the largest fund in the EdTech sector, Owl is able to finance companies from seed to late stage and be a uniquely valuable partner to visionary entrepreneurs. This hands-on approach helps companies across numerous functions including distribution, partnerships, talent, fundraising, and outcomes measurement.
"Leveraging the strong global network and portfolio of Owl, we've been able to establish multiple key strategic partnerships that have been a tremendous enabler for our rapid company growth and our positive global impact on education," said Michael Bodekaer Jensen, Co-Founder & CEO of Labster.
Owl Ventures has continued to scale with talented team members. Malvika Bhagwat, who leads Owl's Outcomes and Portfolio Services platforms, was promoted to Partner in 2021. Malvika works closely with portfolio companies to advance their efficacy and outcomes measurement efforts as well as establish strategic impact and distribution partnerships with Owl's prestigious institutional global base of limited partners. Malvika also leads the production of Owl's Education Outcomes Report, which is a robust annual report that details the impact Owl portfolio companies have delivered.
According to Jessie Woolley-Wilson, CEO of DreamBox Learning, "Owl Ventures played an instrumental role in guiding DreamBox from its infancy to a scaled global leader in adaptive learning technology serving the K12 math and reading market. Owl brought a consistent and intentional focus on student learning outcomes to our boardroom, which enabled our company to achieve rapid growth while remaining true to our mission to serve all students regardless of zip code. The amazing professionals at Owl were invaluable partners to me and my team and were integral to our growth and impact success over many years. Owl has built a world class organization designed to scale the world's best education technology companies. There is no better VC partner we could have chosen."
About Owl Ventures
Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital fund in the world focused on the EdTech market with over $2 billion in assets under management. The Silicon Valley based firm invests in the world's leading education technology companies across the education spectrum encompassing PreK-12, higher education, future of work (career mobility/professional learning), and "EdTech+" (intersection of EdTech and other major industries such as FinTech and healthcare). Owl Ventures has deep domain expertise and leverages a global network of Limited Partners, investors, and strategic partners to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category leading companies. Learn more at www.OwlVC.com. Owl's annual Education Outcomes Report can be viewed at www.OwlVC.com/outcomes.php.
Contact: Tom Costin, [email protected]
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