MICHELSON PHILANTHROPIES
MICHELSON IMPACT VENTURES Catalyzing Change at Scale Michelson Impact Ventures seeks to accelerate progress toward a more just, equitable, and compassionate world by supporting nascent, market-driven technologies that can catalyze change at scale in the fields of the knowledge economy, pet care, environmental sustainability, financial inclusion, and social justice. To date, Michelson Impact Ventures has directly invested mission-aligned capital into 42 earlystage startups. Through its Michelson Runway Accelerator and its Leap Venture Studio, Academy, and Bootcamp programs, it also has created new centers of gravity in the education, future of work, and pet care sectors to nurture positive growth for dozens more founders, operators, and investors. “Through our impact-oriented, expert, and patient capital we are hoping to help more purpose-driven startups cross the chasm from proof of concept to broader market validation and traditional venture funding,” says Phillip J. Kim, managing director of Michelson Impact Ventures and CEO of Michelson 20MM Foundation. “We are trying to surface sustainable and scalable businesses that can create new categories, drive disruptive innovation in stagnant verticals, and even provide new points of light with the potential to inform policy change at the state and federal levels.” Michelson portfolio startups have to date raised follow-on capital now representing more than 32 times Michelson’s early investment from some of the world’s premier venture capitalists, including Peter Thiel, Mark Cuban, Greycroft, Felicis Ventures, Techstars, Relay Ventures, and Metamorphosis. More than 60 percent of Michelson portfolio companies are run by diverse founders, a figure four times larger than the broader venture market. “‘Homelessness and food insecurity are not endemic to college students but are exacerbated among them,” says David Helene, cofounder and CEO of EdQuity.
14
2021 IMPACT REPORT
‘‘We’re excited that Michelson 20MM Foundation believes in our work to help students achieve excellence in postsecondary education.” ANDREW MAGLIOZZI CEO, AdmitHub
Michelson Impact Ventures’ portfolio includes: n Edquity, which provides emergency aid and resources for students in need to help narrow equity gaps and facilitate social mobility. Edquity has provided support to more than 10,000 students during the pandemic within 24 hours of their request. Since its founding in 2016 by David Helene (pictured below, left), Edquity has deployed nearly $5.2 million in emergency aid while increasing the overall retention rate in its client colleges by 5 percent. Nine out of 10 students served persisted semester over semester. n AdmitHub, which uses a conversational AI chatbot to recruit, enroll, and retain college students for its university clients. AdmitHub has supported more than 2 million students while achieving a 22 percent reduction in summer melt and an increase in student persistence year over year by 3 percent. Its institutional partners include Georgia State University, University of Memphis, West Texas A&M University, and Arizona State University. n ReUp Education, which partners with higher education institutions to help college students who drop out to re-enroll and graduate. Using a blend of data, technology, and coaching, ReUp has enabled more than 370,000 students in their educational dreams. Its partner institutions include Arizona State University and the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. Michelson Impact Ventures has realized its first three exits from its holdings over the last year: Authess, a performance-based competency assessment platform; PetHospice, a provider of quality-of-life assessment, in-home hospice, and palliative care; and Lacuna Diagnostics, a digital cytology solution for pets that cuts diagnostic time from days to minutes.
