Owl Ventures Launches Two New Funds. Their Value: $585 Million
The world’s largest ed tech-focused venture capital fund is pouring $585 million into two new funding accounts.
Owl Ventures will dedicate $415 million for Fund IV and $170 million for its first Opportunity Fund, which will direct money to follow-on investments in Owl’s existing portfolio companies, according to a Sept. 1 announcement.
“Now we’re able to deploy additional capital into these companies in [their] growth-stage rounds,” Amit Patel, a managing director at Owl Ventures, said in an interview.
Based in Silicon Valley, Owl Ventures makes early, growth, and later-stage investments in products within the pre-K-12, postsecondary education, and future-of-work arenas.
The firm has been a major investor in several of the most rapidly growing companies in ed tech, including U.S.-based companies Accelerate Learning, DreamBox Learning, MasterClass, Newsela, and Quizlet, as well as international companies Byju’s, WhiteHat Jr. (which has been acquired by Byju’s), and Labster.
“We are finding that our portfolio companies based in the U.S., China, Europe and India are mission-critical elements to continued learning,” Ian Chiu, a managing director at Owl Ventures, said in a statement.
“Inbound inquiries, user growth/engagement, and customer pipelines have dramatically spiked across our portfolio with our platforms being leveraged globally.”
Owl currently is managing about $1.2 billion worth of assets, is the lead investor in the vast majority of its deals, and typically joins the boards of its companies, according to its announcement.
With the two new dedicated funds, Owl will continue its focus in the pre-K through postsecondary and future-of-work marketplaces, and will maintain its broad investment vision.
“In terms of our strategy, we’re remaining consistent. We’re going to continue to make early-growth and later-stage investment,” Patel said.
“The only difference now is that the opportunity fund exists so it allows us to continue investing in our existing portfolio companies in later-stage rounds.”
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