EdTech venture fund Owl Ventures closes two new funds

With $1.2 billion in AUM, Owl Ventures is one of the largest venture capital funds specializing in education technology, and is now growing rapidly as it has closed $585 million across two new funds. Officials raised $415 million for the Silicon Valley-based firm’s fourth fund and $170 million for its first Opportunity Fund. Both new funds will help fuel Owl Ventures’ strategy of making early, growth and later stage investments in the world’s leading educational technology companies across the education spectrum including pre-Kindergarten through grade 12, higher education and professional learning. Since the firm’s founding in 2014, there has been a digital revolution rapidly unfolding in education and workforce development, according to Tory Patterson, managing director of Owl Ventures. “Due to the shift to remote learning and work, we find ourselves in a watershed moment for the over $6 trillion education and training market as the rising digital penetration in the sector that had already been taking place has surged,” he said. Owl has invested in a number of fast growing companies over the years, including Accelerate Learning (acquired by Carlyle Group), Degreed, DreamBox Learning (acquired by TPG Rise), Hazel Health, MasterClass, Newsela, Noodle Partners, Quizlet, Remind and WhiteHat Jr. The firm’s global investment strategy was recently highlighted by two of its portfolio companies in India when BYJU’s, the most valuable privately held EdTech company in the world, acquired start-up WhiteHat Jr. for $300 million. Owl Ventures was the only fund that was an investor in both companies. The team has sourced companies based in the U.S., China, Europe and India. As an education sector specialist, the fund has successfully partnered with leading diversified venture capital and private equity funds to help accelerate the growth of its portfolio companies. Owl Ventures investor base includes university endowments, foundations, strategic education institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and family offices from across the U.S., Asia, Europe, Middle East, and South America. "Our global LP base and network of education institutions and leaders is a major competitive advantage as we have valuable partners throughout the world that can uniquely help change the trajectory of our portfolio companies," said Tom Costin, managing director at Owl Ventures.

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