University Ventures

University Ventures (UV) is a New York-based investment firm dedicated exclusively to the global higher education sector. Founded in 2011, UV employs a unique strategy of 'innovation from within,' emphasizing a respect for the missions and traditions of colleges and universities. By collaborating with top-tier institutions, UV directs private capital towards developing innovative programs that address significant economic and social challenges, aiming to enhance student outcomes and advance the evolution of higher education. The firm is recognized as a thought leader in the sector, providing insights on trends affecting global higher education and serving as a trusted partner for institutions navigating ongoing changes. Through its efforts, University Ventures seeks to set new standards in educational quality and accessibility.

37 past transactions

Techtonic

Series B in 2019
Techtonic Group is a full service software development services company that also creates talent through a Department of Labor certified Apprenticeship program. The company is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, United States.

PeopleGrove

Series A in 2019
PeopleGrove software supports the entire student lifecycle in higher education institutions. It is designed to enhance engagement from prospective students to alumni and is used by over 650 institutions worldwide. PeopleGrove provides a centralized platform for students to access mentorship, college navigation, and career support services, helping them persist to graduation, explore careers, and build professional networks. The platform aims to improve student career readiness and confidence, leveraging AI and machine learning for personalized support. Additionally, PeopleGrove offers solutions for admissions and enrollment, student services, alumni and advancement, and industry partnerships. Their tools facilitate increased yield and reduced melt in admissions, improved retention and persistence to graduation, enhanced career readiness, and the growth of alumni engagement and philanthropy pipelines. The platform also supports experiential learning and project-based learning through industry partnerships. PeopleGrove's mission is to ensure that every learner has access to the necessary networks and people to succeed, with a vision to help every learner navigate successfully to their next professional step. PeopleGrove's mentorship and advising platform has been successfully launched at the world's leading institutions, including Stanford, UMGC, K-State, and many more.

CollegeVine

Series B in 2019
CollegeVine is a platform for deploying AI Agents to replace administrative work throughout the higher education sector and to save time and money for Universities (Colleges) globally. The higher education sector is projecting an annual deficit of $100B within 5 years. We believe AI Agents will dramatically increase efficiency, reduce administrative costs, and transform the student experience to make higher education sustainable for the next century. We deploy safe AI Agents to drive real outcomes across campus. Over 100 universities use CollegeVine AI Agents to dramatically change how their administrative staff does work.

Vemo Education

Series A in 2019
Vemo Education is a mission-driven educational technology company focused on expanding educational access for all Americans. We partner directly with colleges, universities, and other educational providers to design, implement, and sustain income share agreement (ISA) programs to help increase educational opportunity and reduce financial barriers to economic mobility.

Techtonic

Series A in 2018
Techtonic Group is a full service software development services company that also creates talent through a Department of Labor certified Apprenticeship program. The company is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, United States.

UNICAF

Series B in 2018
Founded in 2012, Unicaf partners with western universities and offers its own locally accredited degrees to African young professionals who are looking to study largely online while continuing to work. The company has grown to over 8,000 students today, and is on track to reach over 60,000 students by the end of 2020.

Galvanize

Series C in 2018
Galvanize is a school for entrepreneurs, engineers, and data scientists. It is a learning community for technology with nine physical and two remote campuses, where innovative startups, aspiring students, and large enterprises benefit from this dynamic, unique business ecosystem. Galvanize is backed by investors including, but not limited to, Catalyst Investors, ABS Capital Partners, University Ventures, New Markets Venture Partners, and Colorado Impact Fund. The company was co-founded by Tony Mugavero, Chris Onan, Jim Deters, and Lawrence Mandes in 2012, and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Mainstay

Series A in 2018
Mainstay is a developer of a chatbot platform that boosts enrollment, persistence, and completion at hundreds of colleges and universities. The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to facilitate the path to and through college. Specifically, Mainstay developed Oli, a chatbot that combines AI with human experts to provide free college guidance to all students. For their college partners, it eliminates repetitive tasks, helps colleges meaningfully engage students at scale, and provides deep insights into their pipeline of prospects.

Strive

Seed Round in 2018
Strive helps emerging leaders reach their full potential through personalized and practical management training. Strive's programs combine classroom learning, community-based practice and executive coaching and result in self-discovery and skill development. The company was established in 2017 and is based in San Francisco, California.

Galvanize

Venture Round in 2017
Galvanize is a school for entrepreneurs, engineers, and data scientists. It is a learning community for technology with nine physical and two remote campuses, where innovative startups, aspiring students, and large enterprises benefit from this dynamic, unique business ecosystem. Galvanize is backed by investors including, but not limited to, Catalyst Investors, ABS Capital Partners, University Ventures, New Markets Venture Partners, and Colorado Impact Fund. The company was co-founded by Tony Mugavero, Chris Onan, Jim Deters, and Lawrence Mandes in 2012, and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

EquitySim

Seed Round in 2017
EquitySim uses simulations to understand behaviors and thought patterns of hiring candidates. They currently focus on the financial markets industry. They envision an education system where students are no longer limited to learn through classrooms, textbooks, memorization and exams. Instead, they’re building an educational curriculum leveraging technology to gamify education. They believe simulations are the future due to their hands on, engaging and immersive nature. They see that increasing access to quality education is the key to fixing societies inequalities, improving global productivity & efficiency, and unlocking humanity’s next level of potential.

Shortlist

Seed Round in 2017
Shortlist works in India and East Africa to help growing enterprises hire based on skills and potential, rather than pedigree. The Shortlist platform screens candidates using predictive chat-based interviews and online competency-based assessments, letting employers skips the most time-consuming and bias-prone phases of hiring.

Vemo Education

Seed Round in 2017
Vemo Education is a mission-driven educational technology company focused on expanding educational access for all Americans. We partner directly with colleges, universities, and other educational providers to design, implement, and sustain income share agreement (ISA) programs to help increase educational opportunity and reduce financial barriers to economic mobility.

EverTrue

Series C in 2017
EverTrue is a leading advancement software that supports fundraising efforts at educational institutions. By connecting institutional data with dynamic insights from LinkedIn, Facebook, Zillow, the U.S. Census, and more, EverTrue provides advancement offices with the modern data and tools they need to engage alumni, raise support, and measure team progress. Today, EverTrue is improving results for more than 300 institutions through a fully integrated suite of products that powers efforts across the entire advancement office. EverTrue is headquartered in Boston, MA and is backed by Bain Capital Ventures and University Ventures.

Avenica

Acquisition in 2017
Founded in 1998, Avenica has unmatched knowledge of the entry-level professional job market. We are the only national firm that focuses exclusively on helping companies recruit and hire college graduates for entry-level professional positions. With seven regional offices and relationships with more than 900 colleges across the country, Avenica has helped hiring companies fill positions throughout the U.S.

Extern

Seed Round in 2017
Extern invented the remote Externship, a completely new form of real work experience with integrated learning. Unlike traditional job marketplaces, Extern creates work experience “supply” by powering Externships on behalf of companies. Extern.com makes tens of thousands of real work experiences per year available to students with curiosity, passion, and determination to prove themselves through a turnkey software platform that makes running work experiences a breeze for companies. Our mission is to help anyone discover and launch their career through real professional experiences available anywhere at any time. Work experience is the credential that matters most, but getting it when you don’t have experience can be hard. We envision a world where anyone can access work experience as a form of education – no matter their background, experience, or socio-economic status. World class brands such as AT&T, Home Depot, HSBC, PwC, National Geographic Society, The Nature Conservancy, Meta, Beats by Dre (Apple), Expedia, Macquarie Group, Snap, HP, and others have trusted Extern to create and manage high impact Externships with their teams. By making work experience more accessible, Extern is driving the rapid mobility and upskilling needed for a new economy. Come join our movement to reshape work, education, and credentialing for future generations with the Externship. Backed by Y Combinator, Foundation Capital, Launch Fund, University Ventures, and Learn Capital.

AlwaysHired

Seed Round in 2017
AlwaysHired is an immersive sales training program that helps companies hire the best talent.

Mainstay

Seed Round in 2017
Mainstay is a developer of a chatbot platform that boosts enrollment, persistence, and completion at hundreds of colleges and universities. The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to facilitate the path to and through college. Specifically, Mainstay developed Oli, a chatbot that combines AI with human experts to provide free college guidance to all students. For their college partners, it eliminates repetitive tasks, helps colleges meaningfully engage students at scale, and provides deep insights into their pipeline of prospects.

VisitDays

Venture Round in 2016
VisitDays operates a platform that allows admissions offices to connect with prospective students worldwide.

Oohlala Mobile

Series A in 2016
Ready Education's mission is to help higher ed institutions improve the student experience. Their product extends to all aspects of student life, and strives to reduce the complexity of campus life into a simplified user experience that facilitates student success. As an education technology company, their mission is to provide both a valuable product to students and insightful data for administrators to improve efficacy. Their vision is shared by 350+ institutions they partner with across the world, each of whom has worked alongside us and helped us craft the best experience possible for students.

Mainstay

Seed Round in 2016
Mainstay is a developer of a chatbot platform that boosts enrollment, persistence, and completion at hundreds of colleges and universities. The company uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to facilitate the path to and through college. Specifically, Mainstay developed Oli, a chatbot that combines AI with human experts to provide free college guidance to all students. For their college partners, it eliminates repetitive tasks, helps colleges meaningfully engage students at scale, and provides deep insights into their pipeline of prospects.

MPOWER Financing

Series A in 2016
MPOWER is a US-based lender offering student loans to international students studying in the US or Canada without requiring a co-signer, collateral, or US credit history because our proprietary credit algorithm focuses on future potential. MPOWER disburses payments directly to the university on behalf of the students to pay for tuition or university-sponsored services like housing, meal plans, or health insurance. Students start paying back the loan within 6 months after graduation. The loan comes with interest discounts, free personal finance education courses, credit-building, and a job placement service for the students.

MeasureOne

Seed Round in 2016
MeasureOne is a data and analytics firm specializing in data-driven insight for the higher education finance industry. It was founded in San Francisco with offices in Dallas, Texas, that specializes in data and analytics serving the $1.4 trillion-dollar student loan market, the second largest form of consumer credit in the U.S. The company developed the first and only Private Student Loan Consortium, a data cooperative of the nation's largest lenders and holders of private student loans. MeasureOne is applying data science and industry expertise in order to increase understanding of student loans and empower student loan lending, risk assessment, repayment, capital market investments and public policy development. MeasureOne was founded by data tech innovator Dan Feshback, an accomplished entrepreneur and expert in building cooperative databases for credit-risk markets. Prior to establishing MeasureOne, he was founder and CEO for 25 years of LoanPerformance which was purchased in 2005 by First American and is now CoreLogic.

Galvanize

Series B in 2016
Galvanize is a school for entrepreneurs, engineers, and data scientists. It is a learning community for technology with nine physical and two remote campuses, where innovative startups, aspiring students, and large enterprises benefit from this dynamic, unique business ecosystem. Galvanize is backed by investors including, but not limited to, Catalyst Investors, ABS Capital Partners, University Ventures, New Markets Venture Partners, and Colorado Impact Fund. The company was co-founded by Tony Mugavero, Chris Onan, Jim Deters, and Lawrence Mandes in 2012, and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Vemo Education

Seed Round in 2016
Vemo Education, Inc. is an educational technology company based in Reston, Virginia, dedicated to enhancing educational access for all Americans. The company specializes in income-based student financing solutions, particularly through the design and implementation of income share agreement (ISA) programs. Vemo partners with colleges and universities to create tailored financing options that address financial barriers to education and promote economic mobility. Their services encompass product design, fund creation, loan origination, disbursement, servicing, and compliance with legal regulations. Through these efforts, Vemo aims to improve educational opportunities and support the financial well-being of students.

Vested Finance

Seed Round in 2016
Vested Finance provides students with the right consultation to making the right decisions for their future. From, preparing for taking exams, choosing the right college, to choosing the right courses and making a decision a career path. The company helps advise the students on the best courses to take in college.

Schoold

Seed Round in 2016
The world's #1 college search and counseling mobile app, we're helping 1M+ students figure out where to go to college and how to pay for it. Download at: http://social.schoold.co.

Imbellus

Seed Round in 2016
Imbellus builds simulation-based cognitive assessments that measure how people think, not just what they know. In the age of automation, it is imperative that schools prepare students to do what computers cannot, so our assessments evaluate the deep thinking skills that modern work and modern life require. Eventually, we'll replace standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, and state summative exams. We also work with corporate and government partners to support their hiring, upskilling, and retention practices. Imbellus is an interdisciplinary team of learning scientists, game developers, artists, data scientists, and AI engineers with $23M in venture backing. For more on Imbellus, check out our website or some of the materials linked below. We’re also hiring!

Vemo Education

Seed Round in 2015
Vemo Education is a mission-driven educational technology company focused on expanding educational access for all Americans. We partner directly with colleges, universities, and other educational providers to design, implement, and sustain income share agreement (ISA) programs to help increase educational opportunity and reduce financial barriers to economic mobility.

UnCollege

Convertible Note in 2015
UnCollege is a social movement changing the notion that going to college is the only path to success.

CampusLogic

Series A in 2015
CampusLogic provides critical tools and resources for the 15 million students who travel the higher education journey each year. The company currently serves more than 750 schools increase enrollment, retention, and graduation rates with a platform, which includes a net price calculator, complete scholarship management, personalized digital communications, simplified financial aid verification, 24×7 personalized virtual advising, tuition, and scholarship crowdfunding, and integrated data visualizations.

GiveCampus

Seed Round in 2015
GiveCampus is a fundraising platform for nonprofit educational institutions. GiveCampus's purpose is to increase the quality, affordability, and accessibility of education. They are trusted by more than 1,000 colleges, institutions, and K–12 schools and offer software, services, and knowledge that enable schools to increase revenue from a larger number of donors at a fraction of the price of alternative fundraising strategies.

Entangled Group

Seed Round in 2014
Entangled Group LLC is a venture capital and incubation firm based in San Francisco, California, focused on the education sector. Founded in 2014, it specializes in the incubation, seed, and early venture stages, investing in startups that enhance the education ecosystem. The firm provides a range of services, including strategy consulting, expertise access, non-profit management, sales acceleration, and revenue generation. By fostering partnerships with top universities, Entangled Group enables its portfolio companies to rapidly develop and test innovative solutions in the education space. This approach combines the resources of a larger organization with the agility of a startup, aiming to create transformative companies that address long-term educational challenges.

Galvanize

Series A in 2014
Galvanize is a school for entrepreneurs, engineers, and data scientists. It is a learning community for technology with nine physical and two remote campuses, where innovative startups, aspiring students, and large enterprises benefit from this dynamic, unique business ecosystem. Galvanize is backed by investors including, but not limited to, Catalyst Investors, ABS Capital Partners, University Ventures, New Markets Venture Partners, and Colorado Impact Fund. The company was co-founded by Tony Mugavero, Chris Onan, Jim Deters, and Lawrence Mandes in 2012, and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Synergis Education

Series A in 2013
Synergis Education provides educational services designed for college and university leaders who are not satisfied with the status quo. It develops on ground, online, and hybrid degree programs to serve the non-traditional adult learning population. The company offers integrated services, including marketing and enrollment management, academic program and instructional design support, technology integration and course delivery, student retention support and placement, student accounting, and additional services; and EdVantage Learning System that co-develops associate, baccalaureate, and graduate degree curricula with its partner institution; and EdVantage Information Systems, a solution that manages a set of technologies, processes, and services. It partners with non-profit, traditional colleges, and universities. The company was formerly known as Academic Partners University and changed its name to Synergis Education in May 2012. Synergis Education was founded in 2011 and is based in Mesa, Arizona.

Tiber Health

Venture Round in 2012
Tiber Health is a global network of medical universities. Tiber Health scales exceptional health education so local communities all over the world will have access to quality care.
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