Our Education Impact Fund Helps Advance the Education and Training of America’s Workforce

Return Oriented. Mission Aligned. Impact Driven.

The ECMC Group Education Impact Fund is investing $250M in mission-aligned, impact-driven and financially scalable early stage and growth ventures that are focused on postsecondary education and employment.

We are committed to establishing productive, supportive and engaging relationships with our portfolio companies to help them think innovatively, scale outcomes and generate competitive returns.

In addition to direct investments, we also invest in and partner with other mission-driven education investors.

2022 Impact Report

We are pleased to share the ECMC Group Education Impact Fund (EIF) 2022 Impact Report. This report highlights our continued progress toward our goal of deploying $250 million in mission-aligned impact investments and, in doing so, building a nationally recognized impact investment platform in the postsecondary education and workforce ecosystem. Most importantly, this report spotlights the incredible work of the innovative entrepreneurs we are honored to partner with and their significant impact on underserved learners and workers.

In 2022, our EIF direct investment portfolio reached more than 6 million learners and workers, including justice-impacted individuals, first-generation college students, frontline workers and the blind/visually impaired population. Highlights include:

• EmpowerU scaled access to mental health programming in which 95% of students display gains in confidence, coping and persistence.
• Interplay Learning facilitated more than 900,000 hours of training and helped skilled trades workers obtain nearly 97,000 CEU credits and over 400 industry certificates.
• Pathstream increased frontline workers' average wages by ~$25,000.

The EIF team is profoundly grateful to all the stakeholders who helped us with this report: the entrepreneurs and their teams; the communities of learners, teachers and employers; and the broader ECMC Group team members who have been instrumental in their support.

We invite you to explore our 2022 EIF Impact Report.

Core Investment Themes

• • 

    Postsecondary Education

  • Alternative financing

  • Alternative training

  • Student success & support

  • Content & instruction

  • 

    Employment

  • Vertical job platforms

  • Assessment & matching

  • Lifelong learning & training

  • Mentoring & support

Investment Criteria

• • 

    Structure

  • Initial check size: up to $5M

  • Seed & Series A–C, follow-on growth equity

  • Minority ownership

  • Board seat/observer

  • 

    Outcomes

  • Market rate returns

  • Improved learner outcomes, education access or job placement

  • Benefitting traditionally underserved populations

  • Evidence-based efficacy

  • 

    Business Model

  • Revenue generating with ability to scale rapidly

  • Differentiated products and clear value proposition

  • Passionate leadership with ability to attract and develop talent

  • 

    Strategic Alignment

  • Advances or complements ECMC Group's existing operating or philanthropic activities

  • Aligned to ECMC Group areas of strategic focus or exploration

Education Impact Fund Portfolio