Emerge closes oversubscribed $73 million Fund II for learning and work startups

Early-stage investor Emerge announced the close of its second fund at $73 million, according to a report published by Tech.eu on November 7, 2024. The firm said the vehicle was oversubscribed, and the close brought its total assets under management to about $100 million. Fund II is more than three times the size of the firm's first fund and will back pre-seed and seed companies working on education and the future of work.

Investors in the new fund include KfW Capital, Laerdal Invest, the Jacobs Foundation and Southern New Hampshire University in the United States. Emerge describes itself as a specialist in early-stage investing for learning and work and says it does not take part in Series A rounds. The firm also told Tech.eu that it avoids businesses it sees as widening inequality, giving high-cost private tutoring as an example of a model it would not back.

Alongside its partners, who include general partner Nic Newman, Emerge works with a network of more than 100 venture partners. According to the report, these include founders or chief executives of companies such as Udemy, Coursera, Degreed, Go1, Busuu and Kahoot, as well as senior human resources and learning leaders from large employers including IBM, Boeing and McDonald's. More than half of these venture partners are based in the United States, which the firm uses to help portfolio companies expand across the Atlantic.

Emerge said it has backed more than 80 companies over the past decade and that, by its own count, those businesses have reached more than 31 million people and reached a combined valuation of over $2 billion. Portfolio examples cited in the report include Colossyan, an AI video platform for workplace training that raised a $22 million Series A; Zavvy, which was acquired by Deel in 2024; and Edurino and Unibuddy, both of which raised later rounds at higher valuations.