Owl Ventures closes $585 million across two education technology funds

Owl Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in education technology, announced on September 1, 2020 that it had closed $585 million across two new funds. The firm, based in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, raised $415 million for its fourth main fund and $170 million for its first Opportunity Fund.

The firm said the funds will back early-, growth- and later-stage education technology companies in pre-K-12, higher education and the future of work, which it defines as career mobility and professional learning. The closing brought its assets under management to more than $1.2 billion. Existing investments named in the release include Degreed, DreamBox Learning, MasterClass, Newsela, Quizlet and Remind in the United States, and BYJU'S, Labster and WhiteHat Jr abroad. Owl Ventures said it leads most of its deals and typically takes a board seat. Its limited partners include college and university endowments, foundations, sovereign wealth funds and family offices.

Founded in 2014, Owl Ventures focuses on the education technology market. Its managing directors linked the fundraising to the shift to remote learning and work during 2020, which they said had accelerated digital adoption in an education and training market they valued at more than $6 trillion. The release also noted that BYJU'S had recently acquired WhiteHat Jr for $300 million, and that the firm was an investor in both companies.