A healthy ecosystem of education technology products and services can strengthen K-12 public schools—providing new ways to connect students, teachers, and families.
Program Areas: K-12 Education
Owl Ventures
Owl Ventures is a venture investment fund that leads Series A/B investments in US K-12 education technology companies.
KIPP Houston
KIPP Houston is a Charter Management Organization (CMO) and a top-ranked school system for low-income students. The investment provided affordable facility financing to high-performing CMOs.
Charter School Growth Fund Facility Fund III
As a follow-on to the CSGF Facility Fund, the organization created a new fund in 2016, to broaden their lending to include early-stage operators, provide more proactive technical assistance and partner with other key stakeholders to remove barriers to affordable charter facilities and financing.
Charter School Growth Fund Facility Fund
The Charter School Growth Fund provides strategic support to high-performing charter management organizations. Inclusive within its support, CSGF provided subordinated bridge loans to address the short-term financing gap CMOs face during construction.
Civic Builders
Funding from the foundation and New Markets Tax Credits, alongside support from Civic Builders, built new schools in a bankrupt city where facilities assistance was otherwise unavailable.
BloomBoard
Software development company BloomBoard received funding from the foundation to help efforts in improving teachers’ instructional practices.
Aspire Public Schools
Aspire Public Schools is a Charter Management Organization (CMO) and a top-ranked school system for low-income students.
Stanford Social Innovation Review: Making Markets Work for the Poor
The Stanford Social Innovation Review explores how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation uses strategic investments for social impact. Read the full report here. Chapters: Philanthropy’s New Tools for Innovation and Impact Leveraging the Balance Sheet Neglected No More Unintended Read More
Press Release: BloomBoard secures $7.2 million in series B funding
BloomBoard June 30, 2015 BloomBoard, a Silicon Valley education technology company focused on empowering teacher growth, announced today that it received $7.2 million in Series B funding. The round includes increased capital from three original investors: Birchmere Ventures, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Read More