Magnify Ventures debuts with $52m for ‘care economy’
Originally published by Venture Capital Journal, May 4, 2022
Magnify Ventures, an early-stage firm founded by two female VC veterans, closed on $52 million for a debut fund after less than a year of fundraising.
The Los Angeles-based firm invests in early-stage companies in “the $648 billion care economy in four growing categories, including parenting and family life, the future of work, household optimization, and aging and longevity,” according to a statement.
Magnify made a regulatory filing with the SEC on July 27 stating it was raising $50 million. Today it announced that it had exceeded its target by $2 million.
The fund is anchored by Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, and LPs include “world-class limited partners from leading foundations, funds of funds, family offices and visionary business leaders,” according to a press release.
Magnify was founded in 2020 by Joanna Drake and Julie Wroblewski. Drake was formerly a general partner at San Francisco-based Core Ventures Group, where she spent nearly eight years, according to her LinkedIn profile. Wroblewski was previously with Pivotal Ventures, which she joined in 2015 and where she launched and led its venture capital investment portfolio, according to LinkedIn.
Magnify has already invested in seven companies: Cocoon, Element3 Health, Milo, MiSalud, Papa, Seven Starling and Till Financial.
“Technology is transforming every aspect of the care economy — from pregnancy to parenting to aging,” Wroblewski said in a statement. “As a result, we’re seeing a wave of entrepreneurs, inspired by lived experiences, building massive businesses to address these needs.”
Before Magnify announced its new fund, Venture Capital Journal reached out to Drake to discuss the challenges female VCs face in fundraising. She said via email that one thing that makes fundraising difficult for female VC managers is navigating “a complex sea of so many different kinds of LPs, from highnet-worth individuals, family offices and fund of funds, to endowments, pensions and foundations.” That’s very different from the “pretty clear playbook” that enables start-up founders to “run a timed process with venture firms,” Drake said.
Most LPs seem willing to take introductory meetings to learn about and start tracking new GPs, but few give clear and timely “nos,” so a new manager may spend years fundraising without reaching her target, Drake says. To help with that problem, Drake co-founded Raise Global, which brings together veteran fundraisers and more communicative LPs to share fundraising insights with promising emerging managers and make introductions to potential LPs.
