Magnify Ventures’ New Fund
Yesterday, we announced the launch of our inaugural $52M Magnify Ventures fund, focused on early-stage technology companies that will transform how we live, work and care for one another.
We created Magnify to back visionary founders who are leading the digital transformation of the care economy. Recently sized at $648B, the care economy is larger than the US pharmaceutical industry as well as the US hotel, car manufacturing, and social networking industries combined. That’s quite an astonishing number for a sector that most people aren’t familiar with.
What is the care economy?
Some might think of it as care for older adults. Others might see it as childcare or care for people with chronic illnesses. It is all of those things but also much more.
The care economy encompasses all the money we put into caring for people from the moment they are born until the end of their lives. It includes all aspects of infant care, parenting and family life, the future of work, household optimization (e.g. physical work like cooking, cleaning, and laundry, but also the mental load of coordinating households and families), and aging & longevity (aging in place, long-term care, quality of life for older adults).
Technology is increasingly transforming every aspect of the care economy, including the products, platforms, and services that we increasingly use in the home and everyday life, as well as technology solutions adopted by businesses and institutions reimagining the future of work and healthcare.
The cultural shifts we’ve seen over the past few years, combined with the advancements in technology, and the pandemic’s impact on our daily lives, have only accelerated these changes and it’s creating tremendous opportunities for founders and investors.
We are investing in four categories that we see as significant market opportunities in the care economy:
● Parenting and Family Life: Technology and tools that equip parents and improve life for modern families.
● Household Optimization: Next-generation solutions that make households more efficient and joyful.
● Work-Life Reimagined: Technology at the intersection of work and home, including tools that make workplaces better for caregivers and help employers attract, retain, and accelerate talent.
● Aging Innovation: Technology that is transforming care and quality of life for older adults.
Our team
We’re investors, company builders, and strategists. We believe that founders with big ideas and innovative technologies can transform industries and improve quality of life for families and caregivers. This need and the potential impact it will have on our society is reflected in our own families and work. Joanna has been a working mom for 18 years. Julie is an active family caregiver who spent years caring for aging family members and working on an ambulance and in long-term care facilities.
Together we bring more than 30 years of experience in investing and technology. Joanna spent years as an operator before becoming an investor to help founders build and scale new technology companies. Julie spent over a decade as an advisor and investor with institutional scale, mission-driven foundations, and family offices focused on families and care.
We support founders across all aspects of company-building from customer acquisition, operations, brand, and marketing strategy, to talent recruitment and sales. We also partner with a number of leading organizations, including The Holding Co, the Employee Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR), AARP, and UCSF Roseman Institute, to help advance the care economy and accelerate the growth of our portfolio companies. We also leverage an expert advisory network to help our founders in early stages of company building and growth.
We’re just getting started
We already have seven portfolio companies doing incredible work across a variety of categories, including three with visionary founder teams focusing on the future of aging, employment benefits, and healthcare:
● Papa: leverages technology to scale on-demand support and companionship for older adults who are aging in place at home in partnership with health plans, employers, and consumers. Papa reduces isolation and loneliness while improving health, wellness, and quality of life for older adults.
● Cocoon: a software solution that streamlines and improves employee leave (i.e. parental, medical, caregiver, bereavement, etc.). Cocoon reduces costs for employers while making it easier for employees to step away during important times in their lives.
● MiSalud: a culturally-authentic digital health and wellness platform for Spanish-speaking families in the US, MiSalud’s affordable and accessible telehealth services helps employers support and retain their Hispanic employees.
We wouldn’t be at this important milestone without the incredible support and partnership of world-class organizations, including Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates’ company, as well as other leading limited partners including foundations, funds of funds, family offices, and visionary business leaders.
Check out our recent article in Forbes and Press Announcement.
We’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line and follow us on Twitter here and here or on LinkedIn. Learn more about our portfolio companies and the team at www.magnify.vc.
With gratitude and excitement,
Julie and Joanna
Co-Founders and Managing Partners
