Third fund taps into a $7.5-trillion market opportunity to provide solutions for modern families
Halogen Ventures, Jesse Draper’s venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups with a woman on the founding team, is announcing today the close of a third fund at $30 million. With this fund, Halogen will prioritize investments in the $7.5-trillion Future of Family category with a focus on childcare, while continuing to invest in female-founded companies that are innovating and solving global problems across industries.
“We’re investing in the Future of Families because it’s a massive and untapped opportunity,” said Jesse Draper, founding partner of Halogen Ventures. “Childcare is broken in the United States. Options and schooling is completely unaffordable for children under the age of six for 99% of society. This leads to neglect, kids falling into the foster care system, and, as over 70% of the incarcerated today went through our foster care system, something needs to change here. Not only is this a massive business opportunity, but it’s also imperative that we do something differently in childcare.”
“There are over 80 million families in the United States alone, and yet, venture capital has overlooked this market,” added Draper. “We are both deeply passionate and data-driven about this space and believe there are a wealth of high-potential opportunities that will help parents and families at scale.”
The Future of Families market is currently valued at $7.5 trillion and is expected to grow significantly as family life dynamics continue to evolve over the next decade and beyond. Since the global pandemic, women have lost more than $800 billion in income and more than 64 million jobs globally due to the childcare crisis. With childcare costs increasing year over year, over 40% of families in the U.S. struggle to find childcare solutions. Studies show the crisis is getting worse, and it’s taking a toll on families. Even the U.S. Surgeon General released an advisory on the mental health and well-being of parenting in America. While the United States is ahead in many things, we have fallen behind the Nordic countries, France, Canada and beyond in childcare. No society can survive without the proper support of families.
Halogen’s third fund will focus on meeting the unmet needs of the modern family by investing in five core verticals: Childcare, Education/EdTech, FamTech (Family Technology), Child & Youth Services, and the Digital Workplace.
Draper raised this fund alongside her partners Ashley Balla and Jennifer Kwan Mandelbaum. Other key team members include Adriana Gadala-Maria Ochi and Julia Richter. Limited partners in Halogen’s Fund Three include: The State of Alabama (Innovate Alabama), Fenwick’s Fund of Funds, Candace Nelson (founder of Sprinkles), Gingerbread Capital, Mike Evans (founder of Grubhub) and Lanyon Advisors.
Draper founded Halogen Ventures in 2015 after recognizing that startups with women founders were one of the most overlooked and high-potential investment opportunities of our time. Since then, Draper has demonstrated there is no lack of deal flow from female founders who are innovating and tackling world-changing problems.
Halogen portfolio companies include Everlywell’s at-home health testing (val $3.5 billion); Babylist ($1 billion GMV); Flex, the top-selling brand in sustainable period care ($24.8 billion market); HopSkipDrive (over one million safe trips to and from schools); Upwards’ leadership in childcare solutions ($520 billion market); Dacora, the first female-founded electric vehicle; and Metropolis (AI-powered mobility and parking provider), among other leading consumer technology and B2B solutions. Halogen’s 75 portfolio companies include five unicorns and have created over $15 billion in market value and are 100% female-founded.
Information sourced from PR Newswire. To learn more, contact hello@halogenvc.com.
