Early-stage VC Emerge closes oversubscribed $73M second fund to invest in future of work and learning

LONDON, UK. November 7th, 2024 - VC firm Emerge has closed $73M for its oversubscribed global early-stage Fund II, which is backed by 100+ of the world’s best future of work and learning operators. The second fund more than triples the investment from its first, bringing Emerge’s total assets under management to $100M.

Emerge’s partners are immigrants, working-class kids and refugees, for whom education was the path to a better life. They are on a mission to democratise access to opportunity by being a catalytic partner for pre-seed and seed founders whose companies are revolutionising access to learning and levelling the playing field for kids, helping people navigate their careers, and empowering them to use AI at work. 

Investors in this fund include KfW Capital, Laerdal Invest, Jacobs Foundation and Southern New Hampshire University. Over the past 10 years, Emerge has made 80+ investments in companies now valued at over $2bn and impacting more than 31M people worldwide. Emerge’s portfolio has had multiple exits and now includes AI-powered investments transforming how we learn, work and navigate careers, such as Solvely, Colossyan and Popp. 

Emerge is a thesis-driven and community-powered investor. Unlike other VCs, Emerge is supported by 100+ Venture Partners – operators who have built the world’s most successful future of work and learning companies and providers, including the co-founders and CEOs of Udemy, Degreed, Trilogy, Beamery, Go1, Coursera, Busuu, Kahoot, Andela, Docebo and Springboard, as well as the CHROs and CLOs of Fortune500 companies such as Kraft Heinz, IBM, Boeing and McDonalds. 

These Venture Partners engage with portfolio companies throughout their entire lifecycle, focusing on accelerating their journey to product-market fit and Series A and beyond. They inform Emerge’s market research, source deals, support the diligence process, co-invest as angels, become advisors to companies, and even join their boards and become customers. More than half of the Venture Partner community is based in the US, powering Emerge’s strategy to find the best founders in Europe and turbocharge their expansion into the US and global markets.

The closing of Fund II follows multiple successful exits for Emerge, including Zavvy’s acquisition by Deel earlier this year, as well as numerous portfolio companies seeing significant up-rounds from leading investment firms. Examples include Yoto ($22M Series B led by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative); Edurino (€10.5M Series A led by DN Capital); Mattilda ($19M Series A led by GSV); and Unibuddy ($20M Series B led by Highland Europe).

Investments already out of Fund II include Colossyan, the AI video platform for workplace learning that enables users to create videos from text with AI avatars. In June this year, Colossyan announced a $22M Series A with new investors including Lakestar (known for their collaborations with leading companies such as Revolut and Spotify).

"AI is reshaping how we learn, find and do our jobs, and the companies that harness this shift will define the future. With the expertise of our Venture Partners – who’ve built some of the world’s leading future of work and learning companies – we’re equipping founders with the strategic insights they need to seize this unprecedented opportunity."

"The choices we make now about how to move forward as a society – whether we take everyone with us or not – will determine whether AI ultimately exacerbates or reduces inequalities. Working with Emerge to solve these challenges is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life: I get to do what I do best, coaching world-class entrepreneurs who are building companies that will define the future of work and learning. And it's a pleasure to do so alongside a team that cares deeply about its mission and has access to the best entrepreneurs on the planet."

"Emerge has unrivalled dealflow and insights in this space, not to mention lived experience, which they bring together with a unique approach to investing: a world-leading Venture Partner community, gathered to support companies that help every individual adapt and thrive in an AI-powered world. It's inspiring to be part of this community enabling me to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to solve the biggest problems of our time."

"Emerge has been a great partner – their excellent reputation, deep understanding of the future of work and learning sector, ability to move quickly and the immense value added by their Venture Partners network were the main reasons we chose them over other funds at our Seed round."