Halogen Ventures, which is Jesse Draper’s venture capital firm focused on early-stage startups, announced the closing of a third fund at $30 million.
With this fund, Halogen will prioritize investments in the future of family category with a focus on childcare, while continuing to invest in female founded companies who are innovating and solving global problems across industries.
The Future of Families market is currently valued in the trillions, and it is expected to grow significantly as family life dynamics continue to evolve over the next decade and beyond. Since the pandemic, women have lost hundreds of billions in income and over 64 million jobs globally due to the childcare crisis.
With childcare costs rapidly increasing, over 40% of families in the U.S. struggle to find childcare solutions. Studies show that the crisis is worsening, 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, the country has 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 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 along with her partners, Ashley Balla and Jennifer Kwan Mandelbaum. And 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 established Halogen Ventures in 2015 upon identifying startups led by women as a significantly underrepresented yet promising investment sector. Since that time, Draper has consistently demonstrated a strong pipeline of female founders driving innovation and addressing critical global challenges.
Halogen’s portfolio companies include Everlywell’s at-home health testing (val $3.5 billion), Babylist ($1 billion GMV), Flex’s brand in sustainable period care ($24.8 billion market), HopSkipDrive (over 1 million safe trips to and from schools), Upwards leadership in childcare solutions ($520 billion market), Dacora, the first female-founded electric vehicle, Metropolis (AI-powered mobility and parking provider), and other leading consumer technology and B2B solutions. Halogen’s 75 portfolio companies include five unicorns and have created a market value of over $15 billion, and are 100% female-founded.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re investing in the Future of Families because it’s a massive and untapped opportunity. Childcare is broken in the United States – options and schooling is completely unaffordable for children under the age of 6 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. 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.”
Jesse Draper, Founding Partner of Halogen Ventures
