Lumina Kicks Venture Capital Arm Into High Gear

Member Lumina Foundation is looking to transition more of its $1.2 billion endowments into impact investments through its venture capital division, Lumina Impact Ventures. Lumina first established its own VC last year with a primary focus on the post-secondary learning sector.

 

This is in keeping with Lumina’s “Goal 2025”— aiming to increase the proportion of U.S. adults with a high-quality, postsecondary education to 60 percent. So far, Lumina Impact Ventures has funneled $3.5 million in equity capital into four companies, mostly education technology start-ups, and anticipates making three new investments by July. They have plans to deploy $5 million a year, or a total of $50 million over the next ten years.

 

Our Melanie Audette is quoted, noting the Lumina Foundation is among a handful of private foundations on the forefront nationally in using impact investing to advance their missions. “It’s changing the whole face of how foundations interact with the community that they serve, and it’s a really exciting evolution in philanthropy,” she said.

 

Read the full article on the Indianapolis Business Journal.