“An education leading to a more purposeful life for 100 million women by 2036.”
The adage “Educate a Girl and You Educate a Village” is something which we at Gray Matters Capital believe in. As impact investors, we see education and skill building as a catalyst to socially and economically empower women and girls.
In line with our gender focus of bridging the gender gaps in education and workforce participation, we are also endeavouring to improve the quality of education that is imparted in schools as learning outcomes have a direct bearing on future employability.
Gray Matters Capital was founded in Atlanta, GA in 2006. Explore our timeline to know our story and how we continue to move a step closer to our mission
Gray Matters Capital was founded in Atlanta, GA by serial entrepreneur and impact investor Bob Patillo
Investment strategy trained towards quality education for underserved children in developing countries, with a special focus on India.
Incubates Gray Matters India to focus on providing assessment and actionable outcomes to schools and students
Incubates Hyderabad-based Indian School Finance Company (ISFC) -India’s first Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) dedicated to financing school infrastructure
IDEX Accelerator, a professional fellowship program for aspiring social enterprise practitioners launched in India
Spins off Gray Matters India as a separate entity
Invests in one of Asia’s leading impact investment banks, Unitus Capital
Funds Indian pre-school chain and learning solutions providers Wings Learning Centers and Sudiksha Knowledge Systems
Backs English language training and skill building enterprise Speakwell in India
Makes investment in Instituto Salus, the first nursing institution in Mexico
EdConnective - a US based staff outsourcing platform that provides schools with instructional coaches receives funding from Gray Matters Capital
Funds Colombian ed-tech company Aulas Amigas
Makes investment in US based Pairin - a social enterprise software company whose mission is to make education relevant and hiring equitable.
Investment of $ 1 mn. in Noida based English learning e-learning platform LIQVID English Edge
Led Series A funding of $ 1.5 mn. in Bangalore based paediatric healthcare startup AddressHealth
Invests in Mexican social enterprise Tenoli providing quality training to mom and pop retail stores
Follow on Investment of $ 6 mn. in Indian School Finance Company (ISFC)
Launches coLABS, a seed-stage fund that helps pilot innovative and scalable solutions for women and girls. Invests in African Renewable Energy (ARED), doctHERS, IssueVoter and LikeU.
edLABS initiative launched in India to provide early stage funding to ‘visionary edu-preneurs’ and business line innovation to established education enterprises.
Completes investment in Hipocampus Mexico which provides affordable high-quality care and education to at-risk children
Makes investment in the $75 Million Off-Grid Solar Energy & Financial Access Senior Debt Fund I managed by SIMA (Social Investment Managers and Advisors)
Invests in Education Catalyst Fund, a US $ 20 mn. onshore 8-year close-ended fund that is India’s first multi-investor fund to focus exclusively on affordable education and jobs & livelihoods opportunities
coLABS adds two Health Tech Startups - Ghana's Redbird Health Tech and Nigeria's SonoCare to its portfolio
edLABS adds SRJNA, GyanDhan, Ignis Careers and ThinkZone to its portfolio
Launches India's first Accelerator focused on improving User Engagement on Mobile Apps and Digital 'Learning to Earning' solutions
Co-creates Quality Charter for Budget Private Schools under National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA)
Facilitates launch of Kidovators - India’s first 21st century skill learning platform through edLABS
Funds Chennai based Education reform organization Chrysalis to expand its presence in Affordable Private Schools (APS)
Launched 2 new initiatives - WOW! Sakhi - a story collective and Tales, We Win - a Leadership Development Program for Social Entrepreneurs
As an Impact Investor, our approach towards investments is determined by the following parameters
Strong Gender Focus to provide choice, voice and agency to women and girls through education and skilling. 
Focus on Sustainable and Replicable business models Scalable to other geographies 
Focus on enterprises with strong management teams and stablilized revenue stream 
Facilitating Affordable Solutions in the Education and Skill Building segments for lower income groups 
Technology led enterprises for cost effective delivery and scale 
Provide a Vibrant Ecosystem for our investee companies We are guided by our belief that education and skilling for the future of jobs are the most powerful means to achieve social and economic empowerment. We therefore repose our faith in enterprises catering to lower income groups in developing markets of the world in the form of investment capital to bring about this change .
Investments in For Profit Education and Skill Building Enterprises via
Direct Investments
Co-Investments and Funds
edLABS (Only in India)
We invest in the education sector in the form of co-investments and via funds across all geos. In India, we have started the edLABS initiative to fund early stage education enterprises to pilot breakthrough innovations and help in business line innovation.
Through coLABS, we invest in sector agnostic enterprises whose products benefit women and their livelihoods.
The number of women and girls positively impacted is one of the key parameters in assessing our social returns.
Early Stage Sector-Agnostic investments to help enterprises pilot innovative solutions that make a difference to lives of women via
coLABS
(US,Latin America,Africa and Asia)
Investments via Funds and Co-Investments in companies with other Investors
Expanding capital availability to education enterprises besides risk sharing and providing education domain expertise
Supporting For-Profit Education enterprises building break through solutions for Indian mass market with funding and business line innovation
Innovative funding with neither debt obligation nor equity dilution. The pay back - a percentage of the topline.
Creating 'Access to Market' opportunities for our education portfolio companies
Collaboration with stakeholders of India's Budget Private Schools (BPS) with an objective to improve School Quality
A 6 month Zero Equity Blended Accelerator Program focused on improving USER ENGAGEMENT on mobile based edtech platforms
Cohort to reach 100 million users by 2020 of which 50% to be women
