SNHU launches $15m fund

Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) has partnered venture firm Rethink Education to create a $15m seed fund targeting early-stage edtech enterprises, EdSurge has reported.

The Rethink Education Seed Fund aims to encourage entrepreneurs, researchers and technologists to develop data-driven innovations that improve access and affordability in the education-to-workforce pipeline, the two partners said.

SNHU committed $10m while its partner contributed the remainder to the fund, which will be distributed among more than two dozen seed-stage edtech companies over the next five years.

The fund, which is now accepting pitch decks, will offer between $250,000 and $750,000 to support preliminary operations – including R&D and market testing – in exchange for equity in the companies. 

SNHU will be tasked with testing products under development to ensure they fulfill pedagogical requirements, while Rethink will select suitable entrepreneurs and conduct due diligence on their business and operations.

Funding recipients will have the opportunity to develop their ideas by working with SNHU’s internal consultancy and R&D incubator Sandbox Collaborative, which refines and tests new educational models and partnerships.

The move to partner Rethink Education followed a board discussion over the university’s endowment, SNHU president Paul LeBlanc told EdSurge. Rather than turning over the endowment to an external investment manager, LeBlanc proposed that the board consider investing in an initiative that would give SNHU “a strategic advantage”. 

LeBlanc told EdSurge: “Not every investment will be equally successful. But what if one of these home-run bets pays off?”