Author Archives: Bob Bridge

College students can’t always get into the courses they want, even online ones. That’s why many schools share online courses across institutions to give students more flexibility in scheduling the classes they want and help them graduate.

Austin-based edtech startup College Consortium Inc., which does business as Acadeum, is one of the biggest players in this ecosystem, working with big schools like Texas A&M and smaller systems. Today, Acadeum announced it has closed an $11.9M series B funding round led by Austin-based Green Street Impact Partners. It is the fund’s first investment. Other investors included ECMC Group’s Education Impact Fund and Pearson Ventures.

Acadeum’s platform provides course sharing across national and regional schools, and the company has partnered with Coursera to expand offerings of professional certificates. Through course-sharing, schools can offer courses that they might not otherwise be able to.

For example, last year Complete College America launched a course-sharing initiative in partnership with Acadeum to help two-year schools aiming to start or expand technical programs.

“Today’s learners are older, and more likely to be parents or working, than at any point in our nation’s history. That new majority of learners are putting pressure on institutions to align course offerings with the realities of their schedules and responsibilities beyond the classroom,” David Daniels, CEO of Acadeum, stated. “At a moment when some are questioning the role and relevance of American colleges, we’re building tools to leverage the collective strength of our nation’s higher education system to unlock new opportunities for both institutions—and students.”

Acadeum was co-founded in 2016 by Joshua Pierce, Luis Felipe Rincon, Nathan Green, Osei Bonsu and Robert Manzer. It has now raised a total of $23.9M, according to Crunchbase.

Despite the economic uncertainties experienced by our angel investors in 2022, they
stepped up and invested in eleven social or environmental impact companies. SWAN angels are committed to making the world a better place.

SWAN’s investments enable creative entrepreneurs to
address important United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The SWAN Impact Network’s portfolio significantly increased in value in 2022.
And SWAN established a Philanthropic Fund that allows charitable
donations to be invested in companies that have been funded by SWAN angels.

In 2022, SWAN  added to its broad alliance of impact and syndication partners.

Yotta Energy has been selected by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and the U.S. Department of Energy as one of ten climate tech companies, hailing from Europe, Australia, North America and across the U.S, that are dedicated to significantly accelerating the move to a resilient, electrified, and clean economy, in New York and beyond.

Working across the value chain, these transformative companies are positioned for scale and ready to make an impact, with solutions ranging from cells and packs; thermal, long-duration, stationary and portable storage; mobility solutions; and distributed energy resources.

Austin, Texas-based Yotta Energy produces distributed energy products, including EV chargers and the first solar battery that integrates behind rooftop solar panels. The integrated battery significantly reduces installation costs, along with its plug-and-play design that means if you can install a solar module, you can install their battery.

The investment tracking platform SERAF featured Juan Thurman in the seventh in a series of interviews highlighting the work of interesting impact investors. Juan Thurman is a Director of the SWAN Impact Angel Network.

SERAF asked, “Looking ahead in early stage impact investing, what are you most excited about? What keeps you up at night?”

Juan replied, “When we started engaging with investors in 2016 they assumed impact investing was concessionary. Fortunately, investors have become more educated and now know you can make market or better returns investing in impact startups. The thing I am most excited about is working with early stage founders, helping them get traction and seeing them deliver impact in their chosen markets. Missing out on good deals is what keeps me up at night.”

Harmonic Bionics aims to empower patients and their care providers by designing intelligent technology that facilitates data-driven treatment for neurological and musculoskeletal movement impairments. Their flagship product, Harmony SHR™, is a bilateral upper extremity exoskeleton dynamically designed to provide unique value in three areas of practice: neuroscience and movement science research, movement disorder assessment, and rehabilitation.

Harmonic Bionics has announced that they have raised $3 million of venture funding from South Korea-based medical robot manufacturer Curexo, Inc.   Harmonic Bionics will now assist with US promotion and business development for Curexo’s Morning Walk S200, a robotic gait rehabilitation system, and CUVIS-spine, a surgical spine robot.

Last year, the company raised a $7.42 million Series A from H Robotics, Bass Investment, and DSC Investment.

After three years of dedicated service on the SWAN Board of Directors, Laura Hill is rotating off the board. She has brought to the board keen insights about angel investing, was instrumental in improving our deal flow process, has been the lead on planning and organizing SWAN social events, and most recently ably led the working group that nominated her replacement on the board.

Thank you, Laura!

SWAN is pleased to have Gwen Echols join our Board of Directors. Gwen brings a wealth of experience to the board and strengthens the Dallas representation on the board. Gwen is an experienced professional with a record of driving progress in the business and nonprofit community. Presently a nonprofit advisor and board member, she has supported Dallas agencies in leadership roles for over 20 years. Concurrently Gwen has provided mentorship and coaching to social impact leaders and entrepreneurs since 2018. Gwen is a frequent investor at SWAN, and has been active at  the Rockies Venture Club, one of the country’s oldest angel groups. Gwen was formerly a Senior Vice President with Bank of America, including career roles on the Bank’s merger team, in technology development, and through 2003, as Senior Vice President and relationship team leader in corporate treasury services.

SWAN is delighted to have Meagan Packard join our leadership as Director of Impact Reporting. She is tackling one of the most-challenging aspects of being an effective impact investing network, namely .quantifying the actual impact resulting from our investment dollars. We expect her efforts will make SWAN a recognized leader in reporting on the impact, and will position SWAN as a role model for other impact angel networks.

Quoting Meagan, “Our world needs novel solutions to critical conservation & sustainability issues now. My aim is to get cutting edge research into the marketplace quickly to start solving our global climate and biodiversity problems today”.