BUENOS AIRES, Argentina & SAN FRANCISCO & FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Rise Fund, a global investment fund committed to achieving measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns, today announced that it has made a $20 million investment into Digital House, a group of schools providing digital skills to Latin America’s next generation. The company was co-founded by two experienced entrepreneurs, Eduardo Bruchou and Nelson Duboscq, who previously founded HSM (now WOBI), which was sold to Laureate in 2012. Other investors in Digital House include some of Latin America’s most prominent entrepreneurs and venture capitalists: Kaszek Ventures; Marcos Galperin, Founder and CEO of MercadoLibre; and Martin Migoya, Co-Founder and CEO of Globant. Endeavor Catalyst and Omidyar Network are also investing alongside The Rise Fund and the existing investors in this funding round.
“We’re thrilled to announce The Rise Fund’s first investment in Latin America,” said Bill McGlashan, Founder and Managing Partner of TPG Growth and Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise Fund. “Digital House, a company that is enabling individuals and businesses to develop digital expertise, is a great example of the type of innovative, impact-driven businesses we’re looking to partner with. We look forward to continuing to identify great opportunities like this in Latin America and around the world.”
Digital House offers comprehensive education programs that teach the skills necessary to participate and succeed in today’s economy. Based in Argentina, Digital House offers technical coding and a variety of other courses to equip students at all levels to build careers in software development, data science, artificial intelligence and analytics, and digital marketing. Graduates of the program have gone on to work at notable technology companies. Digital House also offers companies customized training programs for their employees.
“We founded Digital House to educate the next generation of professionals to innovate and transform companies in order to stay competitive in a global economy,” said Nelson Duboscq, Co-Founder and CEO of Digital House. “That dream cannot become a reality without the right partners. We chose The Rise Fund because of their commitment to education and their business building capabilities, which can help us scale internationally. In addition to growing our campuses in Argentina, we look forward to launching in Brazil and Mexico in the next year.”
The Rise Fund is a $2 billion social impact fund launched by TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity fund of global alternative asset firm TPG. The Rise Fund is supported by a Founders Board that consists of highly accomplished philanthropists and impact investors, each of whom contributes extensive experience operating in the private and social sectors. The Rise Fund invests across seven sectors in which independent research has shown that impact is both achievable and measurable in quantitative terms: education, energy, food and agriculture, financial services, growth infrastructure, healthcare, and technology, media and telecommunications (TMT).
“At The Rise Fund, strong demand for career-relevant education, especially in science and technology fields, is a macro theme we have been pursuing for investment,” said John Rogers, Partner and Education Sector Lead at The Rise Fund. “Digital House has grown rapidly to serve more than 2,500 students in just two years, and our diligence confirmed that the company is delivering real impact at scale for students and employers. We see tremendous potential for continued growth, and we are excited to partner with Nelson, Eduardo, and the rest of the team to build and scale the company.”
The Rise Fund’s investments in education are supported by its sector team, which includes industry veterans Arne Duncan, the former U.S. Secretary of Education, and Rick Levin, the former CEO of Coursera and previous President of Yale University. Digital House marks The Rise Fund’s third investment in the education sector and its sixth since The Rise Fund’s launch last year.
“Across Latin America, the expansion of the digital economy has resulted in more than 500,000 unfilled technical positions. More and more, companies are hungry for digitally-trained professionals, but are unable to find qualified, skilled candidates that address this need,” said Angel Uribe, Senior Advisor to The Rise Fund and TPG Growth for Latin America. “Our investment in Digital House is a great example of Rise’s strategy to partner with innovators that are providing regionally-tailored, outcome-driven solutions for locally-relevant challenges. We look forward to continuing to partner with more trailblazing entrepreneurs across the region.”
Additional investments by The Rise Fund include:
- EverFi, a leading provider of subscription-based digital learning to K-12 schools, universities, corporations, sports teams, and NGOs.
- Dodla Dairy, a fresh dairy product company offering a wide range of milk products across 66 regions in South India.
- Brava Home, a domestic hardware and software manufacturer that creates an oven that uses approximately 90% less energy than conventional ovens.
- Dharma, a SaaS data aggregation platform that simplifies data collection, management, analysis, and visualization to allow information to be collected and understood anywhere, in any language, on any device (both online and offline).
- The Lead School, a school management service in India that focuses on making education accessible and affordable to children in underserved communities.
Last year, prior to the launch of The Rise Fund, TPG Growth invested in Resultados Digitais, the leading digital-marketing automation platform in Brazil.
About Digital House
Digital House is an education company born under the premise of creating a next generation of talent and professionals for the tech world to dream, innovate, and create a digital future that can transform industries.
Digital House offers intensive courses and executive programs in Full Stack Web Development, Mobile Development, Artificial Intelligence, UX Design, Data Science, Data Analytics, Digital Product Management and Digital Marketing, taught by recognized experts who share their knowledge and experiences in every class.
About The Rise Fund
The Rise Fund is a global fund committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns—referred to as “complete returns.” The Rise Fund is managed by TPG Growth, the global growth equity and middle market buyout platform of alternative asset firm TPG. TPG Growth Founder and Managing Partner Bill McGlashan, U2 lead singer Bono, a well-known activist and a special partner with TPG Growth, and Jeff Skoll, a global entrepreneur, film producer, and impact investor, co-founded The Rise Fund. They were joined by a group of influential thought leaders with a deep personal and professional commitment to driving social and environmental progress, who came together to form the Founders Board. The Rise Fund’s objectives align with the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Rise Fund invests in education, energy, food and agriculture, financial services, growth infrastructure, healthcare, and TMT companies that deliver complete returns.
About TPG Growth
TPG Growth is the middle market and growth equity investment platform of TPG, the global private investment firm. With more than $8.3 billion of assets under management, TPG Growth targets investments in a broad range of industries and geographies. TPG Growth has the deep sector knowledge, operational resources, and global experience to drive value creation, and help companies reach their full potential. The firm is backed by the resources of TPG, which has more than $73 billion of assets under management. For more information, visit www.tpg.com.