JFFVentures is a market-rate venture fund investing in early-stage, tech-enabled companies that advance economic mobility for low- to middle-income earners in the U.S. Our solution is grounded in the belief that equitable access to education, employment, financial tools, and benefits is not only a moral imperative but also a major market opportunity.

Solution:

We back startups at the intersection of learning, work, and financial resilience, the “learn-to-earn” ecosystem. These include innovations in AI-powered upskilling and reskilling for youth and adult learners, labor marketplaces for frontline workers, fintech tools and access to benefits for gig economy earners, and infrastructure for small business owners and solopreneurs.

Approach:

Market-Rate Returns with Impact Discipline: We operate with the same financial rigor as any early-stage venture fund, targeting outsized returns while applying an explicit impact lens to deal sourcing, diligence, and post-investment support.
Strategic LP & Ecosystem Network: We’ve raised $25M of our $50M target from a diverse set of institutional LPs including the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Workday Foundation, Autodesk Foundation, ECMC Foundation, Kapor Foundation, American Student Assistance and Strada Education. Many of these partners provide strategic insight, policy leverage, and scaling channels.
Unique Edge Through JFF Partnership: Our key differentiator is our embedded relationship with Jobs for the Future (JFF), a 40-year-old national nonprofit with deep networks across employers, training providers, and public systems. Through this, we unlock distribution channels, employer adoption, higher ed networks and policy-informed scale for our portfolio companies.

Methodology:

We apply a dual lens of commercial potential and measurable impact at every stage:

Sourcing: We tap into accelerators, university labs, and founder communities focused on underserved populations while building our own AI tools to manage the vast external sourcing networks.
Diligence: We evaluate not only product-market fit and team strength, but also potential to serve low-income workers, immigrants, or overlooked small businesses.
Post-Investment: We help founders navigate policy shifts, partner with employers and higher ed institutions, integrate into training ecosystems, and report on both growth metrics and impact outcomes.

Our methodology ensures that companies aren’t just doing good, they’re scaling sustainably and competitively in markets that matter.

JFFVentures Economic Mobility Fund I

JFFVentures Economic Mobility Fund I