We are pleased to share SJF's latest bulletin, which announces new investments in Fit4D and Raise.  The bulletin also provides portfolio updates, shares upcoming events, and profiles one of SJF's impact investor partners.

 

Sincerely,

The SJF Team
SJF Highlights
NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS
SJF Leads Series A for Fit4D
 
SJF Ventures has led a Series A financing for Fit4D, a New York-based company delivering personalized and effective diabetic patient medical adherence programs through an optimized mix of its technology platform and human-based touch points.  Sovereign Health System and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska also participated.  The funding will enable the company to expand distribution of its innovative diabetes platform across new customer channels and leverage its platform to improve health outcomes for other chronic diseases.  Cody Nystrom and Stephanie Nieman led the investment for SJF.  Read more.  Fit4D will be rapidly expanding its New York-based team.  Referrals are appreciated.  Current job openings are listed here.
SJF Invests in Raise
 
SJF Ventures has invested in Raise, a San Francisco-headquartered platform that helps students in high school see clearer pathways towards affordability of attending college.  Raise empowers students to earn "Micro-Scholarships" throughout high school for their individual achievements, creating a more transparent and motivational process and enabling students to see guaranteed minimum amounts of aid that they can receive from educational institutions.  Owl Ventures, First Round Capital, Deborah Quazzo and other angels were also investors in this $4.5 million Series A financing.  Arrun Kapoor led the investment for SJF.  Read more.
PORTFOLIO NEWS
NEXTracker Announces Large Contracts

In June, NEXTracker inked a major supply agreement with Blattner Energy worth more than 1.0 gigawatt of solar trackers to be deployed in projects throughout North America over the next two years.  In July the company announced that it will ship its trackers to DEPCOM Power for the 42 megawatt Pawpaw Solar Facility in central Georgia. The Pawpaw project is part of a 400 megawatt solar generation portfolio that Southern Company subsidiary Georgia Power is developing in the state.  Read more about the Blattner agreement and DEPCOM partnership.
Validic Named Top Healthcare Disrupter
 
Validic, the leading platform for delivering accessible and actionable mobile health data, has been named a Top 10 Disrupter in Healthcare by Frost & Sullivan.  The report highlights that Validic "enables next-generation patient engagement and population management for care coordination and wellness programs," providing for transformative impact in the health care system.  Validic also recently partnered with InterSystems and Medidata to provide their customers expanded access to patient-generated data from a broad range of consumer and medical grade mobile health devices and apps.  Read more.
EnTouch Controls Partners with Interface Security Systems

EnTouch has teamed with Interface Security Systems to offer bundled energy management, security, and network services to national retail and restaurant chains.  EnTouch also has launched its Peak Energy Management Service to allow customers to save not only on overall energy usage but also on peak power charges via automated demand response.  Read more about the Interface partnership and Peak Energy Management Service. 
EY Recognizes Optoro Founders
 
EY announced that Tobin Moore (CEO & Co-Founder) and Adam Vitarello (President & Co-Founder) received the EY Entrepreneur Of The YearŽ 2015 Award in the Emerging Growth category in Greater Washington.  Optoro, a cloud-based technology company for optimizing excess and returned inventory, has been growing rapidly after raising $50 million at the end of 2014.  Read more.
Yieldbot Hires Google Executive
 
Deitra Mara has joined advertising technology company Yieldbot as Chief Operating Officer.  Mara brings more than 12 years of experience at Google working alongside leading advertisers, sales and support teams.  Most recently, she was Head of Operational Efficiency at Google. Prior to that she was Head of Social Solutions, and the Global Search Strategy Lead.
Think Through Learning Students Solve One Billion Math Problems

Think Through Learning announced that students using its program have surpassed one billion math problems during the '14/'15 school year.  This result came from more than 2.9 million students across 13,000 schools and equates to 8-10 million math problems being answered per day.  Read more.
Gartner Highlights Ayla Networks

Ayla Networks was named to Gartner's Cool Vendor list in the Internet of Things (IoT) Category.  Read more.
SJF Portfolio Companies Repeat Appearances in Inc.'s Annual Ranking
 
SJF portfolio company Aseptia ranked 20th in Inc.'s 2015 list of the 5,000 fastest growing U.S. private companies and ranked first in the food and beverage category, after being ranked second in the category last year.  Vital Farms, which in 2012 also held the top position in the food and beverage category, joined the Inc. 5000 list for the fourth consecutive year, this time ranking 904th across all industries.  MediaMath was listed for the third time, ending up at 884th this year.  Think Through Learning also had repeat listings on the high-growth private company list.
PUBLICATIONS
SJF Examines Ed Tech Exit Environment
 
SJF's recent article about education technology makes the claim that although historical exit environment trends are less robust than those observed in traditional technology markets, there are imminent trends and strategies that can be taken to drive strong financial and social impacts in this sector.  The article, which was authored by Arrun Kapoor and Julie Brickman, was published in EdSurge.
New Impact Case Studies and Metrics Produced
 
SJF has produced four new case studies and updated impact metrics on the SJF website Impact page.  The case studies highlight Optoro's new environmental impact model, Validic's role in bridging the health data interoperability gap (with video of CTO Drew Schiller), Think Through Learning's demonstrated improved educational outcomes, and Rustic Crust's rebuilding after a 2014 fire (with news coverage video.)  Visit our Impact site here.
SJF Reflection on Impact Fund Performance Published in SSIR
 
Dave Kirkpatrick and Stephanie Nieman joined leading impact investors in a Stanford Social Innovation Review article responding to the recent impact investment benchmark report released by the Global Impact Investing Network and Cambridge Associates.  Read the blog.
RECOGNITIONS AND EVENTS
SJF is proud to be named a B Corp Best for Workers Honoree for 2015, an honor earned with a B Impact Assessment Workers score in the top 10% of peer certified B Corporations.  SJF provides excellent employee benefits and engagement practices at our firm and encourages our portfolio companies to do the same.  Read more.

David Griest will be presenting with portfolio company CEO Tobin Moore of Optoro at SXSW Eco 2015 in Austin, TX, October 5-7 in a session titled "Moving Materials Towards a Circular Economy."  David and Christine Primmer are also serving as judges for the startup pitch competition.

Dave Kirkpatrick and Stephanie Nieman will both speak at SOCAP at the Impact Investing Success Stories and the Impact Measurement: Views from the Experts panels on October 8 in San Francisco.  Event details.

Cody Nystrom will speak at the Kayo Women's Private Equity Conference in Washington, D.C. on October 21 and at the Women's Alternative Investment Summit in New York on November 5 and 6.  Event details.
FEATURED SJF VENTURES INVESTOR
The CAPROCK Group

The CAPROCK Group is a registered investment advisor serving as an outsourced CFO/CIO to a select group of families and foundations. The CAPROCK Group provides deep domain expertise and conflict-free advice across the full asset class spectrum, including those with embedded social or environmental impact intentions.
 
The CAPROCK Group's goal is to protect and grow its clients' wealth. Every opportunity is therefore evaluated first through the lens of investment merit. After satisfying that standard, each investment is then screened through a proprietary tool: Impact Portfolio Allocation Review (IPAR). This methodology helps The CAPROCK Group frame the impact orientation of any investment, and construct portfolios in precise alignment with clients' needs and values. The result is a traditional investment advisory firm that is uniquely qualified to support clients in their pursuit of financial and impact returns.