Clara Brenner MBA’12 and Julie Lein MBA’12, who met at Sloan School of Management, bonded over a mutual dislike of a fashion show run by the business school’s women’s group.
They went on to create Tumml, a nonprofit focused on start-ups combating urban problems, before forming Urban Innovation Fund, which has raised $212m to invest in such firms.
Its portfolio includes companies offering electric vehicle charging, children’s coding education, and affordable-housing finance, and those run by under-represented entrepreneurs.
Brenner and Lein look for companies with the potential for enormous growth and a positive impact on cities and their residents, taking into account regulatory factors and potential profits.
Recent successes include Electriphi, a company offering EV charging and fleet management software, which was acquired by Ford.