The Rise Fund Leads Series A Financing in Dharma

The Rise Fund invests in Dharma to accelerate its mission of backing impact-driven companies to solve complex global issues.

WASHINGTON & SAN FRANCISCO--()--The Rise Fund, a global investment fund committed to achieving measurable social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns, today announced it led a Series A investment into Dharma Platform, Inc. (Dharma) to help catalyze the company’s next phase of growth. Further terms of the transaction were undisclosed. Dharma (http://dharma.ai/) is a fully-integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) data platform–simplifying data collection, management, analysis, and visualization, allowing information to be collected and understood anywhere, in any language, on any device–both online and off. The Rise Fund is managed by TPG Growth, the growth equity and middle market buyout fund of global alternative asset firm TPG.

“Dharma revolutionizes the way humanitarian and public sector organizations respond to areas of conflict, disaster relief, and infectious disease outbreaks,” said Larry Brilliant, MD, MPH, former Executive Director of Google.org, TED prize winner, and recently appointed Dharma board member. “Our vision is to continue the great work we’re doing in some of the world’s most crisis-driven regions, while introducing Dharma to organizations across other sectors that would benefit greatly from its powerful, proven technology.”

“While at the World Health Organization (WHO), I wanted to spend my time responding to outbreaks rather than cleaning Excel spreadsheets, making pivot tables, and hiring consultants. I couldn't believe an out-of-the-box solution didn't already exist,” said Jesse Berns, Co-Founder and CEO of Dharma. “Michael Roytman (Board Chair) and I founded Dharma because we believe everyone should have access to enterprise-level insights, and then Stefan Nagey (Chief Technology Officer) helped us build it. We’re excited to partner with the Rise Fund to expand our operations, grow our team and further help our customers solve complex global issues at scale.”

Dharma was founded to address a basic need: every day users of data, from capture to storage to analysis, need a single solution they can craft and iterate in minutes, not days or weeks. Dharma is that solution, replacing cumbersome and inefficient paper-based processes, complicated spreadsheets, and rigid tools, allowing anyone, anywhere, to rapidly design, implement, manage, scale and use their data in real-time.

Dharma's breakthrough technology has already been battle-tested in some of the most challenging environments on Earth. It is currently in use by those responding to some of the most dire crises worldwide—throughout rural medical clinics in Iraq, for hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and the humanitarian crisis in Syria—tracking crucial supplies, securing sensitive information, managing projects and teams, and in many cases, saving lives.

“When it comes to the power of mobile technology, data and analytics to transform frontline efforts in not only humanitarian and public-sector organizations, but also in healthcare, education, water and sanitation, and related supply chains, it’s an imperative rather than a luxury,” said Bill McGlashan, TPG Growth Founder and Managing Partner and Co-Founder and CEO of The Rise Fund. “The beauty of Dharma lies in its significant potential to enable and drive positive social impact, as well as the technology’s considerable commercial application across other sectors globally.”

TPG Growth’s other investments include home-sharing platform Airbnb; C3 IoT, a full-stack IoT development platform; Domo, a cloud-based business management platform; EverFi, a leading provider of subscription-based digital learning to K-12 schools, universities, corporations, sports teams, and nonprofits; Noodle.ai, an enterprise artificial intelligence company; and Spotify, a leading music streaming service that allows users to discover, manage, and share music.

In addition to Dr. Larry Brilliant, who helped lead the eradication of smallpox, Dharma’s new additions to the board of directors include Steve Singh, CEO of Docker and former CEO of Concur, and Brian Dunlap, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Sector Lead for The Rise Fund.

About Dharma

Dharma allows clients, regardless of technical or analytic background, to create, manage, analyze, and use data in real-time, all over the world. Dharma is a complete solution for all aspects of the data lifecycle, and provides something entirely new: the ability for any user, anywhere, to derive insights from their day-to-day information. No need for the typical in-house IT, heavy on-premise database providers, or cost-prohibitive data science consulting services. Dharma makes it easy to throw out those excel sheets, DIY collection or BI tools, entrenched consultants, and spend your time truly utilizing, not cleaning, your daily information. To learn more and sign up for an account, visit http://dharma.ai/h.

About The Rise Fund

The Rise Fund is a global fund committed to achieving measurable, positive social and environmental outcomes alongside competitive financial returns—what we call “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.

Contacts

Dharma
Margot Edelman, 415-486-3281
margot.edelman@edelman.com
or
The Rise Fund
Ellen Gonda, 415-743-1550
media@tpg.com

Release Summary

The Rise Fund today announced it led a Series A investment into Dharma Platform, Inc. to help catalyze the company’s next phase of growth.

Contacts

Dharma
Margot Edelman, 415-486-3281
margot.edelman@edelman.com
or
The Rise Fund
Ellen Gonda, 415-743-1550
media@tpg.com