Acumen America

Excited to launch our new website today. Read a note from Catherine Casey Nanda and Amon Anderson reflecting on nine years of Acumen America and discussing our bold strategy for the future.

Empathy is at the heart of everything we do. Not because it’s good for business, or because it makes LPs or our founders happy, but because it’s who we are. While there are lessons and best practices the Symphonic team has picked up throughout our professional experiences, treating people with kindness, being transparent, and empathetic our central to who we are and what we believe makes our business better. Our founder Sydney Paige Thomas recently spoke with Acumen America about Symphonic’s approach to supporting founders and why it is intentionally different from other firms. Read her conversation with Amon Anderson: https://lnkd.in/gBcsBWGP. #venturecapitalist #founders #empathy #withkindness

AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler wants us to listen to young workers. "Young people are challenging the status quo. They're bringing in new perspectives. This generation is so civic minded and so collaborative that it warrants listening to. Society is geared toward listening to more seasoned perspectives, but I think that it's really about listening to young people." Read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/eRv5_JzT 

"I want to build things where people feel that they belong," Beatriz Acevedo, founder of our portfolio company Suma Wealth, told ADWEEK. Read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/d2upuBtS 

Health and economic justice are essential to ending poverty in America, and Acumen America is leading the charge to make it happen by investing in innovative solutions aimed at driving systemic change. By backing mission-driven entrepreneurs, Acumen America is not only supporting individual ventures but also sparking a ripple effect of positive transformation across entire sectors. Their approach is about more than funding—it’s about empowering changemakers who are reimagining the future of social and economic justice. Explore their vision for a more equitable future: https://lnkd.in/epsF9F_i

Our portfolio company Zócalo Health provides Latinos with community-oriented care. Here, Zocalo's chief medical officer Dr. Sarah Lopez, MD, MBA reflects on Zócalo's mission and its Cafecitos, Cumbia y Salud initiative. "We recognized that the healthcare system often fails to meet the needs of Latino families, leaving them to navigate a landscape not designed with them in mind. That’s why we built Zócalo Health—not just to offer clinical services but to provide culturally competent care that resonates with our people." https://lnkd.in/ezk-NpXR

Catherine Casey Nanda and Amon Anderson spoke with RWJF about  Acumen America's work. "In 2022, only 1% of the $200 billion in venture capital went to Black founders, less than 3% went to companies with all-female founding teams, and less than 18% went to companies with both a male and female co-founder," Casey-Nanda says. "So, we want to change that model, and we have built a portfolio where over 60% of our companies are led by an underrepresented founder and over 40% by a female founder. We are trying to continue to do better with each investment that we make."   Read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/e9DJPu39  

Medicaid is ripe for innovation that scales. But we also need to pull policy levers too. West County Health Centers CEO Jason Cunningham would align the payment model better with what is needed to provide care for the most high cost, high needs, and very vulnerable patients. Read the rest of our ideas for overnight policy changes here: https://lnkd.in/emrZTB_P

Amon Anderson sat down with Symphonic Capital's Sydney Paige Thomas to talk about early investing, bucking Silicon Valley trends, and partnering with the public sector to accelerate scale. "There's this prevailing notion that the best founders don't need help. And I think that’s just full stop, not true," Thomas says. "There’s this really weird groupthink around what we expect the best founders to do. We don’t subscribe to that. What we're doing is very radically different from almost every other early-stage venture capital fund." Read the whole interview here: https://lnkd.in/gBcsBWGP

A week late, but I'm still buzzing from a fantastic HMA Conference in Chicago last week. Thanks to David Kulick, R.J. Briscione, and the entire HMA team for such an engaging few days among health plan executives, entrepreneurs, state Medicaid leaders and so many other fantastic people driving change in Medicaid and Medicare. I had the privilege of joining Neil Batlivala and Jami Snyder in conversation on how to support the adoption of innovation in Medicaid, and caught up with Medicaid Innovation Collaborative partners like NY Medicaid Director Amir Bassiri. There's meaningful work to be done, but I'm energized and hopeful for what this community will build.