Look forward.

We invest in companies that will transform life, work, and care for modern families.

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We invest early to magnify big ideas.

We back visionary leaders building breakthrough technology companies that reimagine life for modern families, from childbirth to end-of-life. Like us, the founders we partner with are inspired by their lived experiences – as parents and caregivers – to leverage technology to solve long overlooked challenges for families of all types.

Investment Areas

We are leading a new category of investment and entrepreneurship to revolutionize the future for families. These underserved and significant market opportunities fall under four categories:

Future of Families

Ideas that will empower parents and transform life for modern families.

Aging
Innovation

Innovation that will reimagine care & life for older adults.

Household
Optimization

Companies that will revolutionize daily living at home to make families more efficient and joyful.

Work-Life
Reimagined

Solutions to transform the future of work for working parents, caregivers, and families.

Meet the Team

Image of magnify team members

Joanna Drake
Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Joanna is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who built next-generation media technology companies including ReacTV, Moxi, and the award-winning cable network Current TV. In the last decade, she has been an entrepreneurial leader in the venture industry, including the first operator angel investor with Broadway Angels, a General Partner managing Core Ventures Group, a Co-Founder of RAISE Global, and an active leader in the ALL Raise movement. Joanna has served on over a dozen private start-up boards and several nonprofit boards, including venture philanthropy pioneer Full Circle Fund and prestigious female C-level membership organization C200. She resides in the Bay Area and is constantly humbled at home by up to four kids and a demanding Berner named Drake.

Julie Wroblewski
Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Julie spent over a decade as an investor and advisor with institutional-scale family offices and mission-focused organizations, including launching and leading the venture capital investment portfolio and strategy at Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company created by Melinda French Gates to advance social progress in the United States. In her roles, Julie has invested in pre-revenue startups, category-defining companies, and industry-leading venture capital firms, and she’s built partnerships across sectors to seed innovation in emergent markets. She is a frequent speaker on purpose-driven venture capital, gender lens investing, and the care economy. Her interests as an investor have been shaped in part by her role as a family caregiver, and her earliest work experiences as a helicopter-certified EMT and caregiver for older adults and the disabled. Julie is a Kauffman Fellow and member of All Raise, and resides in Los Angeles with her family.

Marie Drez
Chief Financial Officer

Marie Drez brings over 20 years experience in finance and administration working with venture capital firms here in Silicon Valley. She recently ran the finance and administrative functions for Noventi Ventures and currently acts as the CFO for several firms in the Bay Area. She has a passion for working with emerging managers and their portfolio companies. Marie moved to the Bay Area during the dotcom boom and began her career in venture after spending over ten years in banking in Los Angeles. She received her B.S. from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Maricar Mahoney
Executive Assistant/Project Coordinator

Maricar Mahoney comes to Magnify Ventures with more than 18 years of experience in operations, events, and business administration. She has spent her career working with busy executives and entrepreneurs to organize, manage, develop, and execute their big ideas. Before starting at Magnify Ventures, Maricar worked 6 years in venture, as an Office Manager, Exec Admin, and accountant. Maricar earned a B.S. in Business Administration from San Francisco State University.

Portfolio Companies

We invest in visionary founders with bold ideas to reimagine life, work, and care for modern families. We are proud to partner with trailblazing entrepreneurs.

Companionship and care for older family members.
Trusted digital health solution for Hispanic families.
AI co-pilot for household optimization.
Mental healthcare for every stage of motherhood.
Social activity platform for health aging.
Family fintech solution to raise smart spenders.
Software for seamless employee leave.
Digital marketplace for affordable, accessible, quality childcare.
Simpler, smarter estate settlements for families.
Digital privacy solutions for businesses.
A world of parenting resources in one place.
Empowering teens with mentorship & lifelong skills.

Strategic Partners

Investors

Magnify is backed by like-minded Limited Partners, including Fund of Funds, Foundations, Family Offices and Business Leaders:

Pivotal Ventures
Breaker Cove
First Close
Polar Ventures
Aspen Grove
Ohana Advisors

The Perkins Fund
Sippel Farb Family Office
Silicon Valley Connect
Synetro Group
Vivaldi Capital Managers
Amy Banse
Leslie Blodgett

Teresa Briggs
Mary Cranston
Nancy Green
Nina Richardson
Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz
Tina Sharkey

Big ideas
made bigger.

Magnifying the ideas, news & leadership of our portfolio companies and partners in family technology, the care economy, and venture capital.

Partner Spotlight: Appa Health and UCSF Rosenman

We are grateful to have met the multi-generational and multi-discipline Appa Health founding team in the November UCSF Rosenman ADAPT semi-finalist pitch cohort. Serving as a judge in the ADAPT program for the second year, we have witnessed a range of remarkable entrepreneurs. ADAPT, a Rosenman Institute initiative, carefully selects these innovators to collaborate with leading healthcare providers and payor partners. This collaboration showcases their potential and significantly accelerates their go-to-market strategies.
Element3 Health Announces Rebranding, Changes Name to Grouper
Element3 Health, the national leader in group activity management and benefit administration, has changed its name to Grouper. The change reflects the company’s deep commitment to improving health, happiness and longevity through group activities and the social connections they create. The change comes at a time of rapid growth for the company, which saw its membership increase by over 500% last year.
This startup uses AI to help companies comply with privacy rules

Common Sense Privacy also plans to offer a public-facing seal for organizations that score high on the privacy scoreboard. Access to all of the services is currently waitlisted.The company offers its services on a subscription basis. Clients can also use the tools to see how potential decisions — like monetizing aspects of customer data — would impact their legal compliance and scorecard ratings.

Portfolio Company News

Market & Category Insights

Big Ideas Made Bigger