We dive deep into our sectors. Our research drives our insights and thesis-driven approach.

We’re kicking off hiring for our MBA interns for the 2020–21 school year. Our internship program runs from October-April with the option to extend into the summer. Interns will focus on assisting the firm’s research deep dives to support investment thesis development. More on the role and application below. All internships include a stipend. Given the current circumstances, we expect the internships will be remote and we’ll be considering applications from across the U.S.

The Retail industry has seen massive shifts over the past several years as eCommerce continues to grow as a percentage of overall spend. COVID-19 accelerated many of the events that had been forecasted by industry observers for years: from the pressure and bankruptcies of legacy offline retailers to increasing adoption of eCommerce across categories that had historically been underpenetrated across the U.S. (ex. Grocery). These trends accelerated an already dominant trend toward eCommerce platforms like Amazon and Shopify.

Equal Ventures was founded to enable the entrepreneurs transforming society and industry. At the core of our investment approach is a thesis-driven philosophy for investing across markets. Although we are a generalist fund, we allocate much of our research time and efforts to a few key markets that we have developed expertise in. We refer to these as our ‘Majors’.

It’s impossible to understate the transformative impact Amazon has had on the modern supply chain landscape. As Amazon increasingly takes ownership over its logistics stack, players across the industry have been forced to modernize their systems to meet customer parity. By mid 2019, Amazon was managing over 45% of its own shipments, up from 15% at the start of 2017, spending over $25 billion on fulfillment in the first 6 months of 2020. It has additionally launched its own digital freight brokerage with rates significantly lower than those in the broader market.

Our interest in the care economies is focused around two segments of dependent care: childcare and eldercare. On the childcare side, the associated costs have become an increasingly large burden on dual-income families. 32% of families spend over 20% of their annual household income on childcare, with costs continuing to rise. Costs for nannies and sitters rose 25% between 2013 and 2018, with in-center costs rising almost 15% during the same time period. The industry also faces concerns as leading marketplaces such as care.com come under fire for the lack of vetting of care providers. While birthing rates have dropped, some theorize that we’ve seen a permanent shift in birthing age (from late twenties to early thirties) that is specific to millennials, which ultimately could lead to a surge in demand for childcare in the years to come. These concerns are only amplified by COVID which has resulted in significant closures of legacy centers.