Newton is a joint venture between London Business School and LocalGlobe VC. The idea came about from both parties’ awareness of how homogeneous the venture ecosystem is and the need to bridge the gap between learning and networking.
We’re on a mission to make careers in VC more accessible and ensure the next generation of investors represents the world that we live in. We do this through bespoke training and development programmes which help people from overlooked and underestimated backgrounds break into venture capital, or accelerate their careers in the space. Our training provides the skills and support needed to help these talented professionals thrive.
What do you think makes this company unique?
We’re a unique blend of faculty and practitioner teaching, so our fellows are exposed to top tier learning from the best experts. Our VC Fundamentals programme helps those looking to secure their first role in VC or who are at entry level. And our VC Fellowship programme is designed for current venture investors looking to advance their careers. What’s interesting is how not everyone taking the course is necessarily looking to become an investor. Some are founders, finance professionals, doctors, artists, or lawyers.
Through Newton’s programs, they gain a holistic and practical view of the wider ecosystem which can be leveraged in many different ways and across a range of different sectors. We also help people from other walks of life, such as STEM specialists, transition into roles in the venture space.
Through our work, we’re challenging the industry to move forward and ensure greater diversity at all levels of the investment landscape. To date, 249 people from over 48 countries have taken part in our programmes. This has created a global community, which despite the distance, is close knit and supportive – a truly humbling thing to see.
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How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?
We launched Newton in 2020, so we were disrupted by the pandemic very early on in our journey! We moved quickly to pivot our offering and brought our Fundamentals programme online, ensuring our cohort could still move forward with their training. This was a learning curve for the whole team, but we worked closely with our partners at London Business School and LocalGlobe to deliver the programme without compromising on quality.
We’re constantly evolving our executive education offering and expanding it to give the widest pool of people possible access to careers in VC. For example, we’re currently in the process of launching our new programme, “STEM to VC”, which will allow STEM professionals to explore the world of VC and the impact they can have on backing STEM companies.
What can we hope to see from Newton in the future?
Our central mission is to bring more people from typically overlooked and underestimated backgrounds into venture. Everything we do is centred on delivering that goal. In the future, that means introducing new programmes reflecting industry gaps and creating opportunities to break into VC, establishing further partnerships with key industry players, and continuing to improve how we support our alumni. The lack of diversity in VC is a huge problem and our work to address this is only just getting started. In the Newton fellows, we see huge promise for the venture of tomorrow.
