Can Venture Capital Fight Inequality?
VC in 33 Seconds
In this video, Ron Levin highlights the mission behind his book, Higher Purpose Venture Capital, which features 50 founders tackling some of society’s most urgent challenges — from education and healthcare to food and housing insecurity. Backed by venture capital, these entrepreneurs are building companies that address both the causes and symptoms of social and wealth inequality. Discover how innovation and impact can go hand in hand.
VC in 33: Can Venture Capital Fight Inequality?
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Ron Levin shares the inspiration behind his book, Higher Purpose Venture Capital, which profiles 50 VC-backed founders working to close gaps in education, healthcare, housing, and more. These entrepreneurs are using business as a force for good — addressing the root causes and effects of social and economic inequality through innovation.
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Ron Levin
Managing Partner and Head of AV Super Angel Partner ProgramRon brings a dynamic blend of operational leadership, global business acumen, and values-driven investing to early-stage venture capital. As Managing Partner and Head of the AV Seed Fund at Alumni Ventures, he leads investments in bold, frontier technologies that span sectors and geographies. Ron’s experience ranges from founding and scaling unicorn-status startups to guiding impact-focused portfolios that generate both financial and societal returns. Before joining Alumni Ventures in 2019, Ron served on the Investment Committee at Yard Ventures, AV’s fund for the Harvard community. His own entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding and leading TravelPerk, an enterprise travel management platform that reached multibillion-dollar valuation and global scale. Prior to that, he launched the B2B division of Booking.com and held strategic roles at McKinsey & Co., US Airways, the Maersk Group, and Lycos. Ron studied entrepreneurship at Babson College and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. A frequent speaker at global investor conferences and guest on top VC podcasts, he is also a passionate world traveler—having visited over 140 countries and all 50 U.S. states. He resides near Boston with his wife and three young children, and shares personal reflections and industry insights at ronlevin.substack.com.
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You can find the full transcript below:
Ron Levin:
Not everyone has had the opportunity to get the same level of education, of access to healthcare, of food and housing security. So my book tells the story of 50 founders that are solving problems across all of these different sectors. Founders of companies who all have been backed by VC but are ultimately solving a problem related to both the causes and symptoms of social and wealth inequality.
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