“There is a funeral procession in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. The river that gives us water to drink is the same one that might wash us away.”
- “All at Once” by Clint Smith
Building, even in the best of times, is difficult and tedious work. Success requires bold leaders, committed partners, and creative problem solving. And 2025 was not the best of times, 12 months marked by an ever-changing policy environment and attacks on our already precarious social safety net. So we did what we know best: we focused on helping our portfolio companies, partners, and community drive toward a better, more equitable America.
Every day we were inspired by the visionary entrepreneurs we’ve invested in, the essential real-world solutions they are building, and how they’re changing broken systems. We feel an urgency to our work fueled by real momentum, hard-fought progress, and renewed conviction that our community is leading the way.
Setting the stage at the CEO Summit
We began the year with our inaugural CEO Summit, a two-day gathering of our founders, CEOs, and partners. It was the first time since we started Acumen America a decade ago that so many of us convened in one place.
The writer, poet, and scholar Clint Smith set the tone on opening night by reading from his new book of poetry, Above Ground. His poem “All at Once” captures how the good and bad, highs and lows, successes and setbacks arrive in tandem. This idea of everything all at once became a refrain for the Acumen America team throughout the year.
When you combine good ideas, good people, and good infrastructure, good things happen even in difficult times.
Over the course of the Summit, founders built connections with each other while sharing learnings and struggles, best practices and stress-relieving strategies. We discussed how we can build an America that works for everyone, the policy challenges we’re facing, and the innovative solutions our entrepreneurs are enacting. We didn’t just discuss the problems we are working to solve, though. Introductions were made. Money was raised. New partnerships were formed. And everyone left the Summit ready to attack our country’s biggest problems with a new fervor, and a new network of people to help them.
These entrepreneurs are the foundation of Acumen America. They are our strongest asset. They come from all over the country and hail from different backgrounds. Their commonality is the work they are doing in their communities and for their communities. They are the leaders the United States needs now.
Building momentum
In 2025, we recentered our focus to outcomes that drive real impact. When you combine good ideas, good people, and good infrastructure, good things happen even in difficult times.
Our new partnership with Reckitt Catalyst and Serena Williams is symbolic of our broader momentum. For this new partnership, we are identifying and investing in early-stage, for-profit companies to improve healthcare access, affordability, and reduce disparities in health outcomes in America. But it’s more than dollars invested, we are building a community of mentorship and support for female and underrepresented founders.
This partnership with Reckitt and Williams also helped grow the visibility and profile of Acumen America and our portfolio companies. We kicked off the partnership at the Cannes Lions Festival in June, where Catherine Casey Nanda shared the stage with Williams, Reckitt’s Sheila Redzepi, and CNBC’s Tania Bryer. This fall, Zócalo founder Erik Cardenas was part of Reckitt Catalyst UN General Assembly events with Williams, Acumen global’s founder and CEO Jacqueline Novogratz, and Reckitt’s Kris Licht and Jérôme Lemaire.
We’re thrilled for Reckitt to join our partner community alongside Barclays, Takeda, Gates Foundation, Ballmer Group, Alnylam, and others. We have a deep and committed group of partners, whose strategic and financial support makes our work possible.
Ten years on, the problems we designed Acumen America to tackle have never felt more urgent. And, a decade in, we're better positioned than ever to address those challenges.
Our portfolio companies are also building momentum. Faced with shifting government policies and a protracted government shutdown, they spun up programs to help their communities, while continuing along their existing roadmaps:
- Upward Health’s Shoulder to Shoulder foundation provided help to high-need individuals and families with their non-healthcare needs.
- SUMA Wealth partnered with the city of Los Angeles on a financial literacy hub to teach young people how to budget, build credit, and save money as their parents faced potential deportation.
- When SNAP benefits were paused during the government shutdown, Everytable bolstered their partnership with Compton College in Los Angeles by doubling the free meals they provide eligible students from one meal a day to two, totaling 10 meals per week.
These companies and entrepreneurs demonstrate what it means to understand the needs of your community and respond. This is why we invest in founders who are deeply invested in their communities: because they have the knowledge, context, and trust to improve the lives of people in them.
Accelerating progress
Given the challenges facing our country, maintaining momentum isn’t enough. We must accelerate our best investing work, increase the rate and scale of change, and help entrepreneurs maximize their impact. We must move faster and fix things.
In 2025, many of our portfolio companies achieved breakout status and are becoming category leaders:
- Esusu launched CreditClimb, a partnership with Zillow to help renters build credit. 87% of renters don't see their rent payments reflected in their credit reports, CreditClimb turns on-time rent payments into into stronger credit scores. ClimbCredit will expand rent reporting to over 228 million renters across America and build paths to financial stability and home ownership. Esusu just announced a Series C fundraise that will help founders Samir Goel and Wemimo Abbey scale the company to new heights.
- Boulder Care’s Stephanie Strong used her voice and platform to lead. This fall, Boulder launched “Treat Better,” a billboard campaign in Portland raising awareness for recovery and Boulder’s telehealth support services. “People asked for addiction care that’s honoring their story, not one-size-fits-all, and that’s what they need culturally and that respects them and their autonomy,” founder and Strong told the Portland Business Journal. “That helped us shape our care model and the campaign for what people need to be successful and get well.” And Boulder’s model works: 93% of their patients are meeting their goals of reducing unwanted use and they have a net promoter score that is over twice the national average.
- Reema Health raised a $19 million series B round to expand its Medicaid engagement platform. Reema’s founder Justin Ley is a mission-driven CEO with a human-centered approach to care and under his direction the company is poised for nationwide scale.
We’re accelerating our work in the Medicaid space, too. New work requirements are a pressing issue for Medicaid agencies, health plans, and providers. In November, Medicaid Innovation Collaborative (MIC) executive director Veenu Aulakh hosted a showcase of tech innovations to support work requirements—including our new portfolio company ThriveLink—with the Center for Health Care Strategies, in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The showcase connected state Medicaid agency staff from across the country with innovative solutions to onerous work requirements for public benefits.
We are the leading early-stage investor in Medicaid innovation. Through our MIC program, we are bringing real solutions to state Medicaid agencies in the face of these new work requirements can help ensure many families continue to receive benefits. We know investing in companies doesn’t ensure adoption, so we connect our entrepreneurs with leadership across the Medicaid ecosystem, from state Medicaid directors to health plans.
A sense of conviction
Ten years on, the problems we designed Acumen America to tackle have never felt more urgent. And, a decade in, we're better positioned than ever to address those challenges. We’ve built an incredible team, including our new investment director Yichen Feng, that can identify, fund, and work with founders who can meet the demands that America has right now. Lily Brown and Meaghan Gamboa also joined Acumen America this year to bolster our all-star team of Maya Makkawi, Steven Peralta, Veenu Aulakh, and Omar Benitez.
Our strategy is working. We are working to meet the moment. But we also know that the work is never done and that we can always do more. We need additional deeply aligned strategic partners who can provide capital at scale to grow this work. Together, we can take our strong track record and our stronger convictions, and build out our efforts at systems change, our MIC program, and our other work bridging the wealth gap through workforce and financial inclusion.
We began with building, so let’s end here, too. Building is always hard. It was harder in 2025, and will be harder still in 2026. It’s harder for many communities across this country, harder for entrepreneurs to raise capital, harder to do the everyday work in their communities, harder to succeed.
But hard is not impossible. We’re in this together. And together there’s hope. Hard and hope, all at once. On to next year, together.
Catherine and Amon co-lead Acumen America.
