Invests in infrastructure supporting women and working families, with a focus on education, economic empowerment, and family well-being initiatives.
Springbank Collective is an early-stage investment firm that focuses on the infrastructure that supports women and working families.
Key people at Springbank Collective.
# Springbank Collective: Investing in the Infrastructure of Equity
Springbank Collective is a New York-based early-stage venture capital firm with a singular mission: to unlock the $1 trillion market opportunity hidden within the infrastructure needs of women and working families[1][2]. Founded by experienced operators from finance, consulting, and retail sectors, the firm invests from pre-seed through Series A, targeting companies that address three interconnected pillars: Care (caregiving solutions for children, elders, and self-care), Career (workplace reimagination and fair employment), and Consumer (sustainable improvements to daily life)[2].
What distinguishes Springbank is its commitment to product-led impact—the firm deliberately invests in companies where the product or service itself *is* the impact mechanism. As the portfolio companies grow and generate revenue, they simultaneously close the gender gap and improve outcomes for working families[2]. This approach transforms social impact from a secondary consideration into the core business model, aligning financial returns with measurable social outcomes. The firm operates with a 2.5 percent management fee and 20 percent carried interest, backed by institutional investors[6].
Springbank Collective emerged from the deep operational experience of its founding partners. Courtney Leimkuhler, co-founder and partner, spent her career navigating financial services from Goldman Sachs through the New York Stock Exchange, where she led M&A and corporate strategy before serving as CFO of Marsh, a global insurance broker with 35,000 employees[5]. Jen Lee Koss, founding partner, built her expertise across consumer and retail sectors, founding the experiential retail agency BRIKA (acquired in 2021) and spending over a decade in management consulting at firms like The Parthenon Group and The Bridgespan Group[5].
This combination of Wall Street rigor, operational scale, and consumer-sector insight shaped the firm's thesis. Rather than approaching gender equity and family well-being as charitable concerns, the founders recognized a massive, underserved market opportunity. Their debut fund closed in June 2023[4], marking the formalization of a thesis they had been testing through angel investments and advisory roles for years. The founding team has successfully navigated over 30 deals across North America and Europe, building a track record that informed their venture strategy[1].
Springbank's partners bring genuine operating experience rather than pure capital deployment expertise. Leimkuhler's background in M&A and corporate strategy at Fortune 500 scale, combined with Koss's consumer product and retail experience, means the firm understands both the strategic and tactical challenges portfolio companies face. This translates into hands-on support beyond capital provision[1][5].
Beyond the core fund, the firm created the Springbank Collective—a curated network of hand-picked members from diverse sectors and industries who invest alongside the fund and add direct value to portfolio companies[2]. This model transforms the firm from a traditional VC into an ecosystem orchestrator, providing portfolio companies with access to expertise, networks, and follow-on capital from aligned investors.
While many venture firms claim broad mandates, Springbank operates with laser focus on a specific thesis: infrastructure serving women and working families. Yet this focus unlocks a $12 trillion GDP opportunity by addressing generations of gender and social inequity[2]. The firm's clarity attracts founders solving real problems in underserved markets and resonates with institutional LPs seeking both financial returns and measurable impact.
The firm deploys checks ranging from $500K to $3M, with particular strength in leading seed rounds[3]. This flexibility allows Springbank to support companies from pre-seed through Series A, providing continuity of support as portfolio companies scale rather than forcing them to seek new capital sources.
All assets under management are designated as impact investments, eliminating the tension between financial and social returns that plagues many impact-focused funds[2]. This structural commitment signals genuine alignment with the thesis rather than impact as an afterthought.
Springbank operates at the intersection of three powerful macro trends reshaping the economy. First, the care economy is becoming recognized as critical infrastructure rather than a private household responsibility. Aging populations, shifting workforce participation, and the normalization of flexible work arrangements have created demand for innovative care solutions—from childcare platforms to elder care technology to mental health services.
Second, the future of work is being fundamentally reimagined through AI, remote work, and the gig economy. Yet this transformation has disproportionately benefited certain demographics while creating new challenges for women and working families. Springbank's focus on "reforming and reimagining work to enable fair, flexible, and dignified careers" positions the firm to capture value from this transition[2].
Third, consumer financial resilience has become a policy priority and market opportunity. Women and working families face distinct financial challenges—wage gaps, caregiving costs, housing affordability—that create demand for fintech solutions, insurance products, and wealth-building tools tailored to their circumstances.
By investing in this intersection, Springbank influences the broader ecosystem in two ways. It demonstrates to institutional capital that gender equity and family well-being are not niche concerns but massive market opportunities. Simultaneously, it signals to founders that solving real problems for underserved populations can generate venture-scale returns, attracting talent and innovation to sectors historically starved of VC attention.
Springbank Collective represents a maturation of impact investing—moving beyond the false choice between financial returns and social outcomes toward a model where they are structurally aligned. As institutional capital increasingly demands both returns and measurable impact, and as demographic and economic pressures make care, work, and financial resilience central to national competitiveness, Springbank's thesis becomes increasingly mainstream.
The firm's influence will likely expand through its policy and thought leadership initiatives, which position Springbank not merely as a capital provider but as a voice shaping how society thinks about infrastructure for women and working families[2]. As portfolio companies mature and achieve scale, they will validate the thesis and attract follow-on capital from larger funds, creating a flywheel effect.
The next chapter for Springbank will likely involve raising a larger second fund, expanding the Collective network, and potentially launching specialized vehicles for specific subsectors within their thesis. The firm's success will ultimately be measured not just by financial returns but by whether it catalyzes a broader reallocation of venture capital toward the infrastructure that enables half the population to thrive economically and personally.
Key people at Springbank Collective.
