Instrumentl, a full-lifecycle grant solution for nonprofits and universities, received a $55 million growth investment from Summit Partners. The funding will be used to build out Instrument’s platform, specifically its AI capabilities, to help customers automate their grant searching and management processes and provide greater visibility and compliance throughout the grant lifecycle.
Full terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Summit Partners is a minority investor. Management will remain the same, but Daniel W. Kim a principal on Summit Partners’ technology team, will join the Instrumentl board.
Instrumentl was founded in Oakland, California in 2015 and reports having 4,500 clients. The platform is used to find relevant grant opportunities, manage awards, and collaborate with user teams. By integrating AI and automation Instrumentl helped to raise more than $1 billion in grant funding, according to an announcement from the firm.
Summit Partners, which also invests in the unrelated platform FundraiseUp, is a growth-focused investment firm. Summit invests across growth sectors of the economy and, since the firm’s founding in 1984, has invested in more than 550 companies in technology, healthcare and other growth industries, according to the firm. These companies have completed more than 175 public equity offerings, and more than 250 have been acquired through strategic mergers and sales.
“Grant funding, whether federal funding or private, has been as turbulent as the stock market, creating a high level of uncertainty for nonprofits,” said Gauri Manglik, Instrumentl co-founder and CEO. “We founded Instrumentl to help nonprofits and universities unlock new funding and maximize their impact.”
Instrumentl co-founder Angela Braren added, “Summit Partners brings deep expertise in scaling mission-driven software businesses, and with their support and this fresh capital, we will accelerate our innovation, expand our team, and further our mission of supporting grant seekers with a modern and purpose-built platform.”
