Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation

About the fund

The Catalyst Fund expands Illumen’s strategy by combining fund-of-funds commitments with direct investments in underrepresented managers and entrepreneurs—marking the firm’s first integrated vehicle of this type. Targeting diverse first-time managers and early-stage companies often excluded from mainstream institutional capital, the fund seeks to counter familiarity bias and structural inequities that constrain access to funding. Backed by institutional investors including the Health Forward Foundation, the California Wellness Foundation, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, the Catalyst Fund supports ventures and funds advancing racial and gender equity while generating competitive risk-adjusted returns. The initiative reflects Illumen Capital’s broader mission—developed in collaboration with Stanford SPARQ—to demonstrate that reducing bias in investment decision-making can unlock untapped financial and social value across the private markets ecosystem.