Time for Class 2025
May 8, 2025 PapersTime for Class 2025
Tyton Partners Releases New Report on Catalytic Capital’s Role in Strengthening the Education-to-Workforce Pipeline
Tyton Partners, in partnership with World Education Services (WES) and Strada Education Foundation, has released Catalytic Capital: Funding the Missing Middle in the Education-to-Workforce Ecosystem. The report spotlights a critical funding gap that limits scalable innovation in workforce development and makes the case for catalytic capital—impact-first, flexible investment—as a key solution. Often overlooked by traditional funders, these high-impact initiatives can be unlocked through catalytic capital to drive more equitable education-to-career pathways. The findings draw from interviews with leading impact investors and a review of 30+ studies.
The report offers a clear framework for deploying catalytic capital alongside grants and market-rate investments, targeting three types of market failure: nascent, subsidized, and broken. With real-world use cases—from student financing to career navigation tools—it urges funders to move beyond binary investment models. By embracing a more holistic capital strategy, investors can scale what works and close opportunity gaps across the education-to-workforce landscape.
Key insights from the report include:
- Catalytic capital is not new—It has been deployed for decades by development finance institutions and foundations to solve large-scale social challenges.
- A critical funding gap persists—Traditional capital ignores high-impact opportunities that lack immediate financial returns, while philanthropy alone is insufficient.
- Market failures require intervention—Three distinct market failures—nascent markets, subsidized markets, and broken markets—demand catalytic capital solutions.
- Investors can take action now—Flexible capital strategies can unlock workforce solutions at scale, from student-friendly financing models to career navigation platforms.
Catalytic Capital Tyton Partners