Why We Invested in Unison Therapy Services

By Sophia Friedman, Vice President for Health Equity

There are ~7.5M children with a diagnosed disability in the U.S., and special education (“SPED”) learners make up 15% of the total US student population. The number of SPED students has been growing since before the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to grow as more students are diagnosed earlier and need multiple services. Students with disabilities have been federally mandated to receive customized school support since the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) was passed in 1975. The IDEA law requires schools to meet Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) requirements for children with disabilities. Children who fall under IDEA are put on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) that legally requires them to have specialized instruction in their Least Restrictive Environment. As part of an IEP, students can receive specialized instruction, performance tracking & interventions, paraprofessional support and ancillary services such as speech, occupational and physical therapy. All of these services require specialized clinical staff. However, schools are structurally and operationally unable to hire clinicians to meet the demand for SPED students. As a result, outsourced vendors have increasingly been tapped to fill the supply gap.

Solution

Unison Therapy Services provides therapeutic services in Pre-K through 12 school- and community- based settings via over 190 school district partners and 12 community clinics in California and Colorado. The Company is a multi-disciplinary provider of services for children with developmental delays, autism, social and emotional developmental needs and behavioral challenges. The company currently offers services across California and Colorado, and its suite of offerings include behavior, speech, mental health, psychology, education and OT/PT. 

Why We Invested

Unison Therapy Services fills a critical need for therapeutic services for students that schools are unable to fill themselves and in communities where clinician supply does not meet patient demand. While schools are federally mandated to fill certain speech, behavioral, and other therapeutic service roles, these are extremely specialized and hard to staff for, leaving schools to look to outsourced vendors to fulfill federally mandated requirements.  Unison Therapy Services has a competitive advantage over others in this space in recruiting and retaining talent given their focus on competitive compensation, professional development and better matching of clinicians with districts. Further, the highly fragmented school-based market presents an opportunity for significant organic and inorganic growth. Relative to other players, Unison Therapy Services has a unique ability to provide a faster time to hire / fill school needs, maintain high quality of services and provide a diverse line of services. 

Impact

Currently, school districts are unable to hire and properly staff roles to address the needs of their SPED students. As more students are qualifying for IEPs and increasingly need multiple types of support services, there is a greater need for school-based clinicians to meet this demand. However, districts are unable to properly fill gaps as they are often unable to replace in-house staff that leave due to the specialized nature of the clinicians, the unionized nature of in-house staff (and resulting  inability to match clinician pay rates). Attempts to innovate around insourcing talent strategies at school districts have largely fallen flat. 

As a result, Unison Therapy Services has significant impact potential as the platform helps support SPED students. Key impact & ESG merits include:

• Clinician-founded company that has successfully scaled in California  providing on-site care to SPED students in both school-based as well as community-based settings.

• Improves access to high-quality therapeutic and behavioral health service offerings in markets where supply-demand mismatch leaves students without sufficient clinical resources.

• Community business targets underserved students, in rural and urban areas, who need affordable access to special education care.

• Enhances the quality of care to an underserved student base.

• Creates value by prioritizing organization, care coordination, data analytics and operating efficiency.

12 Sources of Hope for the New Year

Despite the year’s challenges, we are hopeful that 2025 will bring new waves of opportunity to make the world a better place.

Optimism is one of our values here at Impact Engine, and one we find crucial to be intentional about, especially during trying times. As this year comes to an end and a new one begins, we are sharing a list of small things that give us hope, and support you to find your own.

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Ander: The new Netflix documentary Will & Harper - Despite what the modern world tells us, humans have an unique ability to connect, emphasize, and love each other no matter how foreign a situation might appear.

Cara: From Ann Friedman:

““Hang out with a kid…Their enthusiasm for the tiniest thing is a microdose of hope. They are growing, so is everything else.””

— Ann Friedman

Demetrius: From Michelle Obama:

““So you may not always have a comfortable life.  And you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems all at once.  But don’t ever underestimate the impact you can have, because history has shown us that courage can be contagious, and hope can take on a life of its own.””

— Michelle Obama

Jessica: From The Marginalian:

““Don’t just resist cynicism — fight it actively. Fight it in yourself, for this ungainly beast lies dormant in each of us, and counter it in those you love and engage with, by modeling its opposite. Cynicism often masquerades as nobler faculties and dispositions, but is categorically inferior.…Like all forms of destruction, cynicism is infinitely easier and lazier than construction. There is nothing more difficult yet more gratifying in our society than living with sincerity and acting from a place of largehearted, constructive, rational faith in the human spirit, continually bending toward growth and betterment. This remains the most potent antidote to cynicism. Today, especially, it is an act of courage and resistance.””

— Maria Popova

Leslie: Puerto Rican alternative hip hop band Calle 13’s song La Vuelta al Mundo:

Maggie: From Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time by Paul Rogat Loeb:

““We all have our own distinct gifts, strengths, and opportunities to make our lives count. No one person is responsible for healing all the wounds of the world. The challenge is to ask what we want to stand for, and to do our best to act on our beliefs. For our choices will create the world that we pass on.””

— Paul Rogat Loeb

Mohit: I have been reading this poem by the Dalai Lama - Never Give Up.

“No matter what is going on, never give up.
Develop the heart.
Too much energy in your country is spent developing the mind instead of the heart.
Be compassionate, not just to your friends, but to everyone.
Work for peace in your heart and in the world.
Work for peace and I say again, never give up.
No matter what is happening, no matter what is going on around you, never give up.”

— Dalai Lama

Priya: From What If We Get It Right: Visions of Climate by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson:

““Sometimes the bravest thing we can do while facing an existential crisis is imagine life on the other side.””

— Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Rahul: A useful reminder that we can decide how much optimism we want to bring to bear:

“I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.””

— Antonio Gramsci

Roger: Amanda Gorman, excerpt from “An Ode We Owe”,

“For preserving the earth isn’t a battle too large
To win, but a blessing too large to lose.
This is the most pressing truth:
That Our people have only one planet to call home
And our planet has only one people to call its own.
We can either divide and be conquered by the few,
Or we can decide to conquer the future,
And say that today a new dawn we wrote,
Say that as long as we have humanity,
We will forever have hope.”

— Amanda Gorman

Sophia: I come back to this piece on hope often. It’s a good reminder that in spite of all we hear and see that is negative in the world, we must not lose hope:

““It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.””

— Anne Frank

Tasha: I share this quote with my students every year since it really captures the entrepreneurial spirit:

““Pessimists are usually right and optimists are usually wrong but all the great changes have been accomplished by optimists.””

— Thomas Friedman

Elevating Impact: Are all climate-tech investors impact investors? We don’t think so.

By Mohit Jindal and Ander Iruretagoyena

In recent years, an unprecedented number of funds have emerged in the climate and sustainability space. After a record $83.3B in new AUM in 2023; 2024 is expected to be even bigger. As an impact asset manager that has conducted over 2,200 calls with GPs since 2018, we wonder: Are all climate funds truly impactful? 

Aren’t all these funds helping mitigate emissions in some way through their portfolio companies? Yes, emissions are being avoided and some are even expanding into climate adaptation, but is that enough? Is there a line we need to draw to create a bare minimum threshold for a climate fund to be considered impactful? If so, where is that line?

Source: Sightline, CTVC

Defining Impact: Impact Engine’s Perspective

Let’s take a step back. At Impact Engine, we believe an impact fund must embody these three characteristics:

• Intentionality: The team’s authentic, long-term commitment to impact through their professional and personal track record.

• Strategy & Process: The fund has a clear plan, relevant expertise, and alignment across the team to integrate impact and financial goals effectively.

• Accountability & Measurement: Systems to define success, track impact, and maintain transparency, ensuring aligned incentives for achieving both returns and outcomes.

From Cleantech 1.0 to Climatetech 2.0: A Maturing Opportunity Set

The landscape of climate investments has come a long way since the early days of Cleantech 1.0. Between 2006 and 2011, fueled by rising energy costs and public campaigns like An Inconvenient Truth, investors poured $25B into clean energy solutions. However, nearly half of that capital was lost or impaired during the ensuing bubble collapse.

Today, the picture is vastly different. Falling cost curves have driven the widespread adoption of renewable technologies, and the investment community has evolved. While Cleantech 1.0 was largely dominated by generalist investors, the current wave includes a growing pool of specialists—investment professionals with battle scars in cleantech investing and some with a commitment to measurable impact. The opportunity for climate investments is also broader, allowing for more diversification by theme, industry, and business model.

How We Evaluate Impact in Climate Funds
With both an impact framework and the climate opportunity set in mind, we can now explore the nuances of what makes for a compelling impact climate fund.

At Impact Engine, we go beyond frameworks and reports. Here’s how we distinguish climate-aligned funds from impact climate funds:

• Intentionality: We assess the fund manager’s understanding of climate change’s key drivers. Are they aiming to measurably address critical challenges, or are they simply aligned with climate trends? We explore their motivations, the problems they are solving, and the measurable impact they intend to create.
  
  

• Strategy & Process: We evaluate whether their actions reflect their intentions:

• Sourcing: Are they focused on high-impact areas (e.g. major greenhouse gas emitting industries) or do they have a “checks the box” mentality?

• Diligence: Do they analyze and project GHG avoidance or reduction metrics, or do they rely on general claims about climate benefits?

• Management: Do they provide strategic support to ensure portfolio companies deliver on both financial and impact goals?
  
  

• Accountability & Measurement: We look at why and how they measure impact. Are they using robust systems to track GHG reductions, climate adaptation outcomes, and broader environmental or social impacts? Do these systems ensure transparency and aligned incentives?

Illustrating Impact in Action: Portfolio Examples

To bring our philosophy of intentionality, strategy, and accountability to life, here are some examples from our portfolio of fund investments:

Ara Partners, an industrial decarbonization buyout firm, is clear about their intention and strategy of investing in companies that can deliver or enable at least 60% or greater GHG emission reduction versus the market alternatives. It is a clear line in the sand and requires upfront diligence to gain conviction that a company can meet this goal. For example, its investment in Polar Performance Materials is helping scale the company’s proprietary High Performance Alumina (HPA) production method, which achieves more than 90% reduction in carbon intensity vs. conventional HPA sourced from China. HPA is relevant in the semiconductor industry, where more than 75% of overall carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are created during the semiconductor manufacturing phase.

In growth equity, Carbon Direct Capital utilizes the resources and scientific expertise of Carbon Direct Inc., a sister company that offers science-backed carbon management services, including carbon measurement, emissions reduction, and high-quality carbon removal, to build robust life cycle assessments as part of deal assessment. Too often we have seen other funds accept assertions from companies about the effectiveness of their climate technology. We believe that Carbon Direct’s evaluation by climate scientists ensures that the fund invests in solutions that have the right scientific fundamentals to successfully scale and reduce CO2 emissions. Over the last two years, we have seen the team enhance their accountability beyond the pure focus on CO2 emissions abatement by tracking the impact of its work on wider racial and gender equity through their work in climate and environmental justice. 

At times, we also see signs of what not to do. We’ve seen a few fund managers, with no background in climate research, investing or operations, hesitate to measure impact or only do so if mandated from a regulatory perspective or for marketing purposes. This lack of intentionality is often evident. There have been instances when data is recorded, but the measurement systems don’t track data over a period of time to understand how congruous business key performance indicators (KPIs) are with impact KPIs. 

As we continue to invest in this space, we’re learning that intentionality and strategy manifest in different ways across fund managers, as does nomenclature. Some may reject the label of "impact investor" despite embodying the core traits of one, while others fully embrace the term. What’s clear is that the impact is never found in the label; it's a commitment to invest with a strategy that generates defined outcomes, and it is important for investors to deeply understand and evaluate the myriad of approaches that can be effective.

Note: References to portfolio holdings are intended for illustrative purposes only, and inclusion in this material is not indicative of performance or other metrics.