Samaritan Partners

What Samaritan Partners does

Samaritan Partners is a public benefit venture fund that invests in early-stage, for-profit companies serving the disability sector. Founded in 2023 by Chris Maher — a former Division I college basketball coach (Dartmouth, Boston College, Brown) and multi-time CEO with 25+ years of digital-economy leadership across SaaS, AdTech, MarTech, and data-driven businesses — the firm operates under a "patient capital" thesis that pairs equity investment with hands-on operational support to disability-sector founders. The fund is organized as a Delaware LLC structured as a public benefit venture vehicle, with a stated LP base of high-net-worth individuals, family offices, foundations, and philanthropic-minded organizations.

The fund's offering is Samaritan Partners Fund I, which delivers capital plus a structured support layer: go-to-market strategy refinement, operations and scaling assistance, product-market fit collaboration, people and culture development, and access to a community of industry leaders and subject matter experts. The portfolio comprises nine named disability-sector companies spanning assistive consumer apps (Be My Eyes), accessible travel (Wheel the World), sign-language translation (Sign-Speak), banking for people with disabilities (Purple), K-12 mental health (Robin), mobility products (SedMed), urban-farming employment (Vertical Harvest), talent acquisition (Making Space), and accessibility hardware (We Hear You). Samaritan holds no proprietary technology products; its competitive differentiation rests on mission alignment, founder network, and operational coaching.

Commercially, Samaritan's revenue mechanics follow the standard venture-fund model: management fees on committed capital plus carried interest on realizations. Fund size, management fee rates, carry splits, and LP minimums are not publicly disclosed. Distribution and deal sourcing rely on direct founder relationships and community networks — no traditional marketing channels, no outbound sales motion, and no portfolio-volume scale metrics are reported. Operating geographies explicitly reference the United States and Europe, although no formal international LP vehicle is disclosed.

Name

Samaritan Partners

Legal name

Samaritan Partners, LLC

Website

https://samaritanpartners.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Samaritan Partners is a public benefit venture fund investing in early-stage, for-profit companies serving the disability sector, pairing equity capital with hands-on operational support across accessibility software, travel, banking, education, and mobility verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Impact Venture Capital

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Family Offices & Philanthropic Advisors (Grantmaking) (BPAGAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Private Foundations (BPAGAKAA), Grantmaking & Philanthropic Funds (Institutional Donors) (BPADAOAB), Philanthropy & Foundations Advisory (Donor-Advised Funds, Endowments) (FSAAABAH), International Grantmaking & Development Foundations (BPAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Impact investing
• Disability sector
• Public benefit fund
• Early-stage investment

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Venture Fund Returns: Samaritan Partners generates returns through equity investments in early-stage disability sector companies. As a public benefit venture fund, the fund aims to achieve scalable, sustainable social impact alongside strong financial returns. Investment returns flow back to investors including high net worth individuals, family offices, foundations, and philanthropic-minded organizations.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Samaritan Partners operates a public benefit venture fund that invests capital and provides partnership support to early-stage for-profit companies serving the disability sector. The firm pairs funding with hands-on operational assistance across go-to-market, scaling, product-market fit, and team development, and targets both financial returns and scalable social impact.

Product overview

Samaritan Partners is a public benefit venture fund structured as a single offering (Samaritan Partners Fund I) that provides capital investment and strategic partnership services to early-stage for-profit companies in the disability sector. Rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture, the fund's value proposition centers on financial capital combined with operational support services including go-to-market strategy, operations scaling, product-market fit enhancement, and network access. The fund holds itself accountable to its mission through its unique public benefit structure, which ensures alignment between the fund's investors, portfolio companies, and the disability communities served.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Samaritan Partners Fund I Public benefit venture fund that invests capital in early-stage for-profit companies serving the disability sector, structured to deliver scalable social impact alongside financial returns for investors.
• Portfolio Company Support Services Hands-on operational and strategic support for portfolio companies spanning go-to-market refinement, operations and scaling optimization, product-market fit collaboration, people and culture development, and access to a community of industry leaders and subject matter experts.

Quantifiable outcome

• $8T annual disposable income of disability community represents massive market opportunity
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• BBG Ventures: Early-stage venture fund backing companies with diverse founding teams and underserved consumer markets. Comparable as an early-stage impact VC targeting markets overlooked by mainstream capital.
• SJF Ventures: Impact venture fund investing in high-growth companies in sustainability, education, health, and demographic-driven businesses. Comparable as a mission-aligned VC that targets financial returns alongside measurable impact.
• Acumen: Established global impact investor deploying patient capital into companies serving low-income communities. Comparable as a mission-aligned investor that blends philanthropic and venture capital with a long-term horizon, though much larger and broader in scope.
• New Markets Venture Partners: Venture capital firm investing in education and workforce companies serving underrepresented communities. Comparable as an impact VC with a vertical thesis around serving historically excluded populations, similar to Samaritan's disability focus.
• Bridges Fund Management: UK-based impact-led investment firm with venture, growth, and private equity strategies focused on social and environmental outcomes. Comparable as a patient, mission-aligned capital provider though operating across broader impact themes.
• DBL Partners: Double-bottom-line venture firm investing in companies that deliver strong financial returns and positive social or environmental impact. Comparable in combining venture returns with social mission, though with a broader thematic mandate and longer track record.

Direct peers

• ImpactaVC: Impact-focused venture capital firm that co-invested in Wheel the World with Samaritan Partners. Directly comparable as an early-stage investor focused on measurable social and environmental impact alongside financial return.
• Kayyak Ventures: Early-stage venture firm that co-led the Wheel the World Series A round. Comparable as a co-investor in the same disability-focused rounds and as a similarly sized early-stage fund operating in mission-aligned verticals.
• Enable Ventures: Disability and aging-focused venture capital firm that co-led Wheel the World's $11M Series A alongside Samaritan Partners. Directly comparable as the most prominent dedicated VC in the same disability-impact vertical with a similar mission-driven thesis.
• Rethink Impact: A female-led venture firm investing in tech-driven companies addressing social and environmental challenges, including health, education, and economic equity. Comparable as a dedicated impact VC pursuing venture-class returns alongside measurable social outcomes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments2 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Samaritan Partners