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Hopelab
Margaret Laws leads Hopelab, the Omidyar-backed social impact lab using venture capital and digital design to improve adolescent mental health.
Hopelab
Pam and Pierre Omidyar founded Hopelab in 2000 after a three-year skunkworks project to build a video game that helped adolescents adhere to cancer treatment. That game, Re-Mission, became a clinically-proven behavioral intervention and established the lab's core thesis: the same design rigor that powers the consumer internet can be applied to youth resilience and wellbeing. Hopelab operates as a 501(c)(3) within the Omidyar Group, structurally distinct from the family's investment vehicles Omidyar Network and Luminate Group. The firm deploys capital through an in-house design studio and a direct equity portfolio. Its studio co-creates digital products with end users; notable outputs include Daybreak, a peer-support app for adolescent mental health, and Nod, a loneliness intervention built with the design firm IDEO. The investment arm takes minority stakes in startups at the intersection of technology and adolescent health. Confirmed positions include Mightier, a biofeedback gaming platform for emotional regulation, and DotCom Therapy, a pediatric teletherapy provider. The investment footprint is concentrated in the United States. Hopelab operates from San Francisco and Chicago. Since May 2023, it has sharpened its focus on equity-centered design and released a national survey of LGBTQ+ teen mental health (per the firm, 2023). The organization has also incubated the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, a participatory grantmaking vehicle that gives young people direct authority over funding decisions for ethical tech. Hopelab's structural differentiator is its hybrid operating model, which pairs a registered 501(c)(3) philanthropy with a proprietary venture portfolio. Unlike a traditional foundation that makes grants to external researchers, Hopelab acts as both product studio and investor — designing, testing, and funding its own clinical-grade interventions while backing external startups that align with its mission. Its board is chaired by Pam Arlotto, a HIMSS fellow, anchoring the lab to clinical health IT networks.
General information
Firm type
Foundation
Year founded
2000
AUM
>$100M (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
San Francisco
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Margaret Laws
President and CEO
Pam Arlotto
Chair, Board of Directors
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Hopelab?
Margaret Laws, President and CEO, leads the organization's strategy including its venture portfolio. Hopelab's investment team evaluates direct equity opportunities in early-stage digital health companies that serve adolescents; the board, chaired by Pam Arlotto, provides fiduciary oversight.
How does Hopelab source its deal flow?
Hopelab sources through direct engagement with the behavioral science and adolescent health research community, its network of co-design partners including university labs, and its own studio pipeline — products incubated internally that may be positioned for external validation. The firm's research publication arm also surfaces founders working on youth mental health.
Is Hopelab a single family office or a venture firm?
Hopelab is a 501(c)(3) social innovation lab and direct equity investor structured within the Omidyar Group, the umbrella for Pierre Omidyar's philanthropic and impact activities. It is not a traditional family office focused on wealth preservation; rather it is a mission-driven investment entity that uses capital to advance adolescent mental health. Its investment returns are recycled into the nonprofit.
Does Hopelab participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Hopelab primarily makes direct equity investments in early-stage companies and builds its own digital health products through its internal design studio. It also engages in grantmaking, notably through vehicles like the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, which distributes participatory grants to youth-led organizations working on ethical technology.
Where does Hopelab's funding come from?
Hopelab was endowed by Pam and Pierre Omidyar. Pierre Omidyar founded eBay in 1995, and the resulting fortune seeded the Omidyar Group's network of philanthropic and impact investment organizations, of which Hopelab is one distinct entity.
How is Hopelab related to Omidyar Network?
Both are entities within the Omidyar Group, but they have different missions and governance. Omidyar Network is an impact investment firm with a broad mandate across economic advancement, responsible technology, and pluralism. Hopelab is focused exclusively on adolescent mental health, operating with its own CEO, board, and investment team.
What is Hopelab's posture on co-investments alongside external VCs?
Hopelab participates in venture rounds alongside other digital health and edtech investors. Its deployment is concentrated on the US market and it tends to lead with clinical validation and design capability rather than pure financial return, making it an attractive co-investor for firms like Maveron or Learn Capital that are active in the youth digital-health space.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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