Liam Pisano

Liam Pisano is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of EduLab Capital Partners, a Boston–Tokyo venture fund founded in 2018 as the corporate investment arm of Japan-based EduLab Group. The firm invests exclusively in the education and workforce-technology markets, backing companies with product-market fit and helping them bridge into both North American and Asian markets — including through partnerships such as pilots on NTT Docomo's 5G network in Japan. A notable differentiator is the fund's dedicated Boston-based AI team, which works directly on product development alongside portfolio companies.

Pisano brings roughly 16–18 years of private equity and venture capital experience. Before EduLab, he was Managing Director at LearnLaunch, a Boston-based early-stage edtech accelerator, investment platform, and co-working space, where he managed all investment activity and drove the organization's domestic and international strategy. Earlier in his career he held investment-professional roles at Spectrum Equity Investors, Hercules Capital, and Patriot Capital, combining institutional investing experience with operator credibility.

As an operator, Pisano co-founded Academic Earth, one of the first massive open online course (MOOC) platforms built for student use. Academic Earth was named to Time Magazine's list of top websites of 2009 and was eventually sold to an ABRY Partners portfolio company. This blend of building and investing in education companies informs his stated, research-driven approach to backing edtech founders.

Pisano holds a B.A. in Political Science from Williams College — where he was a Division III cross-country national champion — and an M.B.A. from Yale University, where he was a founding member of the Yale Economic Review. He has been a long-time member of the Big Brothers Association of Massachusetts and co-founded the William Gaines Foundation, which serves underprivileged inner-city high school students.

• Invests almost exclusively in education technology and workforce/"future of work" technology, with adjacent interest in AI, HR Tech, and Fintech.
• Targets seed / "Seed+" stage companies that already show product-market fit; the fund leads investments and writes an average check of ~$300K.
• Emphasizes "research-driven market analysis and tactical guidance for edtech founders," grounded in understanding both pedagogical and business fundamentals — a reflection of his dual operator/investor background.
• Brings a distinctive cross-Pacific value proposition: helping U.S. edtech companies expand into Japan and Asia (and Asian companies into North America) via EduLab Group's distribution channels and partnerships.
• Leverages an in-house AI team to work directly on portfolio-company product development, not just capital.