Gates Foundation Equity Partnerships Multiply

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reports that they are investing $2 million in a California education group called Inigral, a startup that uses Facebook to help college students avoid dropping out of school. This may be a new strategy by the Foundation to show that social networks and social media can have an impact on post-secondary success, according to Michael Staton, CEO of Inigral.

The news could be significant for socially motivated entrep0reneurs who work in the same areas as the Foundation. In 2009, it said it would invest $400 million out of its $35 billion endowment in companies working in the fields of health, development and education.

An interesting aspect of the deal is that it may be the first time the Foundation has used a portfolio company to collect data that will be used to improve its charitable work.