Unitus Seed Fund is a new program that invests in Indian startups that have the potential for large-scale impact on poverty and significantly help those living under $2 a day. Launched by international non-profit organization Unitus Labs, Unitus Seed Fund announced its first three startup investments: Bodhicrew Services, Hippocampus Learning Centres, and Milaap Social Ventures.
“After a decade of helping accelerate and scale the Indian microfinance industry, we are excited to launch the new Unitus Seed Fund initiative in order to support development of more new pro-poor businesses,” said Dave Richards, CEO of Unitus Labs and Managing Director of Unitus Seed Fund.
“We are seeing a new group of highly capable and socially motivated entrepreneurs who believe that they can realize more wide-scale and sustainable poverty impact by operating as a business rather than as a non-profit. The Unitus family of entities has always been willing to invest on the cutting edge of economic empowerment concepts and projects.”
Unitus Seed Fund will invest in companies meeting these criteria:
- Businesses serving Indian markets
- Potential for scaled impact on 800 million people in India living on less than $2 per day
- Strong, experienced management team
- Business developed beyond the concept stage
- Clearly differentiated value proposition
- Strategies to build effective distribution and marketing programs
The first three investments fall under three sectors. Bodhicrew Services provides skill development and job placement services, Hippocampus Learning Centres provides affordable rural education services to children, and Milaap Social Ventures provides a microfinance platform for India’s working poor.
Unitus Labs is an international non-profit which focuses on reducing poverty through economic self-empowerment. Unitus Labs identifies opportunities for market-based solutions to global poverty, experiments and incubates implementation approaches, and then supports scale up of the most promising findings.