Unitus Seed Fund (USF) today announced that it will be seeking approval from the Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to setup a new India-based venture capital fund called Unitus Seed Fund India to make seed-stage equity investments in Indian BoP Startups — startup companies which serve large low-income populations in India. USF is targeting… Read more >
Category: Investor Info
Unitus Seed Fund announces setup of new Domestic Impact Equity Fund for India
April 18, 2013 – Investor Info, Update
Our revised definition of “Base of the Economic Pyramid” in India
April 10, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
There are a lot of different definitions of who qualifies as living at the base of the economic pyramid (or “BoP”) in India. We reviewed a number of studies with varying conclusions and have created our own working definition for rural and urban BoP. As context, Unitus Seed Fund invests with a Profits and Values approach in… Read more >
Unitus Seed Fund invests for both Profits and Values
March 15, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
We’ve been investing for over a year in carefully-selected companies that we believe have the opportunity to drive scaled positive social impact for base-of-pyramid populations in India. And while we’ve had deep discussions with entrepreneurs around their values, motivations and plans, we had not previously articulated some of the specific values and supporting policies that… Read more >
Where is the venture debt in India?
February 17, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
High-growth startups are having to use expensive equity for their working capital because of the lack of venture debt availability There has been some recent good news about the emergence of a more predictable regulatory environment for the microfinance sector in India. Banks are starting to lend again to cash-starved MFIs which have adapted to… Read more >
R.L. (Dick) Richards Joins Founding Investors of Unitus Seed Fund
January 25, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
Dick Richards is one of the founding investors in Unitus Seed Fund. A native of Kingston, Jamaica, Mr. Richards immigrated to Canada before attending the University of British Columbia. He sold his own real estate company to Colliers in 1984 whereupon he took charge of the Real Estate Management Services Canadian Division. He retired in… Read more >
Norm Bontje participates as founding investor in Unitus Seed Fund
January 18, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
Norm Bontje is one of the founding investors in Unitus Seed Fund, our new seed-stage venture fund investing in BoP Startups primarily in India. Norm Bontje is a graduate of the University of Washington and worked in the finance and investment community for 20 years, most recently serving as the Chief Operating Officer of BlackRock’s… Read more >
Challenges and opportunities for hybrid organizations
May 29, 2012 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
A growing number of the best entrepreneurs are choosing to create (for-profit) businesses (rather than non-profits) because they believe that they can realize more sustainable and scalable impact on those living at the base of the economic pyramid (BOP) Stanford Social Innovation Review has just published an article called “In Search of the Hybrid Ideal”… Read more >
Updated India BOP statistics
March 17, 2012 – Entrepreneur Info, Investor Info
UPDATE: See our updated definition of Base of the Economic Pyramid in India Last year, Omidyar Network presented a very helpful report called Inclusive Innovation which referenced some recent statistics on the size of the BOP (the base of the economic pyramid) population in India. India’s BOP represents 835 million people and $360 billion in disposable income SOURCE:… Read more >
Why are people making “impact investments”?
March 2, 2012 – Investor Info
Today, I was chatting with an experienced investment manager for a wealthy international family who was trying to better understand impact investing. One of his questions was, “How are current impact investors thinking about these investments?” I said that this was a very good question and I think that there are two core driving reasons. Impact investing… Read more >