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 >
Tag: india
Unitus Seed Fund announces setup of new Domestic Impact Equity Fund for India
April 18, 2013 – Investor Info, Update
Unitus Seed Fund invests in facility management company Jack On Block
April 18, 2013 – BoP Skill Development, Investment
Unitus Seed Fund Invests in Jack On Block, Creating Jobs for BoP Workers We’re pleased to announce that we’ve completed our second investment this month, backing Jack On Block, another innovative BoP Startup based in Bangalore. Jack On Block is a new age facilities management company that offers handyman and maintenance services for homes, offices,… Read more >
Unitus Seed Fund invests in skills training company iSTAR
April 11, 2013 – BoP Education, BoP Skill Development, Investment
Unitus Seed Fund is excited to announce that we’ve made a seed investment in iSTAR, based in Bangalore. iSTAR is a vocational skills training company that provides unemployed graduates with additional skills training to make them readily employable in the BFSI and ITeS sectors. iStar employs carefully-selected faculty and a unique activity-based learning model to… Read more >
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 >
Opportunities for India’s Un-employable Millions
April 9, 2013 – BoP Skill Development
India is at a unique position of being able to meet both its internal skills demand while at the same time fulfilling requirements of other countries and growing its economy. How? Much of the developed world has an aging population, while India has one of the youngest populations with about 600 million younger than 25,… Read more >
Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide
March 25, 2013 – BoP Skill Development
Kusum (name changed) hailing from a village in Bihar contacted Bodhicrew expressing her interest to work as a domestic worker. She was initially placed with a nuclear family in Delhi. When she quit, her parents suggested that she stay back in Delhi with her maternal aunt until her brother came for her. Two weeks later,… Read more >
“Bodhijobs” – Poor man’s job portal
March 8, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info
Vivek Kumar talks about Bodhicrew’s new venture “Bodhijobs”, a job portal aimed at the informal sector workers. USF: What are your plans with Bodhicrew in the near future? We’ve recently launched our new and exciting online jobs portal, www.bodhijobs.com, dedicated to informal sector workers in India. Bodhijobs.com connects the right employer with the right job… Read more >
Domestic work gets a facelift
March 6, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info
Vivek Kumar Kaushik is the CEO of Bodhicrew, an exciting startup in New Delhi. Bodhicrew is an employment and skill services company for those working in unorganized/informal sector. They aim to provide complete domestic work solution to the rapidly growing middle and higher classes of Delhi/NCR. Vivek spoke with USF about this venture and its… Read more >
Looking to bloom beyond seed stage?
March 4, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info
Village Capital and IIM-Ahmedabad’s CIIE have announced a The Technology for Impact Accelerator to help promising seed stage companies to make sufficient business progress in order to raise their first venture capital round (aka Series A). The program is focused on Indian ventures that are making innovative use of technology to provide affordable basic services to low-income… Read more >
India’s Rural Education – An opportunity for BoP Startups
February 25, 2013 – BoP Education
Education in rural India is plagued by many problems. Poor infrastructure, access difficulties, lack of financial support and poor quality of educators are a few of the most pressing of problems.The state and central government is trying to tackle these issues by pumping almost INR 310 billion (approx. USD 5.7 billion) into improving school infrastructure and recruiting… 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 >
Sanjay Anandaram joins as venture advisor with Unitus Seed Fund
January 17, 2013 – Entrepreneur Info
Sanjay Anandaram joins up as a venture advisor with Unitus Seed Fund to help mentor CEOs of Unitus Seed Fund portfolio companies operating in India. Sanjay Anandaram is an executive turned investor, educator and mentor. In the 1980s at Wipro (NYSE: WIT) he began his career in IT sales in Eastern India. Establishing operations in… Read more >