We’re expanding our seed investment program
Since we launched Unitus Ventures in late 2011, we have researched, learned, connected, and completed enough investments to be confident of the potential for delivering opportunity to millions of lower-income people via seed investing in innovative startups that serve them. There is no question as to the need for seed investment funds – we get daily inquiries from passionate social entrepreneurs across India. And in speaking with our existing portfolio companies and others in the industry, we’ve also learned what we can do to help startups succeed – we will assist them in business modeling, planning, and connecting them to one another and to new sources of financing as they grow.
I’m very pleased to announce that Unitus Ventures is graduating from its incubation with Unitus Labs into a new, standalone, for-profit impact investment management firm and investment fund. USF plans to make seed investments in 30-40 startups over the next few years, with a focus on India.
Our team is growing
To implement our new efforts, I’m very pleased to introduce two new members of the Unitus Ventures (USF) team!
Srikrishna Ramamoorthy has joined our team in Bangalore as the Partner heading up USF’s on-the-ground efforts in India, bringing 10+ years of experience in impact investing, consulting, and operations. He has been co-founder at Kinara Capital, a start-up in the enterprise lending space, and was also part of the founding team at Ujjivan, India’s leading urban microfinance organization. Srikrishna has also worked at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation where he led the Foundation’s efforts in urban livelihoods and managed a portfolio of equity investments and grants.
Will Poole is joining me as co-founder and Managing Partner of USF, based in Seattle. Will is chairman of NComputing and co-founder of Pengala, ed-tech innovators for India, and is a former senior exec at Microsoft. Will and I have decades of experience leading high-growth tech businesses as well as startups, and we’re excited to be working closely together to make a difference in India.
More details about the full USF team >
Our goal: Provide opportunity to millions with low-income
Unitus Ventures seeks to provide opportunities for economic self-reliance, education, and obtaining basic necessities to millions of people living at the base of the economic pyramid. We create opportunities by accelerating the growth of early-stage businesses which primarily serve lower-income populations. Acceleration is achieved via seed funding, support and connections which help investees refine their plans, scale up their business, and secure additional growth capital.
Keep updated
For more updates as we expand our activities, please keep an eye on our blog, like us on USF Facebook page and follow us on USF Twitter feed.
