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Unitus Ventures’s Investments Impact 1.2 Million Lives Across India

Written by Capria Admin
September 18, 2017

18 September 2017, Bangalore: Unitus Ventures, India’s leading impact venture fund investing in early- stage startups innovating for the masses, today released its semi-annual impact report, which is now mapped to UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As of 30 June 2017, Unitus Ventures’s active portfolio of 14 companies have directly impacted over 1.2 million BoP (Base of the Economic Pyramid) lives across 29 states in India and created over 6, 200 sustainable, quality jobs. The fund’s portfolio companies have registered a 106 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth in revenues and have raised 3.6x additional capital since Unitus’ initial investment.

Access our complete Mid-year Impact Report here>
See our previous years’ Impact Reports here >

Will Poole, Co-founder and Managing Partner at Unitus Ventures said, “We are incredibly excited that we’ve crossed this important milestone of directly impacting over 1 million lives as a result of the work of our fast-growing portfolio companies.

Unitus Ventures’s one million landmark is significant for the entire investing ecosystem: we’ve now shown the scale of impact a seed-level fund can achieve in a short span of four-and-a-half years.

Since founding in 2013, Unitus Ventures has adopted a holistic, well-defined methodology of tracking and advancing portfolio companies’ progress and impact using industry standard IRIS metrics, now mapped to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):

  • Social (scale) – 1.2 mn BoP lives impacted and 6,227 jobs created
    Portfolio companies are selected to have the potential to impact at least 100,000 BoP families through their products and services, and/or directly provide BoP individuals 1,000 formal jobs in 5 years.
    one
  • Financial – 3.6x additional capital raised
    Portfolio companies are on a path to financial sustainability through increased revenues and raising additional capital, enabling them to thrive and scale.
    one
  • Ecosystem – 75+ advisors & 40+ strategic partners
    Portfolio companies are continually engaged with local and global network of advisors, skilled service providers and strategic partners such that every company benefits from, influences, and accelerates the functioning of the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem in India.

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Aligning Impact with UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

In a first-of-its-kind move within the Indian investment ecosystem, Unitus Ventures has aligned its impact outcomes with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which provide a universal language to communicate impact to a wide range of investors and other stakeholders. This standardized framework lets investors track cumulative progress across each SDG target and assess where capital can best flow to improve people’s lives and the planet while at the same time providing market rate financial returns.

Within the new framework, Unitus Ventures’s portfolio companies’ work aligns with four UN SDGs –

  • SDG #1 – End poverty
    487, 329 BoP lives directly impacted
    one
  • SDG #3 – Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being
    225,370 BoP lives directly impacted and US $2.8M revenues generated
    one
  • SDG #4 – Ensure quality education for all
    67,390 BoP lives directly impacted and US $5.4M revenues generated
    one
  • SDG #8 – Promote decent work for all and sustainable economic growth
    427,294 BoP lives directly impacted and US$11.6M revenues generated

“The UN SDGs are critical as they provide a common framework for any player creating impact to align with – from donors, to traditional and impact investors on one end and non-profits to impact businesses on the other. Through this move, we deeply encourage other ecosystem investors to utilize this framework as this multi- sector collaboration at the investment and impact level will enable us to improve the lives of millions of low-income people globally”, said Srikrishna Ramamoorthy, Partner at Unitus Ventures.

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In its first Fund of USD $23 million, Unitus Ventures made a total of 23 investments across education, healthcare, financial technology, retail and e-commerce, mobile, consumer internet and agriculture. Unitus Ventures is currently raising its second fund of USD $45 million and plans to deploy it in across 25 – 30 startups in education, healthcare and financial technology by 2021.

About Unitus Ventures

Unitus Ventures is the leading impact venture fund investing in startups innovating for the masses in India. Unitus Ventures invests in sectors including healthcare, education, mobile & consumer, retail & e-commerce, financial services, and agriculture. Founded in 2012, Unitus Ventures is managed by Capria Ventures which is part of the Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000. Unitus Ventures is based in Bangalore and Seattle, and is a member of the Capria Network.

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Unitus Ventures is now Capria India

Unitus Ventures, a leading venture capital firm in India, is joining forces with its US affiliate Capria Ventures, a Global South specialist, to operate with a unified global strategy under a single brand, Capria Ventures.