NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

September 2, 2014: San Francisco. Today at SOCAP 14, Unitus Seed Fund launched its India Impact Acceleration Program to help improve and accelerate the early-stage impact startup ecosystem across India in three ways: by increasing connections facilitated through “startup scouts” operating across India, working with leading incubators to help create more “venture capital-ready” startups that target low-income populations, and offering financial assistance to startups that make use of our existing Venture Advisor and Catapult Partner networks.

Expanding Venture Capital into India’s West, North and East Regions

India is exploding with entrepreneurial activity. But the venture capital and private equity transactions are heavily biased to the south, which claimed the majority of all private equity transactions in India in 2013. Impact startups serving low-income populations in sectors including education, healthcare, and livelihood enhancement have opportunities to serve the masses across the country. Yet again, the majority of such startups are in the south.

Startup Scouts, Incubator Partnerships, and Technical Assistance

As part of the India Impact Acceleration Program, Unitus Seed Fund will augment its team in Bangalore with 8-10 “startup scouts” in metros across the country, with the goal of increasing the number of venture-funded startups from beyond south India. At the same time, we are looking to partner with up to five of India’s best startup business incubators to help them train more entrepreneurs to build businesses that are attractive for venture capital investment. Finally, we’ll be providing financial assistance to startups that make use of our Venture Advisor (startup mentors and experts) and Catapult Partner (startup-oriented professional services firms) networks that provide mentoring, project-based consulting, and long-term engagements in a variety of areas, from corporate strategy to human resources to go-to-market planning.

“Within a year, we hope the India Impact Acceleration Program will result in our investing in at least three new startups operating in the west, north, or east and providing low-income populations with enhanced education, healthcare, improved livelihoods, and more,” said Will Poole, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Unitus Seed Fund. “We also expect the technical assistance offered from our program will help make established incubators and our existing portfolio companies stronger, scaling their impact and accelerating growth.”

Learn more about and apply to participate in the India Impact Acceleration Program >

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