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Identifying the most promising ventures, the Village Capital way
Rather than getting entrepreneurs to make a pitch before it for funding and then going through an elaborate due diligence process, Village Capital finds these entrepreneurs and trains them before investing in their ventures. It runs an accelerator programme for 10-12 entrepreneurs and uses a peer-selection method to decide the ventures it will invest seed capital in.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- South Asia
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Advisory board on impact investing to drive SDGs
More than 550 people from 43 countries met in Chicago to discuss how to deploy sufficient private capital to fund the Sustainable Development Goals over the next 13 years. It was a ringing response to recent cries for nationalistic policies regarding the insufficiency of planetary resources.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Investing
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Unitus fund’s latest StartHealth winners spotlight rise of medical tech innovation in India
Unitus Seed Fund, one of India's best-known impact venture funds that backs early-stage startups innovating for the masses, has named two winners of its StartHealth startup contest, which show medical tech innovation is taking off in India.
- Categories
- Health Care, Technology
- Region
- South Asia
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TLcom Capital hits $40m first close for sub-Saharan Africa tech fund
The $100m-targeting TIDE Africa fund will look to provide African entrepreneurs with capital to develop tech-driven solutions to the continent’s biggest problems.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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‘One size fits all’ investing is limiting innovations in East Africa and India
The reality is different. Despite all of the hype, most startups in India and East Africa are failing to attract the investment capital they need to grow and scale. For example, although startup investment in East Africa is at an all-time high, in the past two years 72 percent of venture capital went to only three startups. The vast majority of startups in these regions are not being given a fair shot.
- Categories
- Investing
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Wider, deeper VC investment needed for Indian and African mobile money firms, says Gates Foundation report
In excess of 233 million and 60 million people in India and East Africa respectively still lack formal bank accounts and 50% of small businesses don't have access to formal credit.
Financial technology (fintech) enabled firms such as M-Pesa in Kenya, which provides mobile payment, saving and credit facilities to 30 million people in East Africa, and the Paytm giant mobile m-commerce operation in India that claims 200 million users, are still the exception in terms of providing access to financial services for poor people.- Categories
- Uncategorized
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Unitus Seed Fund hires Milind Shah as healthcare venture partner
Early-stage impact-focused venture fund Unitus Seed Fund has roped in Milind Shah, the India managing director of global healthcare company Medtronic as its healthcare venture partner.
- Categories
- Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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An Impact Investor Urges Caution on the ‘Energy Access Hype Cycle’
Ceniarth, an impact investor, has been actively engaged in the energy access sector since 2014. But now it's reducing its exposure to the venture-backed, solar home system segment of this market while shifting its strategy toward enterprises – for-profit, nonprofit and hybrid – that are finding the most capital-efficient ways to reach rural customers. Here, three principals in the firm candidly explain why they are reassessing their approach.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Investing
