Tag: india

Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund) Invests in Blowhorn, a Marketplace for Last Mile Logistics

November 14, 2014 Media Exposure, Press Release

Unitus’ Second Mobile-on-Demand Investment Follows Exceptional Growth of mGaadi’s Auto Rickshaw Service November 12, 2014. Bangalore: Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund), India’s leading venture seed fund supporting startups innovating for the masses, announced that it has led the seed round investment in Blowhorn, a Bangalore-based online marketplace for last mile logistics. Blowhorn offers a tech platform connecting… Read more >

Unitus Capital Reports Impact Investing Makes Up 31% of India’s Private Equity Transactions

July 25, 2014 Press Release

This calendar quarter brings 19 investors, 11 investments in 8 funds, and 11 mainstream investors jumping into investing in impact businesses. Unitus Capital has issued their 2014 second calendar quarter (Q2) impact equity research report. They noted that impact equity investing continued to be a key component of the India private equity landscape making up 31%… Read more >

Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund) lands $8 Million for BoP Startups from Leading Early-stage Investors

January 3, 2013 Press Release

Investment includes backing of Vinod Khosla, Mohandas Pai, Mike Murray and others Seattle, USA and Bangalore, India. Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund) (USF) has secured over $8 million in investment commitments for its seed-stage venture capital fund focused on accelerating “BoP startups” – startups serving low-income consumers – in India.  USF invests in for-profit scalable companies that will… Read more >

Hippocampus Learning Centres partners with Grameen Koota

May 3, 2012 Media Exposure

A Profit-Driven Approach to Affordable Education: A Review of Hippocampus Learning Centers Government schools across India are haunted with serious issues. Teachers are absent 25 percent of days and teaching less than 55 percent of the time. This contributes to the low enrollment rates across the country, standing at a mere 37 percent of 361… Read more >

Surprising results with homeless pilot in Chennai

March 26, 2012 Update

Unitus Labs has published the fifth and final case study from the Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative, a report that explores how the Equitas Bird’s Nest pilot was able to successfully stabilize housing for extremely poor homeless families in Chennai, India. Equitas Development Initiatives Trust (EDIT) launched the program in 2009 with a simple premise –… Read more >

Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund) launches in India with three seed investments

February 5, 2012 Press Release

New Unitus Labs Initiative Seeks to Accelerate Development of Innovative Startups Which Have the Potential to Significantly Benefit Families Living on Less Than $2 Per Day Seattle, WA and Bangalore, India, February 6, 2012 — Unitus Labs, an international non-profit focused on reducing global poverty through economic self-empowerment, is launching today the Unitus Ventures (formerly Unitus Seed Fund),… Read more >

Self-reliance realized for isolated tribal villagers in India

January 23, 2012 Update

Unitus Labs publishes new in-depth case study report on SKS NGO ultra poor program in Orissa, India.  Report describes new tools developed to overcome physical, cultural obstacles of working with isolated ultra poor communities. Looking beyond progress made during an ultra poor intervention, the success of an ultra poor program must also be judged by… Read more >

Early introduction of livelihoods found to be critical factor in moving large numbers out of extreme poverty

October 14, 2011 Update

For years, ultra poor interventions built around subsidies and skill-building activities have helped to move households living below the extreme poverty line toward some productive activity or eligibility for microfinance schemes. For all their individual successes, these interventions have also struggled with high cost-per-beneficiary and an inability to sustain programs after donor funds run out.… Read more >

New Kriti ultra poor case study offers insights on livelihood development

September 9, 2011 Update

With higher cost of living and little access to arable land, ultra poor households in urban areas face very different obstacles than their rural counterparts. To respond to these needs, in 2009 Hyderabad-based Kriti Social Initiatives joined the Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative to pilot a program that paired livelihood development with cost-effective provision of basic… Read more >

New UPna sapna ultra-poor case study highlights 9 key learnings

August 12, 2011 Update

UPna sapna case study finds new strategies for selecting and enrolling ultra poor households in programs to promote self-reliance Unitus Labs today released its first Sorenson-Unitus Ultra Poor Initiative case study which explores the Jharkhand, India-based UPna sapna project experience researching more scalable ways to provide opportunities for families to lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The case… Read more >

Unitus, Inc. announces funding for four microfinance innovations projects

May 1, 2011 Update

Unitus, Inc. has provided $227,000 to fund four innovative microfinance pilot projects at leading India MFIs As part of Unitus Inc.’s commitment to fulfill existing Microfinance Acceleration commitments, we are pleased to announce USD$227,000 funding of four innovation projects at leading India microfinance institutions (MFIs). We believe that these initiatives will help improve microfinance operations by creating robust… Read more >

Unitus-Hewitt Microfinance Compensation & Benefits Survey 2010

June 6, 2010 Update

Successful microfinance institutions are made up of successful individuals, and as Unitus discovered in its 2009 Compensation Benchmarking study, well-designed compensation programs play a significant role in crafting a high-performing staff. As such, Unitus is proud to announce the launch of the second annual Unitus-Hewitt Microfinance Compensation & Benefits Survey. Open to MFIs throughout India, the Survey… Read more >