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SOCAP14 Interview: Will Poole, Unitus Seed Fund
This video is part of our ongoing coverage of SOCAP14. To see the rest please visit our SOCAP 14 page here.
Will Poole is the co-founder of Unitus Seed Fund, a $20 million fund based in Bangalore and Seattle that invests in startups serving large, underserved low-income populations. In this conversation, Will discusses the state of impact investing in India, some of what has made it historically difficult and what's being done to change that. Unitus has made a great deal of progress since its inception, and Will shared three recent accomplishments with me:
- With help from high net-worth investors and family foundations, Unitus has completed its first phase of fundraising for its $20M+ fund. These new investors coming to the table show that impact investing is starting to become more of a mainstream investment choice. This trend will continue as more HNIs invest in impact, and as millennials start to put inherited wealth to better use.
- Unitus has also launched the “India Impact Acceleration Program” to help reach and support entrepreneurs from around the country. Currently, the majority of Unitus' and other private equity investment is going to companies in the south.
- Unitus has entered into an alliance with the U.S. Global Development Lab to provide substantial support for Unitus’ new India Impact Acceleration Program, which aims to help improve and accelerate the early-stage impact startup ecosystem across India.
Nick Aster is the founder of TriplePundit. Prior to launching 3p, Nick worked for Mother Jones magazine, successfully re-launching the magazine's online presence. He worked for TreeHugger.com, managing the technical side of the publication for 3 years, and has also been an active consultant for individuals and companies entering the world of micro-publishing. He also worked for Gawker Media and Moreover Technologies in the early days of blogging. Nick holds an MBA in sustainable management from the Presidio School of Management and graduated with a BA in History from Washington University in St. Louis.
