By some measures, the world is awash in cash, much of it available to be invested in emerging markets with a social purpose. For instance, the world's largest bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has assets of $3.3 trillion. The constraint on impact investing may be expertise rather than capital.
[Jump to page 2 to watch the live interview.]
According to Dave Richards, cofounder and Managing Director of Capria Ventures an affiliate of Unitus, explains the constraint. There are, he says, "lots of great entrepreneurs in high-growth emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and Asia and very little early-stage risk capital available, so their businesses aren't realizing their potential in areas such as agriculture, healthcare, education and technology."
The cause, he asserts, isn't the lack of capital. He says, "What's needed are on-the-ground, knowledgeable, capable fund managers who can provide smart capital and support to the best entrepreneurs."
To address this problem, Richards says, "We have launched Capria Accelerator, the first global business accelerator for impact fund managers. We are taking our experience of building the leading impact seed fund in India along with Unitus' experience over a decade of launching multiple fund managers to invest in, support and help capitalize new fund managers backing early-stage startups primarily in markets including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America."
"Our goal is to launch 10 early-stage funds over the next 5 years in emerging markets," he adds.
This approach, training local fund managers to be effective with local investing holds promise, according to Richards. "Local business solutions led by local entrepreneurs are both more likely to succeed (due to understanding local nuances) and provide better (more inclusive) economic development than depending on importing multi-national corporations."
"Our vision is to build a new generation of local fund managers who can support the development of a growing indigenous entrepreneurial ecosystem in developing countries," Richards concludes.
On Thursday, March 3, 2016 at 2:00 Eastern, Richards will join me for a live discussion about the Capria Accelerator and its efforts to facilitate growth capital for entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia and Latin America. Tune in here then to watch the interview live. Post questions in the comments below or tweet questions before the interview to @devindthorpe.
You can download an audio podcast here or subscribe via iTunes.
More about Capria Ventures:
Capria Ventures is a global impact investment firm that manages two pioneering ventures: Unitus Seed Fund and Capria Accelerator. Founded in 2012, Unitus Seed Fund is the leading impact venture seed fund investing in startups innovating for the masses in India. Unitus Seed Fund invests in sectors including healthcare, education, mobile, consumer, retail, ecommerce, financial services, and agriculture. Founded in 2015, Capria Accelerator is the first global business accelerator for impact fund managers. Capria Accelerator invests in and supports startup fund managers backing early-stage startups in markets including Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. Capria is backed by Unitus, a pioneering financial services group that address global problems with innovative, market-driven solutions and has collectively raised more than $1.2 billion since 2005. Capria has offices in Seattle and Bangalore.
Richards' bio:
Twitter: @rdaver
Dave Richards is an experienced entrepreneur, executive, and global early-stage investor. In 2012, he cofounded Unitus Seed Fund, now the leading venture seed fund investing in startups innovating for the masses in India. In 2015, Dave cofounded Capria Accelerator, the first global accelerator for impact fund managers. Unitus Seed Fund is an affiliate of Unitus Group, a premier financial services group operating in India and other emerging markets since 2000.
Dave has been an early investor in microfinance and other businesses serving low-income populations. Since 2005, he has been involved with the Unitus Group, helping to lead efforts to select and invest in entrepreneurs in many developing countries. Dave led the Unitus Labs incubator for 2 years including the successful research and spinout of two venture firms: Unitus Impact and Unitus Seed Fund. He also led Unitus Investment Management, the General Partner of Unitus Equity Fund, a pioneering microfinance venture fund, was a board member of Unitus Capital, a leading Bangalore-based investment bank, and was on the investment committee for Unitus Impact.
Previously, Dave developed and led multiple high-growth technology businesses at RealNetworks, Sybase and
Symantec from startup to multiple hundred million dollar global enterprises. He is currently a partner with Social Venture Partners Seattle is the cofounder of the SVP Fast Pitch startup angel fund. Dave received his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia.
