New web series examines the social enterprise launch pad

Experts in impact investing are getting together on NextBillion to talk about what impact investment funds can do better to help early-stage startups get off the ground. Sachi Shenoy, executive director of Upaya Social Ventures explained on March 4 in the first post of the new weekly series:

The fact is, most [impact investing funds] are structured to only invest in companies that are already succeeding and ready to scale. Their fund managers cannot afford not to reap a return, so it is extremely hard for these funds to take chances on novel ideas or unproven approaches.

The resulting “pioneer gap”--where beginning startups run out of money before developing their ideas--requires fresh ideas and new funding models. For example, Upaya is backed by philanthropic capital, but some of its investments produce a return that it can reinvest in expanding operations. Shenoy includes a nice graphic showing how his organization’s funding structure is unique.

Keep up to date with the newest posts from the series here.