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Vinod Khosla, 500 Startups Start Fund For BoP Startups

By TechTaffy Desk

Unitus

[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

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 base-of-the-pyramid (aka ‘BoP’) low-income consumers – in India. USF has recruited a group of venture advisors to provide support to its portfolio companies.

The founding investors of the fund include Mike Murray (co-founder of Unitus Labs), Jeff Clark, Vinod Khosla (Founder, Khosla Ventures and Khosla Impact), 500 Startups, and Bob Gay (Formerly Huntsman-Gay and Bain Capital). Co-investors in India include T.V. Mohandas Pai (Chairman of Aarin Capital Partners), and Dr. Ranjan Pai (CEO of Manipal Education and Medical Group).

One of USF’s first investments, Hippocampus Learning Centers, has expanded its rural education centers and has recently received a substantial follow-on growth capital infusion, and other portfolio companies are making solid progress, according to a statement from USF.

Adding to its portfolio of four investments completed in 2012, USF anticipates making ten new investments in 2013, and ten to twelve per year, going forward.

[Image courtesy: Unitus Seed Fund]

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