Acumen Fund Invests in Game-Changing Companies Fighting Poverty
1. Acumen Fund
Investing in game-changing companies
Investing in leaders
Investing in ideas that change how the world fights poverty
2. Acumen Fund
A social fund that invests
patient capital in enterprises
that sustainably serve the poor
Note: Acumen Fund, Inc. is structured as a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization
3. Since 2001 we have
$79 MILLION invested in 69 companies
90 MILLION individuals reached
57,000 jobs created and supported
4. We work in low-income, emerging markets
Pakistan
+
+ India
West
+ Africa
East
Africa + Acumen Fund Office
+
+ Local offices source and
diligence deals
+ 24 investment professionals
+ In-country advisory boards
5. What makes an Acumen Fund investment?
+ Potential for large-scale social impact
(10x growth or 1M+ customers)
+ World-class team deeply committed to
solving problems for the poor
+ Enterprises that have the potential to be
financially self-sustaining
+ Potential “game changers” – new global
models for fighting poverty
6. Patient Capital for long-term social impact
Traditional venture capital
Maximize financial return
Maximize Patient Capital
Blending social and
financial returns for
long-term social impact
Financial
return 0%
objective
Traditional philanthropy
Maximize social impact
No return
None Maximize
Social impact
objective
7. Investing to alleviate poverty and recycling
returns
7-10 years
Exit at Scale
Recycle
returns
Scale up
Early stage
1 Invest funds in 2 Grow enterprises 3 Recycle
equity or debt focused on social returns into
impact and more
sustainability enterprises
8. Our investments create access to basic services
Water & Sanitation Energy
+ Community water and + Low-cost power/light for
sanitation systems off-grid communities
+ Scale through public- + E.g.
private partnerships solar, biomass, small-
scale hydropower
Housing Agriculture
+ Low-cost housing for + Increase productivity of
former slum dwellers smallholder farmers
+ Focus on building + E.g. drip
community and flexible irrigation, seeds, fertilize
financing products. rs and artificial
insemination
Education
Health
+ Specialized secondary + Sustainable, low-cost
care services, e.g. private education and
maternal, eye care activities-based learning
+ Low cost distribution models
systems with innovative + Vocational and skills
pricing training
9. Portfolio growth
$79M $79M
INVESTED $72M
$361M
FOLLOW-ON CAPITAL
INTO OUR COMPANIES $54M
$9.1M $43M
CAPITAL RETURNED
$37M
$26M
$15M
$8M
$4M
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 TODAY
10. Building the rural water industry in India
$600K Acumen equity investment in WHI
in 2004
External capital invested
$50M (Dow, IFC)
5M+ Customers served by WHI and
companies replicating their model
11. Electrifying rural India
Acumen convertible debt
$375K investment in Husk Power in
2009
Villages electrified, impacting
300+ over 200K lives
Price for 2 household lights
$2 PER MONTH and unlimited cell phone
charging.
12. Game-changing investments
A to Z (Tanzania) – leading global producer of GEWP (India) – 330,000 people with increased
Olyset anti- malarial bed nets crop yields
Saiban (Pakistan) – a new model for ZHL – 772 ambulances in 6 states in India;
affordable housing development over 1 million calls answered
13. How we find investments
+We believe in building a local team, a strong network of
local advisors, and finding local funders
+Enterprises must have a high potential for social-impact
and a financially sustainable business plan
+Lots of collaboration with others in the space to refer
pipeline opportunities to each other
14. How we raise funds
We are largely backed by philanthropy
+However, donors often have the same criteria as
investors
15. How we raise funds
We are clear on our return expectations
+We invest primarily for social impact
+ We expect our capital to be returned, but know that the
time horizon is long
+Any returns are reinvested into the portfolio
16. How we raise funds
We are clear on our investing thesis, and what
value we can add in return
+Ten years of impact investing experience
+Support for innovative business models
+A wide ranging local and global community of experts
17. Business model pioneers face a critical
funding gap
Blueprint Validate Prepare Scale Up
“Pioneer Gap”
Monitor Inclusive Markets, From Blueprint to Scale: The Case for Philanthropy in Impact Investing
April 2012
18. New initiatives
Education West Africa Regional Fellows
+ Raised $4M+ in 2011 to + Launched West Africa office + Expand our Global Fellows
build education portfolio; and made first investments in program
looking to raise $2M 2011
+ East Africa Fellows
more. + Strong portfolio of 3 Program launched May
+ Integrating into investments in 2011
geographies in which we health, housing, and
agriculture and strong + Expanding into
have a deep presence
emerging pipeline Pakistan, India, West Africa
+ Made first 2 investments in 2012-2013
in early 2012 in India + Active Board Member from
Ghana and emerging Partner
19. Our vision for 2015
Catalyze patient capital globally
+ Expand to 15 countries by 2015
+ Grow our portfolio to $150M and
impact 150M+ lives
+ At least 10 of our 80+ companies
are truly transformative
+ 400+ Global and Regional Fellow
Program Alumni across the globe
+ Change the way the world tackles
poverty
20. Thank You
Dignity, not dependence
Choice, not charity
Notas do Editor
An example of our value add: The Monitor Group carried out an extensive study of impact investments, and found that there is a clear gap in the stages of growth of social enterprises. We need philanthropic capital to fill the “Pioneer Gap” where enterprises have the flexibility to innovate, test their solutions, and prepare to enter more commercial markets. Acumen’s patient capital provides the time and knowledge necessary to scale innovative business models that tackle the problems of the poor