India's Unitus combines with US affiliate Capria
India-based impact investor Unitus Ventures has combined with its US affiliate Capria Ventures, with the unified entity to operate globally under the Capria name.
The combination is in effect a rebranding for Unitus rather than a merger or acquisition. The two management companies continue to be separately owned.
Both Capria and Unitus were founded by veteran financial technology investors David Richards and Will Poole (pictured). Unitus was launched in 2012 as a founding member of Capria Network, a fund-of-funds focused on emerging markets. Previously, Richards had been part of Unitus Group, an early mover in Indian microfinance.
Capria Ventures was set up in 2015 and reached a first close of unspecified size last April on its Global South Fund II vehicle, which is targeting USD 100m. Unitus Ventures has raised about USD 50m across two funds. Capria and Unitus have historically co-invested alongside one another in South and Southeast Asia.
Capria as an enlarged organisation now has assets under management around USD 188m. There are offices in Bangalor, Washington, Seattle, Beunos Aires, and Nairobi. Local teams make a point of working with regional operators, with Asian partnerships including the likes of AC Ventures, Genesis Alternative Ventures, Arkam Ventures, and Ascend Vietnam Ventures.
In addition to Richards and Poole, senior leadership includes managing partners Surya Mantha and Susana Garcia-Robles, based in India and the US respectively. Mantha was part of the founding team of Omidyar Network India and joined Unitus in 2019. Garcia-Robles has been investing in Latin America since the 1990s and joined Capria in 2020.
Capria and Unitus have historically specialised in fintech, although technology related to education, employment, agriculture, and climate have become core themes. As a combined entity, Capria is now positioning itself as focused on applied generative artificial intelligence (AI).
Capria claims that it is currently helping more than 350 companies integrate generative AI into their operations and is planning investments in more than 30 generative AI-focused start-ups in India and across the developing world.
“We’re global south specialists who invested through the mobile revolution and now see genAI as an even bigger opportunity for the global south,” Poole said in a statement. “We started embracing genAI shortly after the release of ChatGPT. Going forward, more than 75% of our investments will be placed in applied genAI companies.”
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