FAMILY OF SOCIAL ENTERPRISES

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What is the relationship between Unitus, Elevar Equity, and Unitus Capital?

Unitus incubated and launched these legally separate social enterprises to mobilize capital from private investors to support the rapid growth of MFIs and other poverty-focused enterprises.

Unitus Equity Fund (now Elevar Equity) was the first 100 percent privately funded equity fund focused on microfinance. Unitus conceived and launched UEF to demonstrate that the microfinance industry was a viable market for social investors looking for reasonable returns. UEF helped catalyze the market, particularly in India, and as a result, there are now over a dozen equity funds and more than $100 million in private equity investment in the Indian microfinance sector.

Unitus Capital was originally part of Unitus’s Capital Markets team. As this team grew more sophisticated and gained momentum, it realized that it could serve many more MFIs with investment banking services outside of the Unitus non-profit structure. Thus, we launched a stand-alone social enterprise with a somewhat larger team, ambitious goals, and a dedicated balance sheet.
While Unitus has retained stakes in both Elevar Equity and Unitus Capital since their respective inceptions, we are not receiving any direct payouts and any future returns will go directly into our global programs budget.