Social venture funds that are helping solve India's grave water crisis
We recently featured the impact investment funds in India who have invested in social ventures working for the betterment of agriculture sector in India. After agriculture, we are focusing on the impact investments in the social ventures working for providing solutions for water problems of our country – be it providing safe drinking water, purification of water or solving the water needs of farmers.
Here are the funds and their investments:
Aavishkaar – Aavishkaar, an early stage social impact fund in India, has invested in Waterlife India which provides rural communities with potable drinking water by setting up village-level water purification plants in rural areas.
Acumen – Acumen, a non-profit global venture fund, has invested in
1. WaterHealth International which offers an immediately deployable strategy for processing healthy drinking water in underserved communities.
2. Guardian – Gramalaya Urban And Rural Development Initiatives And Network (GUARDIAN) – is the world’s first microfinance institution (MFI) engaged in microlending to households to purchase individual water and sanitation assets.
3. Spring Health which has designed a low-cost model to operate a chain of safe water kiosks in East India
Advantage Ventures, an Asia based social investment and advisory company with offices in Hong Kong and Beijing. Thay work with a mission to invest in key development sectors in Asia-Pacific which address the most pressing challenges. Advantage Ventures have invested in Piramal Foundation backed Sarvajal which provides innovative solution to provide clean drinking water across India. Sarvajal franchises their proprietary filtration equipment to local entrepreneurs who then operate the machines and sell the water at a minimal cost to customers.
Khosla Impact fund has invested in Driptech which makes affordable drip irrigation for small-plot farmers. Through proprietary manufacturing and novel distribution, Driptech enables any farmer to invest in appropriate irrigation technologies, allowing them to save water, labor and substantially increase their yield and income.
More about the impact investments in India to follow. Stay tuned!