Founded in Seattle in 2011, Upaya Social Ventures ("Upaya") is a USA 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that is on a mission to create dignified jobs for people living in extreme poverty by building scalable businesses with investment and consulting support.

Upaya focuses on the “missing middle” businesses creating safe, stable, inclusive, and rewarding jobs because it sees the opportunities for impact at scale, while generating stable returns. These businesses are often overlooked as they are too large for microfinance and too small for traditional bank financing. Upaya identifies these scalable businesses in marginalized communities and provides access to patient capital and deep advisory support to help them scale their business and impact. To date, Upaya has invested in 42 early-stage businesses creating over 51,222 jobs, and has exited a quarter of the investments, showcasing the promise in its model.

Upaya achieves it through four main functions - The first, identifying impact-driven businesses that have the potential to create at least 1000 jobs in the next 7 years for people living in extreme poverty. Second, strengthening these businesses through a theme-based Accelerator to improve investment-readiness, financial and impact management, and leadership development. Third, investing return-seeking, patient capital in the most promising businesses through Upaya’s Pool of Recoverable Grants (“PRG”). Lastly, extending post-investment deep advisory support to our portfolio companies to improve scalability and possibility of an exit.

PRG is a pool of donations/grants that Upaya secures from foundations and donor-advised funds to make (concessionary) return-seeking investments in impact-driven businesses. Each PRG has a 10-year lifecycle and commits to return the grant to the donor with a capped 5% return or recycle the grant for perpetuity like an evergreen fund. If not returned within the 10-year period, the recoverable grant is automatically converted into an unrestricted grant to Upaya to be used for further investments only. Today, PRG I and PRG II are cornerstones of Upaya's impact investing strategy with more than $2M in pooled philanthropic capital, driving enterprise growth, attracting investment, and enabling successful exits.

Additionally, Upaya is developing and participating in innovative initiatives to create systems-level change such as; a coalition of investors and ecosystem partners focused on job creation, a technical assistance facility for sanitation worker-first enterprises to support circularity in fashion, and an alliance addressing challenges faced by micro-entrepreneurs in accessing affordable and appropriate clean energy solutions in Africa and India.

PRG III: Investing in Dignified Jobs for All

PRG III: Investing in Dignified Jobs for All