• In many developing nations an emergency number like 911 or 999 is unheard of. In India, a private ambulance company is filling the void.

  • Meet Bethlahem, an outreach worker for expecting mothers and one of the unsung heroes working behind the scenes at Lifespring Hospitals.

  • Are you ready to change the way the world tackles poverty? See how our investment model works.

  • How d.light is replacing dangerous kerosene with safe, affordable solar lanterns.

Acumen started as an idea. Now our investments have impacted over 100 million people.

From banks in rural Pakistan supporting low-income farmers to ambulances in Mumbai with a mandate to “serve all” regardless of income, our companies are solving some of the world’s toughest social problems.

Click on the images below to learn more about our investees and the impact they are having across the globe.

Regions Sectors
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Latin America

More than 80 million people live on $4 a day and another 200 million risk being pulled back into poverty due to factors like economic shocks and climate change.

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West Africa

The wealth that has been generated in West Africa has not trickled down to the lowest-income households in the region. 75% of West Africans still live on less than $2 per day.

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GADC Cotton farmer

East Africa

More than 75% of East Africa’s population lives in rural areas, the majority of whom are smallholder farmers living on less than $2 a day.

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Pakistan

While Pakistan has experienced rapid economic development, 66% of Pakistan’s 170 million people live on less than $2 a day.

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India

76% of India’s 1.2 billion people live on less than two dollars a day.

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Agriculture

Worldwide, as many as 800 million of the extremely poor live in rural areas, and most of them are smallholder farmers.

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Hippocampus Education

Education

Currently, 70% of all children not in school globally are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In India alone, 140 million children lack access to education.

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girl with dlight s1 Energy

Energy

Acumen’s Energy Portfolio supports solutions that are closing the gap in access to clean, safe, and affordable electricity faced by 1.5 billion people.

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1298 Health

Health

Acumen’s health investments seek to reduce costs and increase access to a wide-range of previously unavailable products and services for the world’s poor.

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AMC Pakistan Housing

Housing

Slum-dwellers make up over a third of the world’s urban population — over 1 billion people. Acumen has been investing in affordable housing solutions since 2002.

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Water Fellows

Water

Worldwide, more than 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, adequate sanitation facilities, and hygiene. Water-related diseases cause millions of deaths each year.

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SEE ALL INVESTMENTS

Patient capital that dares to go where markets have failed and aid has fallen short

As a non-profit, we raise charitable donations that allow us to make patient long-term debt or equity investments in early-stage companies providing reliable and affordable access to agricultural inputs, quality education, clean energy, healthcare services, formal housing, and safe drinking water to low-income customers.

Acumen invesment model infographic - Partner and Investment page

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Investment Performance

Creating catalytic and financially sustainable enterprises

Our investment approach helps prove new business models, attracts new investment capital, and helps catalyze new markets that serve the poor. Financial returns generated from our investments are recycled back into Acumen.

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$22

Million Cash Returned

To Acumen from our investments

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$522

Million in follow-on

and co-investment capital raised

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23

Exited Companies

from our portfolio

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5:1

Leverage in follow-on capital

or co- investment for every $1 donated

Driving Social Change

Achieving large-scale social impact is the objective of every investment we make. Knowing whether and how our companies are creating this impact is the challenge.

We don’t believe that measuring “number of customers served” is enough. To build lasting, sustainable solutions to poverty, we need real data on whether our companies are serving the poor—we call this “poverty focus.” We also need to understand the “depth of impact” a given product or service has on people’s lives, so we can learn what products and services are most meaningful to them.

This is why we measure impact across three dimensions: breadth, depth and poverty focus.

impact framework

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Acumen Investments in the News

President Barack Obama, left, looks at a solar powered lamp during a tour of the Power Africa Innovation Fair, Saturday, July 25, 2015, in Nairobi. Obama's visit to Kenya is focused on trade and economic issues, as well as security and counterterrorism cooperation. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Celebrating the success of d.light

Last week, d.light’s co-founder, Sam Goldman, welcomed President Obama in Nairobi and had the opportunity to share the company’s impact of bringing affordable, clean light [Read More]
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Acumen Makes First Cookstove Investment with BURN Manufacturing

Acumen announces its new investment in BURN Manufacturing, a cookstove company that aims to transform the lives of Kenyans with its low-cost, energy-efficient design. Today, [Read More]
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Acumen, Dow and Unilever Support Social Enterprises Across East and West Africa Through Technical Assistance Initiative

Acumen, together with The Dow Chemical Company and Unilever, launched its third annual Collaboration Summit in Nairobi today. Bringing together Acumen’s social enterprises from East [Read More]
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Acumen Increases Its Efforts to Improve India’s Private Education With New Investments

Acumen announces its new investment in Ignis Careers and Standard of Excellence in Education and Development (SEED) to improve the current state of low-cost, private [Read More]
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