Skip to content

Patient Capital

Solar lamp representatives smile cheerfully at large function in India

We deploy philanthropic capital to high-innovation, high-impact enterprises that shape markets to break the cycle of poverty.

The power of patience

deployed between 2001 and 2020
companies invested in across 5 regions
return on investment over 20 years

Where philanthropy and investing meet

A staggering 5.3 billion people still live in poverty, largely neglected by the marketplace. Philanthropy is critical for Patient Capital, allowing us to take outsized risk for outsized impact so that no one is left behind. 

Thanks to its philanthropic nature, Patient Capital can experiment in markets with challenging operating environments, underdeveloped infrastructure, and weak currencies.

Watch the TED Talk

Patient Capital has more flexible time horizons for returns, enabling large-scale, deep, and lasting solutions to problems of poverty.

Investment principles

Patient Capital is laser-focused on the poor. It exists to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Our approach

Patient Capital prioritizes impact, but never loses sight of financial accountability. For every dollar invested to date, we’ve received 91 cents back.

Our impact
Two workers place coconut meat into machine to be ground in a East African processing facility
Women sits on bed with her child in a swaddle in Indian home
Solar panel array on a East Africa field
Case Study

Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Workforce India 2024

Unlocking billions in benefits for India’s underserved

3 women have a discussion in a Indian neighborhood alleyway
Case Study

CortePaz

Agriculture Latin America 2024

Revamping cacao in Colombia
Case Study

Koolboks

Energy West Africa 2022

Innovation is cool in Nigeria

Case Study

Ed Partners

Education East Africa 2021

Financing the future of education in East Africa

A group of school children gleefully lookout the window from a building in Kenya
Case Study

Ziqitza Healthcare Limited

Healthcare India 2006

Building the foundation for emergency medical services in India

Medical professional conducts examination in the back of a Ziqitza ambulette in India
Report

Investing as a Means: 20 Years of Patient Capital

Read the report
Woman farmer tending to crop field in Colombia

Capital that’s backed by philanthropy can transform markets.

Patient Capital is most successful when used to build untested, unproven markets or disrupt broken ones.

Pioneer Energy Investment Initiative PLUS

Renewable energy-powered appliances that help increase incomes and enhance climate resilience for rural livelihoods.

Man pours milk from small container to larger container in Indian dairy storage facility

Trellis

When agribusinesses join forces to serve smallholder farmers, they fortify a climate resilient future.

Farmer's hands hold ripe red peppers in a greenhouse enclosure

East Africa Education Facility

We make targeted investments in education startups that have the greatest impact on education quality and access for low-income students.

Two children read books at a library in East Africa

Green Growth

Re-imagining India’s green job revolution by investing in companies serving the millions of informal workers in the waste management system.

Woman carefully inspects and sorts cloth waste for recycling and re-use

Hardest-to-Reach

Scaling off-grid solar distribution into sub-Saharan Africa’s underserved markets to help achieve universal energy access.

A man and woman enjoying access to lighting in their home
Acumen fellow Andres Felipe Gonzalez Espinosa sits on a sidewalk in a Colombian neighborhood
Course

Acumen’s Patient Capital: Lessons from 20 Years of Impact Investing

Investors can learn how to practice the principles of Patient Capital, including how to support social entrepreneurs on their journey to impact.

Take the course

More about Acumen