There are more than 400 startups in India today that are using technology to address civic issues. However, the civic tech sector will not become self-sustaining until venture investors understand that these startups have scalable, sustainable business models, and provide the capital that the sector needs. This report, written by Village Capital and CIIE.CO with the support of Omidyar Network India, will aim to help catalyze the civic tech sector in India by defining civic tech, identifying emerging subsectors, and sharing promising revenue models.

In 2018, Village Capital and MetLife Foundation joined with local organizations to hold a forum and competition for startups working around financial health. The forum featured a break-out session where entrepreneurs, investors and leaders in banking, insurance and finance came together to map out assets and gaps in Ukraine’s fintech ecosystem.

In 2018, the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, held the first meeting of their newly formed commission on the future of work — the first time they had held such a commission since 1983. During this first meeting, union leaders spoke about how technology is creating opportunity for American workers — new products, supply chain improvements, new jobs — while at the same time disrupting traditional pathways to the middle class. At one point AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said: “Our experience has also taught us that there is a right way and a wrong way to unleash new tools. Will we let the drivers of inequality pervert technology to foster greater economic injustice and social unrest? Or will we demand that technology improves lives and raises standards and wages across the board? This commission believes technology must be used for good, not greed.”

Entrepreneur support has become an industry in Africa. The number of organizations dedicated to helping entrepreneurs scale has doubled in the past few years. But deal flow remains stubbornly low, especially at the early stage. This report compiles lessons, case studies and trends gathered from our pioneering VilCap Communities Africa program and interviews with more than 300 stakeholders in our network.

Agriculture is a major contributor to climate change, and by 2050 Earth will have an additional two billion people to feed. Our new report compiles lessons, case studies and trends from the longest-running agriculture accelerator in the US, to highlight entrepreneurs that are driving sustainable agriculture innovation from farm to table.

Nearly a decade ago, Village Capital was launched as a radical idea: what if we flipped the power dynamics of venture investing? Peer-Selected Investment is a collaborative due-diligence model that takes a bottom-up approach to investing in early-stage startups.  In the past decade, this process has led to a high-performing portfolio that is more broadly inclusive of entrepreneurial talent than average: 44% of our ventures are founded or cofounded by women and 26% have Black or Latinx founders.

The way we fund new businesses doesn’t work for most entrepreneurs. In the US, four out of five entrepreneurs never raise formal financing. Most of the people getting funding to build the companies of the future still represent a tiny, and wealthy, portion of the global population. Over the past year, our team at Village Capital interviewed more than 200 investors, asset managers, foundations, family offices and pension funds – as well as 50 entrepreneurs – to identify and investigate new and transformative approaches for investing in entrepreneurs that can yield more inclusive results.

America’s system for senior care is unsustainable. We’re about to have more senior citizens than at any time in American history, and they’re approaching retirement age in the worst financial shape in decades. One-in-five Americans has no nest egg at all. With government debate around healthcare progressing at a glacial pace, we’ll need to find other ways to make our system more efficient and prepare for the dramatic change in demographics. Our Health US 2018 program focused on the latest technology and innovation around improving senior care

It takes roughly $30,000 to start a business. Lots of successful entrepreneurs raise that money from friends and family. But what if the people in your network don’t have that kind of money? If we’re going to change the ratio of venture investment going to women, African Americans and Latinx founders, then changing the social capital dynamic at the earliest stages is an important place to start.

We often see early-stage startup CEOs treating talent as an administrative function rather than a strategic one. This can be a critical mistake. Talent is absolutely crucial to early-stage startup success. This report features nine ideas and exercises from leaders who are committed to improving access to talent for small and growing businesses in emerging markets – a diverse range of organizations from incubators to consulting firms.

Automation and artificial intelligence may create as many jobs as they replace. Is our workforce ready? In June 2018 Village Capital and Autodesk Foundation brought together startups, investors, business leaders, and academics for a daylong discussion about how startups can harness automation as a positive force for the workers of the future.

We’re never going to stop moving: transporting people, food and other goods from place to place. But we can get smarter about it. In the past century we’ve evolved from steam engines to gas-guzzling carburetors to electric motors, and now we’re putting those electric motors in the sky. We’re re-learning how to recycle things, and finding new ways to conserve energy.