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Social impact investment fund Next Bharat Ventures IFSC Private Limited, a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, has launched a Rs 340 crore fund.

This fund will aim to back social impact entrepreneurs building sustainable businesses addressing societal challenges in Tier II cities and beyond, according to a statement. Next Bharat Ventures will focus on startups in the segments of agriculture, financial inclusion, rural supply chain, and mobility.

“We are embarking on this journey to cultivate an impact entrepreneurship ecosystem that is profoundly community-oriented. The Next Bharat investment framework focuses on horizontal scaling, aiming to create hundreds of profitable SMEs over a fund cycle, rather than concentrating on creating just two or three unicorns per fund cycle,” said Vipul Nath Jindal, CEO and Managing Director of Next Bharat, Ventures.

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This organisation works with NGOs and communities to create social impact

The investment fund has also launched a four-month ‘Next Bharat Residency programme’ for early-stage entrepreneurs. It will select entrepreneurs who are impact-first, have a clear problem-solving approach, and are committed to contributing to the rural community or the informal sector of India.

The objective of the programme is to equip social impact ventures with the essential knowledge, networks, and resources including risk capital, to enable them to achieve scale and become small and medium-sized enterprises. The selected startup will also receive equity funding in the range of Rs 1-5 crore.

Suzuki Motor Corporation President and CEO Toshihiro Suzuki said, “Bharat has about 1.4 billion people, but we have only reached about 0.4 billion with our mobility business. Our goal is to connect with the next billion people of India, extending beyond mobility and becoming a part of India’s future story.“

The Suzuki Innovation Center, which was established in IIT Hyderabad more than 2.5 years ago, will also now become a part of Next Bharat Ventures. This centre will continue to work on open-innovation and Indo-Japan ecosystem building for social good, it said in a statement.