GEXSI was launched at the World Economic Forum in 2001 to pioneer entrepreneurial solutions to end poverty. The organization works at the interface of venture philanthropy and social impact investing; it works through a UK registered charity and a project development and advisory firm. GEXSI is a mission-driven social enterprise that explores new paths to impact investing. We believe that the greatest hurdle to overcome in this sector is the lack of early stage social risk capital to support promising social enterprise start-ups, which are not yet advanced enough to be eligible for funding from established impact investment funds.

Over the past years, GEXSI successfully set up and tested financing instruments that provide early stage risk capital to social enterprises whose business model tackles poverty-related issues. Our benchmark is the New York City-based Acumen Fund, which successfully raised more than USD 50 million to support social enterprises that contribute to poverty alleviation in low-income regions around the globe.

The GEXSI BoP Fund is different in three respects, and reflects our own mission and the European context in which GEXSI is embedded:

1. We make much smaller investments, focusing on early stage business incubation, thereby complementing the existing funding vehicles, including the Acumen Fund
2. We are a Europe-based initiative, with strong links to the region's impact investment community
3. We source our funding not primarily from large foundations, but work through our own online fundraising tools, CSR partnerships, and support through committed venture philanthropists.