Soros Economic Development Fund

Soros Economic Development Fund

The Soros Economic Development Fund was launched in 1997 by George Soros as the private-investment vehicle attached to the Open Society Foundations. Its mandate requires every deployment to support measurable progress on democracy, human rights or open society. Georgia Levenson Keohane became CEO in November 2022. SEDF allocates across private equity, private credit and philanthropic structures. It commits to funds and executes direct co-investments in housing, climate finance and health procurement. Confirmed positions include NURCHA Housing Projects in South Africa, the Mexico Mortgage Bond System, the Gavi Vaccine Guarantee and MedAccess Partnership in the United Kingdom. The portfolio spans Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. Ticket sizes range from $1 million to $100 million with five- to fifteen-year horizons. The firm maintains seventeen professionals in New York. It holds limited-partner interests in Cepheus Capital Growth Fund, SP Ventures AgVentures III, EcoEnterprises Fund IV and Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund. In October 2025 it spoke at the Building Bridges conference in Geneva on private-market investing in Africa and blended finance. In March 2026 it participated in the PEI Responsible Investment Forum. SEDF sits inside the Open Society Foundations governance structure rather than operating as an independent family office. This architecture ties every investment decision to the parent foundation’s programmatic goals and allows capital to be deployed with explicit rights-respecting conditions.