Unitus Capital

Richa Natarajan serves as Managing Director and drives the firm's investment banking practice. The team operates from Bangalore and focuses on connecting growth-stage social enterprises with impact investors across India and Southeast Asia. Following the 2021 acquisition by Upaya Social Ventures, the platform gained additional operational backing while retaining its existing leadership and brand identity.

Unitus Capital operates as a financial advisory and capital-raising platform, not a fund manager. It structures debt and equity transactions for social enterprises, typically in the $2 million to $20 million range, and earns advisory fees rather than taking balance-sheet risk. The firm does not manage a proprietary investment pool.

The firm concentrates on financial inclusion, agriculture and food systems, healthcare, education, and clean energy — sectors where enterprises serve low-income populations in India and Southeast Asia. Past mandates include microfinance institutions, smallholder-farmer platforms, and last-mile health-delivery companies. It avoids sectors that lack a direct pro-poor impact thesis.

The firm draws mandates from a network built over more than a decade inside Indian impact circles, including relationships with development banks, impact funds, and social-enterprise accelerators. Executed transactions and repeat client engagements create an in-bound pipeline that reduces reliance on competitive RFP processes. The Upaya connection extends this network into early-stage deal flow.

Upaya Social Ventures acquired Unitus Capital in 2021, integrating the advisory platform into a broader impact-ecosystem builder. Unitus Capital continues to operate under its original brand, while Upaya provides strategic and operational support. The combination allows the firm to serve enterprises from proof-of-concept through growth-stage capital raises.

Unitus Capital does not maintain a discretionary investment vehicle and typically does not co-invest principal capital alongside the transactions it advises. Its role is strictly intermediary — structuring and placing securities with external investors. This limits conflicts but also means the firm cannot anchor rounds with its own balance sheet.

India is the dominant market, accounting for the majority of historical transactions. The firm has progressively expanded into Southeast Asia, with notable activity in Indonesia. It does not operate in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, or developed markets — staying within the Asian markets where its team has the deepest network and regulatory familiarity.