Our Story
Learn about Village Capital's story, and be part of our next chapter. Learn how to get involved.
2009
Village Capital’s origin story
Village Capital started with a revolutionary mission: to challenge the conventions of the traditional investment landscape. Read more in Ross Baird’s book, The Innovation Blind Spot.
Village Capital began as the seed of a revolutionary idea from Ross Baird and Bob Patillo, with the pilot program co-designed by Sean Foote. Its name combined the concepts of village banking and venture capital: a more transparent, equitable version of the machine that fuels entrepreneurship.
Originally a pilot initiative of First Light Ventures, an affiliate of impact investing pioneer Gray Matters Capital, Village Capital launched its first accelerator in New Orleans in collaboration with the IDEA Village. This inaugural program introduced a groundbreaking model where a cohort of entrepreneurs collectively selected a peer to receive investment, setting a precedent for future programs.
2010
Village Capital incorporates as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and its peer-selected methodology expands internationally
Under the Mango Tree became the first peer-selected startup outside the US, helping revive India’s declining honeybee population by selling fair trade honey.
2012
Village Capital launches its first fund
2012 marked the launch of VilCap Investments, with Victoria Fram as Co-Founder.
Village Capital also began to pilot its methodology and resources worldwide, with programs in Brazil, China, and East Africa.
Over the next three years, the fund supported over 500 entrepreneurs in 40 countries, and the VilCap Investments fund closed USD 17.7M in commitments. Twenty-nine investors backed the fund, including tech pioneers and philanthropists Jean and Steve Case and impact investing leaders like Jim Sorenson.
2013
Village Capital’s peer-selected methodology wins the McKinsey-Harvard prize for innovation
Peer selection gained rapid recognition among the entrepreneurship community due to its innovative approach to participatory decision-making.
2016
We launched our ESO capacity-building work with VilCap Communities
VilCap Communities was a one-year pilot experiment to work with 26 existing communities globally — 16 in the United States and 10 outside the US — to share best practices and test peer-selected investment on a larger scale.
This pilot program evolved into the Village Capital “accelerator-for-accelerators” model that helps ESOs improve their strategy, sustainability, and impact.
2018
VilCap Investments celebrated its 100th investment
The fund marked its 100th peer-selected investment in Wexus Technologies, a company focused on empowering farmers with energy and water intelligence for greater efficiency in agriculture.
2019
Academic research confirms peer-selection mitigates bias against female founders
After months of getting to know each other, an accelerator’s cohort is more likely to choose a female-led company than venture capitalists. Why is that?
Gender bias impacts capital investments, which our peer-selection model aims to reduce.
Read more about our study with Emory University and the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative in Vox.
2020
We launched a participatory decision-making model
We went virtual with our programming and reinvented our systems to enable inclusive, equitable, transparent, and efficient decision-making across all levels. Since then, we have embraced a participatory system that has empowered diverse voices, provided leadership opportunities, and improved our work by creating space for everyone to contribute to decisions that shape our future.
2021
We kicked off our impact investments practice
Our Impact Investing-as-a-Service offerings provide customized hands-on support to de-risk and demystify the process of supporting founders with capital – building your capacity to invest in the entrepreneurs of the future. Our services include end-to-end fund management, sourcing and due diligence, investment thesis development, and investment guidance.
In 2021, we announced the first two investments in the Financial Health Innovation Fund, an early-stage investment program funded by MetLife Foundation.
2022
We refreshed our brand
The new visual identity of Village Capital reflects our values, priorities, and the evolving and dynamic world of entrepreneurship. A fresh and accessible color palette, hand-drawn maps, and the fresh community icon better reflect our work around the globe.
2023
We focused on reimagining systems-level change with ecosystem-building initiatives
The Village Capital “accelerator-for-accelerators” program model helps ESOs improve their strategy, sustainability, and impact. This year, we ran the first-of-its-kind “accelerator-for-accelerators” initiatives in Latin America and MENA: Colombian Ecosystem Builders, MENA Ecosystem Builders, and Palestine Ecosystem Builders. This framework is also included in our ESO Diagnostic Tool.
Village Capital introduced the Smarter Systems toolkit
Investing opportunities might be overlooked due to outdated and biased processes.
Village Capital’s toolkit outlines three ways to reduce discrepancies in investment evaluation processes, which increases equity in the innovation economy.
Our research shows that women-led startups increase their evaluation scores by 5X when investors implement our three-step process.
We launched a new tool to support alternative financing
Searching for different types of funding as a startup founder can feel overwhelming.
We launched Capital Explorer to help founders cut through the noise and hone in on options for funding that could fit well with their vision and the company’s path forward.
A few questions lead to curated recommendations – from grants to debt to equity.
2025
Where we’re heading
In our next chapter, we’ve got big, audacious goals. By 2030, we’re working to reduce barriers to social and financial capital for 50K SDG-aligned startups led by diverse, underserved founders.
Fifteen years into our story, we’re still working to reimagine the system for supporting impact-creating startups. And we are just getting started.
To get the latest insights and news on our work, check out our blog, media center, and reports. To support our work, donate here.