Villgro Innovations: Sourcing and Supporting Health-Sector Investments
Sourced, evaluated, and supported early-stage health companies at a social impact venture fund
Samyukta Prabhu
Strategy Consultant at The Udaiti Foundation
From their time as
Investments
Villgro • 2021 - 2022
Overview
Samyukta joined Villgro Innovations Foundation, a social impact venture fund, in an investments role focused on the health vertical. Villgro backs early-stage companies working on socially relevant problems, and her work involved identifying, evaluating, and supporting companies across the health sector.
The Story
Samyukta joined Villgro Innovations Foundation, a social impact venture fund, in an investments role focused on the health vertical. Villgro backs early-stage companies working on socially relevant problems, and her work involved identifying, evaluating, and supporting companies across the health sector.
Her responsibilities spanned the sourcing and diligence process: identifying companies that fit Villgro's investment thesis, running evaluations, and then supporting portfolio companies post-investment. The role gave her early exposure to how investors assess founders and business models at the earliest stages, and how to think about impact alongside commercial viability.
This was her first substantive role in the venture ecosystem, and it shaped how she thinks about the relationship between strategy and execution in early-stage companies: the founders who succeed are rarely the ones with the best plans, but the ones who can adapt their plans fastest when reality pushes back.