The Working Capital Fund, the only venture capital fund focused on increasing economic equality by transforming supply chains, is pleased to release its 2024 Annual Impact Report.

The Annual Impact Report documents how we identify opportunities to accelerate the development and deployment of innovative, market-based solutions that benefit marginalized workers and the businesses that employ them. The Fund’s investments enable the private sector to implement operational change with rigor and at scale, shaping a world where supply chains work for everyone. By embracing and supporting innovation, the Fund offers a highly differentiated approach to addressing the systemic challenges faced by workers in the global economy. 

In 2024, we saw growing evidence validating our investment thesis: there is a robust, investable market of high-impact startups at the intersection of regulatory shifts, business needs, societal expectations, and supply chain technologies.

This year marked several important milestones:

• Three Fund I companies successfully exited to impact-aligned acquirers:
  • SupplyShift to Blackstone-backed Sphera
  • Versed.ai to Carlyle-backed Exiger
  • Ulula to General Atlantic-backed Ecovadis
    
• Altana, one of our earliest investments, achieved a $1 billion valuation.

Across sectors and geographies, our portfolio companies are delivering measurable impact at scale, reaching millions of workers and enabling more responsible, data-driven decisions by buyers and suppliers.

The 2024 Annual Report showcases how the Fund’s investments are finding traction in global supply chains, focusing on six key themes:

1. MARKET VALIDATION: The track record of exits, valuations, and portfolio growth demonstrates how we invest in commercially viable companies that deliver impact at scale. 
2. INVESTING WITH A SYSTEMS CHANGE ORIENTATION: The portfolio helps drive systemic change by intervening at varied, key decision points in supply chains. 
3. REACH ENABLED BY TECHNOLOGY: Technology-enabled portfolio companies have been able to reach workers, suppliers, and consumers at significant scale. 
4. ‘RETURN ON IMPACT’: Impactful interventions by portfolio companies lead to direct financial benefit for the businesses that implement them. 
5. LEGISLATION HELPS DRIVE COMPANY GROWTH: Legislation has proven dynamic but certain requirements persist. Portfolio companies’ technology solutions are enabling effective compliance. 
6. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES ARE EFFECTIVELY APPLIED TO HUMAN/LABOR RIGHTS: Portfolio companies are leveraging AI and machine learning, among other emerging technologies, to improve social and environmental outcomes in supply chains. 

We invest to deliver impact, scale, and financial returns. In 2024, WCF screened over 2,100 companies, from which we identified 245 high-quality leads, which led to deeper diligence on 70 companies, investment memos on 14 companies, and investment in three new companies:

1. minu – the leading employee wellness platform in Mexico;
2. Lilo – a procurement team in a box, focused initially on the hospitality and real estate sectors;
3. TRACT – a traceability and sustainability data platform for global agricultural supply chains.

Our portfolio of sixteen companies remains aligned with our intended impact, tackling issues faced by marginalized workers, including forced labor, child labor, gender inequality, substandard wages, and systemic safety risks. Fifty percent of our invested capital has been allocated to companies with women founders/leaders. 

We have built a portfolio that exploits several distinct avenues to impact. 

• Portfolio companies enable multinationals and their suppliers to effectively and efficiently comply with a growing number of responsible sourcing and sustainability regulations. 
• The portfolio finds the intersection between responsible supply chain management and direct financial benefit, in the form of reduced costs, improved consumer engagement, and enhanced productivity. 
• Portfolio companies leverage technology to enhance supply chain transparency, generate new data about supply chain performance, independently validate social and environmental claims, engage workers directly, and in general, help multinational enterprises and their suppliers achieve business success through responsible practices.

Impact management and measurement remains a work in progress. We are pleased to share our most recent milestones and learning, and welcome feedback from our community.