Having founded the US-based Unreasonable group to support entrepreneurial ventures that address global issues and scale up these efforts, this year its CEO David Epstein secured a deal with Barclays to support 200 sustainable ventures in the green economy.
The Unreasonable Impact initiative with Barclays is set to last five years and will enable the bank to deliver on its commitment to support 250 entrepreneurs to solve societal and environmental problems. An example of a company supported under this initiative is AirEx, which converts urban spaces into ultra-efficient indoor farms spaces.
Another branch of the Unreasonable Group is the Unreasonable Collective, an investment syndicate platform to pool capital to invest in under-represented founders, which has allocated $10 million into these entrepreneurs.
The Unreasonable Group has also assembled the Unreasonable Fellowship, an invite-only community for growth-stage entrepreneurs. Unreasonable reports the Fellowship has so far supported 400 entrepreneurs, across 53 countries, with $14 billion in financing. These businesses work in sectors including healthcare, education, renewable energy, financial inclusion, and protein synthesis and have raised $14 billion in financing while earning $10 billion in revenue.
"We believe the CEOs we support in the Fellowship represent a new reality where the greatest leaders of tomorrow will be those who see vulnerability as a strength, prioritise people and the planet over numbers, and act with integrity," said Epstein.
Looking to the future, Epstein plans to launch a global initiative targeting food systems. Unreasonable Food will look to build net-zero sustainable supply chains while supporting companies that look to alter how we source raw materials such as cocoa and palm oil.
"We will continue to work with courageous growth-stage entrepreneurs and multinational corporations who believe that solving the world's toughest problems is not only a moral imperative but also an unprecedented financial opportunity. Our community of entrepreneurs is the gateway to the future," concluded Epstein.
