How Unreasonable Is Re-Purposing Capitalism By Championing World Changing Entrepreneurs And Creating An ‘Ecosystem Of Good’ (Part 2)

Unreasonable, is an investment house that is building a unique ‘ecosystem for good’ that is nurturing entrepreneurs tackling some of the world’s largest challenges.

(For Part 1 of This Story, Please Click Here.)

Afdhel Aziz: Christiana, how about you, what inspired you about Unreasonable?

Christiana Musk: Each one of our impact entrepreneurs is a seed of tremendous potential, and Unreasonable builds the ecosystem of fertile soil, energy, and nourishment to support that entrepreneur to reach their potential. By focusing on leaders that are working on breakthrough solutions to our greatest global problems we are betting on them to transform our world. It’s a powerful theory of change.

Global problems require innovation from all over the world. So far, we have in our network nearly 300 fellows from almost 50 countries generating over $5.5 billion in revenue, many of whom are women or BIPOC entrepreneurs. We work hard to make sure our mentors and investor communities are also diverse and global.

Take Daniel. An entrepreneur that started a company for the singular purpose of helping other entrepreneurs make the world better? He is the ultimate example of servant leadership who thrives by helping others reach their potential.

Aziz: Thank you for sharing that Christiana. Who are some of the other entrepreneurs that inspire you the most?

Musk: Uma Valeti, founder of Upside Foods & Annie Ryu, founder of Jack & Annie’s, both gave up medical careers to transform our food system. I believe the meat crisis is the greatest wicked challenge of our times and both are creating new solutions to these problems. Annie has figured out how to take the world’s most abundant fruit- Jackfruit- and turn it into the most wholesome and delicious plant-based meat replacement out there while empowering small farmers to expand sustainable agroforestry in India. (Sustainable Agroforestry = one of the greatest solutions for climate change + feeding world.) 

Uma has figured out how to actually make meat. Period. Not an alternative to meat – but actual meat. When you grill up the chicken it caramelizes like chicken, smells and tastes like chicken because it is 100% chicken— without slaughter. Given that over 50 billion chickens are slaughtered a year and demand is projected to double- this is a game changing solution.

When you add that to our fellows who are using cutting edge Artificial Intelligence to tackle food waste, developing prefabricated modular bio-digesters to bring clean energy and sustainable agricultural practices to over 100 million farms across the world, distributing modular desalination machines to provide clean water and upgrading aquaculture to make it truly sustainable—we truly have the great leaders of the future of our food system in our Unreasonable community!

Aziz: Pratibha, let’s turn to you. Please tell us what the Unreasonable Collective is and what its investment thesis is all about?

Pratibha Vuppuluri: Our invitation-only members’ club is a community of values-aligned investors who co-invest in best-in-class, growth-stage technology ventures in climate-tech (80%) and future of work (20%). We syndicate deals and co-invest alongside marquee VCs who set competitive terms, and offer our members a chance to back some of the leading technologies from our Fellowship which currently includes about 280 ventures that are uplifting the lives of more than 720 million people in over 180 countries. Each deal is highly-curated and vetted, going through a multi-layered diligence approach before it is presented to our members. We focus on Series A and Series B stage ventures with a proven track record and on a trajectory to offer above-market returns for our members.

Aziz: I love the deliberate focus on diversity not just on the founders, but also on the investors. Has this led to improved business impact?

Vuppuluri: We’re working hard to transform the investment landscape to really ensure underrepresented entrepreneurs are funded, which means we need a more diverse group of investors funding them. We know less than 1.3% of the $69 trillion in global assets under the four major asset classes are managed by women and people of color. So we created a mandate to build an inclusive network, where at a minimum, 50% of our members are women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, or LGBTQ+. We have found that a diverse investor base both increases the flow of capital to diverse founders, and meets the needs of ventures who are actively looking for a diverse investor base that can bring smart capital, fresh perspectives, and ground-up insights.

For more information on Unreasonable Group, please click here.