# Acumen

> Acumen is a VC fund in New York backing Agriculture and Solar. See 187 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: New York, United States
- Total investments: 187
- Last investment: Apr 2026
- Lead investor: 49%
- Fund size: $2.8M
- Last fund: Nov 2019
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/21284
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/Acumen
- Website: http://acumen.org
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/acumenfund

Acumen is a nonprofit venture fund that invests in early-stage companies bringing critical services like agriculture, clean energy, education, financial inclusion, healthcare and workforce development to low-income communities in 14 countries across East and West Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and the United States. Since 2001, Acumeninvested $128 million in 128 companies that have transformed the lives of over 308 million low-income people.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Acumen. Shizune tracks 34 team members at Acumen. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/acumen-fund?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $300k–$2.5M |
| Series A | $1.6M–$12M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Agriculture | 28 | 15% |
| Solar | 22 | 12% |
| Financial Services | 21 | 11% |
| Health Care | 19 | 10% |
| Energy | 18 | 10% |

152 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 53 | 28% |
| Funding Round | 42 | 22% |
| Series A | 22 | 12% |
| Venture - Series Unknown | 20 | 11% |
| Debt Financing | 13 | 7% |

11 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 40 | 21% |
| India | 37 | 20% |
| Kenya | 18 | 10% |
| Nigeria | 10 | 5% |
| Colombia | 7 | 4% |

23 countries tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Adekemi Ajayi | Regional Director, West Africa | 2 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/adekemi-ajayi |
| Carsten Stendevad | President and CIO | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/carsten-stendevad |
| Veenu Aulakh | Director | 2 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/veenu-aulakh |
| Ajit Mahadevan | Country Director | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/ajit-mahadevan |
| Amon Anderson | Director | 7 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/amon-anderson |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MyJouleBox | MyJouleBox offers a solution for solar professionals in Africa to offer leased solar installations to their customers. | $7.4M | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 10, 2026 |  |
| Pullus Africa | We are Africa's first poultry-only platform using technology to boost local poultry production and supply chain by facilitating access to quality Input, advisory and production services, finance, and a guaranteed market for poultry farmers in Africa. |  | Seed | Apr 10, 2026 |  |
| Instollar | Instollar is solar energy workforce provider in the region. |  | Seed | Apr 09, 2026 |  |
| Mountain Harvest | Mountain Harvest produces Arabica coffee, working with local farmers to improve coffee quality and support sustainable farming practices. The company focuses on enhancing farmers' income opportunities and environmental sustainability. It offers education and internships in quality assurance, processing, and agronomy. Mountain Harvest alsocollaborates with academic institutions on research related to coffee production and quality. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Apr 07, 2026 |  |
| Omia Agribusiness Development | The mission of Omia Agribusiness Development is to provide African farmers with the tools they need to achieve maximum productivity, profitability, and sustainability. |  | Convertible Note | Mar 26, 2026 |  |
| AgroEknor | AgroEknor provides agricultural research, integration, technology based optimization & global delivery of the agro superfoods. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Feb 06, 2026 |  |
| ScrapUncle | ScrapUncle is an App/Website that allows users to schedule a doorstep pickup for their Junk goods such as Paper, Metals, Plastics, Electronic Waste and get paid for it. | $2.4M | Seed | Jan 27, 2026 |  |
| Vitara | Vitara provide tools that enable traceability, real-time data insights, conservation monitoring, farmer payments |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Jan 09, 2026 |  |
| Loom Craft Chocolate | Loom Craft Chocolate is a artisanal cocoa processor with a strong focus on the quality of our products and the sustainability of our processes. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Aug 22, 2025 |  |
| Ampersand | Ampersand catalyzes and power mass-market electric mobility. By supplying the battery swap network and operating system the company makes sustainable mobility rapidly accessible and affordable for developing markets, to improve livelihoods and the environment. With over a million km already covered by e-motorcycles in Africa using our plug-and-playpowertrain and energy network. |  | Venture - Series Unknown | Aug 16, 2025 |  |

10 of 187 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Acumen America](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/acumen-america-b7c1) — VC Fund, 18 deals together
- [Garage Technology Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/garage-technology-ventures) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Kapor Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kapor-capital) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Nexus Venture Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nexus-venture-partners) — VC Fund, 5 deals together
- [Gray Matters Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gray-matters-capital) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Impact America Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/impact-america-fund) — VC Fund, 4 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Acumen invest in?

Acumen invests primarily in Agriculture, Solar and Financial Services startups, most often at Seed and Funding Round stage. Most of the 187 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Acumen's check size?

Acumen typically joins rounds of $300k–$2.5M at Seed and $1.6M–$12M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Acumen participates in.

### How do I contact Acumen?

Public channels for Acumen include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Acumen?

The team at Acumen includes Adekemi Ajayi (Regional Director, West Africa), Carsten Stendevad (President and CIO) and Veenu Aulakh (Director), among 34 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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