Omidyar Netwok opens India office

Microfinance Focus, Oct. 14, 2009: Global philanthropic investment firm Omidyar Network has opened a new entity in India called “Omidyar Network India Advisors” to expand its investments in the country. The new entity will be headed by Jayant Sinha.

The Indian office will enable Omidyar Network to partner more closely with India-based portfolio organizations.

“I am confident that Omidyar Network’s investment in high-impact entrepreneurs and innovative organizations will catalyze economic opportunity and social impact in India,” said Sinha. “I am excited to lead the organization to encourage market-based approaches that have the potential to improve millions of lives.”

Sinha brings more than 20 years of experience in investments. Recently, he led Global Technology and India-related investments as Managing Director of Courage Capital Management. Prior to it, Sinha was a Partner with McKinsey & Company. He will build on Omidyar Network’s existing Indian investments.

To date, the firm has invested more than $43 million in India by funding such organizations as the Rural Development Institute, a nonprofit that brings land rights to rural India; Quikr, the fastest-growing online classifieds company in India, and Unitus Equity Fund, which funds high-quality microfinance institutions in 19 of India’s 28 states.

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm that believes in harnessing the power of markets to create opportunity for people to improve their lives. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, the organization invests in and helps scale innovative organizations to catalyze economic and social change.

To date, Omidyar Network has committed more than $300 million to for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that foster economic advancement and encourage individual participation across multiple investment areas, including microfinance, property rights, government transparency, and social media.

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