NEW YORK — The Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), the impact investing arm of Open Society Foundations, announced a $5 million commitment to the Working Capital Fund III(WCF III), an early-stage venture fund backing technologies that advance transparency, accountability, and equity across global supply chains. The commitment marks a reinvestment by SEDF, which backed WCF in a prior fund, and forms part of WCF III’s initial $31 million close, with a final target of $100 million. The investment also expands SEDF’s human rights and justice portfolio, a thematic area in which catalytic capital can play an outsized role in shaping the market.
WCF III continues to build on its decade-long belief that technology, deployed deliberately and responsibly, can transform conditions for workers who remain vulnerable and invisible to the brands and consumers they serve. To date, WCF has invested in 24 companies, positively impacting workers in more than 60 countries. Its portfolio of companies address the intersection of labor rights, accountable business practices, and the use of technology to expand opportunity for historically marginalized workers.
Fund III also deepens WCF’s work in three core areas: AI-enabled worker empowerment, climate adaptation for vulnerable supply chain workers, and scalable human rights due diligence tools aligned with emerging global regulations.
Portfolio companies include Ulula, a voice platform that, recently acquired by EcoVadis, uses mobile technology to crowdsource grievances directly from workers located in hard-to-reach supply chains; Altana, a mapping and risk assessment unicorn providing multi-tier visibility and labor rights intelligence across global supplier networks; and Sitration, which reduces risk to people in critical mineral supply chains through safer approaches to mineral recovery.
“SEDF is pleased to reinvest in the Working Capital Fund, a private sector leader advancing human rights across global supply chains,” said Georgia Levenson Keohane, CEO of SEDF.
“Working Capital has demonstrated how innovative deployment of catalytic capital can drive meaningful supply chain transformation and scale tools that advance the dignity of work across the world.”
“SEDF’s continued partnership is a meaningful validation of what we’ve built and where we’re going,” said Ed Marcum, managing partner at the Working Capital Fund. “Investors like SEDF—who understand both the commercial and systemic dimensions of this market—are essential to proving that supply chain accountability is not a trade-off but a competitive advantage. We’re grateful for their trust and for the signal it sends to the broader market.”
SEDF is joined in this investment by The Omidyar Group, Minderoo Foundation, SAP, and Stardust Fund, among others.
Source: Tahawul Tech