Our Strategy

We employ a diverse set of tools to address unified strategic imperatives that allow us to engage on today’s most salient threats and opportunities:

  1. Reimagining Capitalism. Capitalism and markets have delivered broad benefits to individuals and to society, but without the right guardrails in place, they produce serious inequities and profound negative consequences well beyond the economic realm alone. We support efforts to build more equitable economies that rebalance the social contract among business, the state, and the individual. We address issues like job insecurity and how to provide workers with a voice to increase their earning power and dignity. 
  2. Beneficial Technology. Promoting the use of technology, platforms, and connectivity to improve lives and improve outcomes, while also ensuring technological innovation is centered on and promotes human well-being and individual liberty. Our efforts will also build resilience and capacity to address and manage its risks, unintended consequences, or negative outcomes.
  3. Discovering Emergent Issues. Searching for and exploring the emergent issues that will most shape the future. With research we create deeper understanding of what’s at stake, with attention to narrative and storytelling we help elevate the issue in the public dialogue, and with advocacy we build support for our point of view. This innovation lab for philanthropy tests, incubates, and launches new ideas, pushing the frontier of social change.

Investment Criteria

Alignment

We look for organizations aligned with our mission of creating a more equitable economy, promoting responsible technology that improves lives, expanding human capability, and discovering the emergent issues that will shape our future.​ We seek for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations that use innovative, market-based approaches within our areas of work. 

Impact

We identify organizations that intend to develop new markets or industries, influence policy or practices among existing institutions, alter public perception, or demonstrate the power of business to create social and financial returns. Ideal partners will inspire further entrepreneurial activity in their field.

Potential for Scale

We look for organizations with significant growth potential, with the ability to scale operations and develop new markets. We ask for-profits to have the potential for a highly successful business model and nonprofits a path toward operational sustainability.

Leadership

We invest in management teams with a proven track record in their field of operation and an ability to articulate a clear vision and strategy, reinforced by a viable business plan. The organization must practice exemplary governance with operational efficiency and controls, transparent practices, and disciplined financial planning.

Innovation

We seek organizations that employ creative, entrepreneurial strategies to accomplish their goals. Investees may disrupt the status quo, establish a new business paradigm, or pioneer services for untapped markets.

Please note Omidyar Network does not accept unsolicited proposals.

We proactively seek new investments based on our investment area strategies and typically source deals from within our network of partners and contacts. Our business relationships are managed by our investment professionals, and we do not accept unsolicited business plans, funding proposals, or personal funding requests.  Omidyar Network does not offer memberships, and any invitation to apply to become a paid ‘member’ of Omidyar Network is fraudulent.

Our Work

Resources

About

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Omidyar Network uses the transformative power of people, markets, and technology to drive empowerment and accelerate solutions equal to today’s challenges