Humanity United, a foundation owned by US-based impact investment firm Omidyar Group, has launched a $23m venture capital fund backed by entertainment and media group Walt Disney.
The fund, Working Capital, also counts Walmart Foundation and C&A Foundation, which represent retailers Walmart and C&A, Stardust Equity, Open Society Foundations and philanthropic organisation The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund as partners and supporters.
The UK government’s Department for International Development has agreed to provide £2.5m ($3.5m) in sidecar grant funding as part of the fundraise for pre-investment and seed-stage support.
Working Capital aims to nurture scalable technologies that improve global labour practices, reducing worker vulnerability and encouraging better transparency and ethics in the supply chains of multinational corporations.
The fund will target blockchain, machine learning, artificial intelligence, digital identity and internet-of-things technologies related to product traceability, worker engagement, sourcing platforms, risk assessment and ethical recruitment.
Working Capital’s portfolio already includes UK-based Provenance, which is building a blockchain-based system to traces goods throughout the production process, and Canada-based Ulula, which is developing a platform to monitor labour-related risks in real time.