Bangalore: Aavishkaar, the social venture fund that manages a corpus of $120 million, has invested 26 crore in two startups, one being an education service firm Karadi Path and the other being a renewable energy company Vana Vidyut.

Karadi will receive 8 crore to expand its English language learning operations focused on primary school students particularly in semi-urban and rural areas.

Vana Vidyut will receive 18 crore. The company is expected to setup India’s first grid-connected bio-mass power plant with captive bio-mass feed stock from dedicated energy plantations.

Aavishkaar aims to harness the entrepreneurial spirit at the bottom of the pyramid to create inclusive economic development. It has closed a first tranche of $70 million last year. Recently, Cisco has made an investment in Aavishkaar India II, a Mauritius based $120 million fund dedicated to investing in rural India.

Some of the investing portfolios of the company are INI Farms, B2R Technologies, Vortex, Servals Automation, and several others.