Opportunity Funds
Urban Array Impact Ventures has created Opportunity Funds based on the industry and geographic interests of our investors and members.
U/A Opportunity Fund Highlights
The Urban Array Opportunity Fund (“UAOF” or “The Fund”) is an affiliate of the Urban Array Foundation (UAF or “The Foundation”) and works in conjunction with the Foundations partners to provide a vehicle for private investors to speed the development of high promise areas.
Urban Array Opportunity Fund is a for-profit Limited Liability Partnership. It will invest primarily in Chicago Opportunity Zone with some broader US based investments in other Opportunity Zones. IRS FAQ
The UAOF leverages investor capital to purchase properties in state-nominated opportunity zones, with dual bottom line goals to support the impact investing activities of the Urban Array Foundation, and to do so at a profit.
The fund follows specific investing principles that allow it to achieve a competitive edge in the opportunity investing space.
Supported by UAF and working in conjunction with building equity company Hanns & Erving, properties purchased by the fund are rehabbed and rebuilt for Entrepreneurs being incubated through business accelerator E.G. Woode.
This allows UAOF to minimize costs passed to the UAF and further allow The Fund to minimize costs to entrepreneurs in these areas.
Investor money is locked into the fund for 7 -10 years. Dividends may be paid. Management fees of 2 and 20 are donated to, and used to pay the salaries of UAF development and management teams.
The fund has four main goals:
- Be a catalyst for high growth businesses and asset development;
- Serve an essential function in developing communities with burgeoning entrepreneurial ecosystems within the greater Chicago area;
- Support the Impact Investing activities of the Urban Array Foundation whose goals are to generate measurable social impact alongside financial return for contributors;
- Provide measured returns for its investors while being under no obligation to participate in every project that the Foundation undertakes.
Community Engagement and Equity
The Urban Array Opportunity Fund is the first iteration of what we believe will grow to be a world changing investment class. The Fund will support the activities of the Urban Array Foundation by providing ‘last mile’ investment to the community driven projects that The Foundation empowers using The Foundations open source Social Enterprise Asset Management platform as well as other technological tools at the disposal of The Foundation.
– The Foundation identifies and evaluates projects on a case by case basis, selecting communities with a surplus of human capital and under-employed citizens. Once these communities are identified The Foundation finds hyper-local partners who have the strongest existing products, businesses, and networks with which to scale.
– The Fund will provide investors with a higher level of transparency and access. Investors will receive bi-monthly updates on the status of the undertakings of The Foundation and the implications of said updates on the Investments of The Fund.
– The Foundation will cap the exit of The Fund from The Foundations undertakings at a maximum 200% return. This cap comes with the understanding that due to the ‘last mile’ nature of The Fund’s capital as an addition to The Foundations already active community engagement, investment risks are lowered for both parties. Money from The Fund will only be used for completion of already underway community run projects and enterprises, this will serve to lower the risk of non-completion for all parties.
Fund Summary
- Where do we focus
- Quick fund overview
Opportunities
We work in mispriced areas (underserved, large leverageable workforce, thrive incentives, etc)
Partnered with a number of different organizations in the communities
Non-profits
Small businesses
Community Development Organizations
Strategy
Finding assets in underpriced and underdeveloped areas
Incubating entrepreneurs and teams with a social enterprise and impact focus
Deploying and using feedback from the people on the ground
Developing economies based on need
Not trying to develop needs based on economies
This is the basis of any good product, finding a market and then figuring out how to address their problems and solve their needs
This is the opposite of what most projects in our space are doing
Advantages
- Large deployable volunteer base
- Partnership with the communities themselves
- “Everything Counts” value tracking ability
- After-Action Reporting Procedures
- Tokenized Equity tracking
- SEAMS resource management platform
1. Identify communities presently with low to moderate opportunities for economic advancement;
2. Find organizations (non-profits, small businesses, schools, etc) within said community that purport to have similar goals to that of the Urban Array Foundation;
3. Determine adjacent properties within community that could become new ‘community centers’;
4. Investigate and determine steps and resources necessary to bring said properties up to spec and available for small business owners to rent;
5. Measure currently deployable asset and labor force;
6. Calculate total additional investment needed for ‘last mile’ completion of the project(s).
1. Strong leadership;
2. Business incubation and acceleration of social enterprises and impact projects;
3. Mis-priced assets;
4. Already in place work forces and impact organizations;
5. Scalable business models templates (“Social Franchising”);
6. Strategic Competitive analysis.
1. Social Enterprise Asset Management (SEAM) system;
2. Simple and scalable After-Action-Reporting process;
3. Monopolistic economies of scale within un-siloed organizations;
4. Process and resource management synergies;
5. Unified equity asset management systems.
Urban Array is a 501 (c)3 Nonprofit committed to resolving the problems associated with economic exemption and inequality by empowering entrepreneurship and economic ownership in formerly divested communities.