Apoorv Karmakar

Apoorv Karmakar is the Managing Director of Amplio Ventures, an Atlanta-based impact venture fund founded in 2019 that uses early-stage venture capital to advance the economic stability of refugees. The firm backs companies founded by refugees, companies that hire from refugee populations, and companies serving refugees as customers, and has stated a goal of investing $100 million into refugee-focused businesses by 2030. Amplio sits within the faith-driven investing community and is affiliated with networks including the Tent Partnership for Refugees, the Toniic impact network, and the Refugee Investment Network.

Before Amplio, Karmakar was a Senior Director at Village Capital, the Washington, DC–based early-stage VC firm, where he helped source, train, and invest in startups working on financial health, sustainability, and the future of work. As part of the firm's investment and operational leadership, he helped develop Village Capital's sector- and geography-specific investment theses, with a particular emphasis on entrepreneurs overlooked by traditional venture capital. His earlier experience includes work with The World Bank Group and multiple early-stage ventures.

Karmakar is also a co-founder and director of Included VC, an initiative focused on bringing underrepresented and diverse talent—including refugees—into investment decision-making roles, and he has served as a Venture Partner at Sif.vc. He holds a Master of Arts in International Relations / Law from The Fletcher School at Tufts University (2015–2017). His areas of expertise include climate and green finance, portfolio management, venture building, and open innovation.

• Invests at pre-seed and seed stage, with an average check around $500K, aiming for "above-market financial returns" alongside measurable impact on refugee stability.
• Thesis centers on "undervalued and overlooked" refugee-driven opportunities across three categories: refugee founders, refugee-employing businesses, and businesses serving refugee communities.
• Believes lived experience is a competitive advantage for founders: *"lived experience is very necessary for an entrepreneur to be able to create solutions."*
• Frames the displaced-population market as a large untapped opportunity, citing the ~70 million+ people forcibly displaced globally as both a moral and a business imperative.
• Open to flexible, non-dilutive structures over pure equity, noting: *"If you invest in equity, you're all in. You cannot grow slowly like the Moneyball approach a lot of people talk about."*
• Sector emphasis on banking/finance, software & data technology, and manufacturing, mapped to UN Sustainable Development Goals #8 (decent work) and #9 (industry & innovation).