UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH) has invested $5 million into Enable Ventures, an impact venture fund that aims to provide resources to people with disabilities, the company said this week.
Founded in 2022, Alexandria, Virginia-based Enable Ventures invests in early-stage companies that “leverage disability as an asset” in technologies. It points to historic inventions like the telephone audiobook and SMS messaging, all of which were initially intended to assist people with disabilities but instead became widely adopted.
Because Enable wants to focus on companies that are creating technologies and tools to improve economic livelihoods of people with disabilities, UnitedHealth’s investment will not only support entrepreneurs but will help solve the unemployment crisis with people with disabilities.
“For years, we have been working to reduce health disparities through improved clinical policies, partnerships with community organizations, and diversifying the health workforce,” said Catherine Anderson, UnitedHealth’s senior vice president of health equity, in a statement. “Now we are also focusing a portion of our company’s investment portfolio on advancing health equity.”
Minnetonka-based UnitedHealth’s equity division has also recently invested $10 million into Invest Appalachia, a new fund that aims to drive economic equity and address social needs; $25 million in the New England Healthy Neighborhoods Equity Fund; and $10 million to the Community Outcomes Fund at Maycomb Capital.
