ImpactAlpha

Highlights and tidbits from the Social Capital Markets conference in San Francisco: Leveraging FOMO to drive institutional change.  It seems big banks and venture capitalists may be as susceptible as teenagers to the Fear of Missing Out. James Rantanen of Deutsche Bank had been working since 2008 to build a platform for the bank’s wealth […]

Over 200 million dollars are lost to food waste every year. Spoiled, unwanted, imperfect food that businesses pay to grow, package, transport, refrigerate and throw-away uneaten. American agriculturalists are shifting paradigms from paying to manage waste to saving money eliminating waste such as developing “co-products” and circular products from material that was once fodder landfill. […]

I got the call from the White House, in May 2014. “We’re going to have some major new commitments of impact investment capital at the meeting in June. Would you be interested in helping us track how the money is spent?” What do you say to a call like that when you run an impact […]

The preamble to the global Sustainable Development Goals envision a world “in which humanity lives in harmony with nature and in which wildlife and other living species are protected.” In practice, however, economic development – and impact investing – has tended to prioritize humans over animals. In this episode of the Returns on Investment podcast, […]

In more than a decade as a lender to small farmers and agricultural co-ops in Africa and Latin America, Root Capital has gained a reputation as an effective organization that has delivered genuine impact in a tough sector. In 2012, however, Root hit a speed bump. It was just a temporary breach of a technical […]

Why do we think impact investors will become increasingly active in backing solutions to global challenges? Because those investments represent some of the greatest wealth generating opportunities of our time. The trillions in investments needed to stave off the catastrophic effects of climate change, for example, will also underwrite the rebuilding of a new, clean […]

Melinda Gates was in London four years ago to help launch a global campaign. The audacious 2020 goal: to reach more than half of the estimated 225 million women worldwide who want to avoid pregnancy, yet are not using modern contraceptives. “We must continue to help our partners provide affordable contraceptives at the necessary scale […]

‘Follow the money’ is a good guide for tracking current trends in investing, but for hints about what may be coming next, ‘Follow the people.’ So it’s worth noting that the chief investment officer for one of Australia’s biggest pension fund is leaving his perch managing $71 billion in assets to join Leapfrog Investments, which earlier this year […]

The ImPact, a new investor network aiming to normalize impact investing among the world’s wealthiest families, concluded its series of asset class primers with the fifth primer: Private Equity and Impact Investing. Families can generate commercial financial returns and address pressing global challenges by making private equity investments. “Investors seeking to capitalize on the business […]

Increasing urbanization in the developing world, resource scarcity, population growth, and climate change are creating investment opportunities in real assets. “Real asset impact investments provide families a physical, experiential alignment of their values and their investments,” write the author of Real Assets and Impact Investing, the latest report from The ImPact, a new investor network aiming […]

Families looking for innovation and entrepreneurship can invest in mission-driven early-stage startup companies , either directly or through a fund manager. In the third part of its asset class series the ImPact explores the “sexy” world of high-risk, high-reward and yes, potentially high-impact early-stage impact investing. Here’s are a few highlights of the report: Direct Investment […]

A new understanding of value and new investment theses are guiding impact investors. With this new lens, impact investors are targeting new sectors and geographies. This perspective requires new sources of data and information. ImpactAlpha’s #Shifts tracks the latest data and ideas guiding and informing impact investors. #Shifts is powered by ImpactAlpha’s #dealflow. THESES: Five investment propositions guiding new impact funds World positive companies. Obvious […]

Fixed-income impact investments can provide all the benefits of many traditional fixed income products — stable income, high liquidity, and a relatively low risk profile — plus high scalable impact. The first primer in the ImPact’s asset class series highlights a growing array of impact fixed-income products. Here are a few highlights from Fixed Income and Impact Investing: Bonds […]

Impact investing is a lot like high school sex, says Abigail Noble, chief executive of The ImPact, a new investor network aiming to normalize impact investing among the world’s wealthiest families. “Everyone is talking about it. Very few people are actually doing it,” Noble said in a recent TedX talk. “And those who are doing it, aren’t doing it […]

At gatherings in Davos and a series of World Economic Forum reports, Abigail Noble has tried to nudge the world’s largest asset managers toward impact investing. Done. Or at least in progress. Last year, Blackrock, the largest asset manager, and Bain Capital, announced new impact investing initiatives. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Goldman […]

Many of us feel a tension when it comes to money and wealth. And that’s a good thing. The ancient rabbis share a startling idea. At the moment of Divine judgment in the World to Come, they explain, the first question a person will be asked is not, “Did you pray?” nor “Did you keep […]

Mission-driven foundations should be the point of the spear when it comes to impact investing. Here at ImpactAlpha, we’ve been tracking the growing number of foundations who are expanding their toolsets to include loans, equity and other investments in enterprises that can deliver impact – and return capital. (See, for example, our recent deep dive […]

A new kind of strategic investor is sniffing around promising startups and innovative entrepreneurs. These strategists are not corporate suits seeking a competitive edge. They are officers of private foundations looking for scientific breakthroughs on neglected diseases, technologies that can be steered toward disadvantaged populations and financing models that harness the power of markets for […]

You may have heard more than enough about Millennials, but possibly not from wealthy Millennials themselves. Meet Alexandra and Josephine, Seth, Steph, Antonis, Adam and Chloe, Sapphira, Talia and Eric. These 20- and 30-somethings recount their personal journeys toward impact investing in “Millennials and Impact Investing,” from Toniic, the global network of impact angel investors […]

Impact investing and emerging markets private equity are like twins that were separated at birth – and have once again been reunited. Approximately 20 percent of LPs said they plan to increase the value of their new emerging markets private equity commitments because they are seeking greater environmental, social and economic impact. The similarities in […]

Baltimore, Md. –  There’s a tendency for some hardcore finance types to look down their noses at philanthropic foundations. Soft-headed. Concessionary. Anti-business. It may be time for a new view: Pioneering. Catalytic. Risk-taking. And in the nascent market for investments that generate financial returns through the creation of social and environmental benefits, perhaps essential. In the […]

Federal guidelines are finally catching up to the kind of impact investments leading philanthropic foundations have already been making in for-profit companies and other market-based approaches to social and environmental problems. The new IRS and Treasury Department guidance on so-called “program-related investments” by foundations, to be published Monday, are the latest in a series of […]

Capricorn Investment Group, which manages the fortune of billionaire Jeff Skoll, has taken a stake in Encourage Capital, an impact investment firm that has developed innovative structures for restoring wild fisheries, generating carbon credits and managing stormwater. Capricorn’s investment is not in any of those specific initiatives but in Encourage, the overall asset-management firm, itself. Encourage […]

The new new thing in Silicon Valley? Global development. The latest data point: Venture capital powerhouse Andreessen-Horowitz’s investment in Branch, its first in a U.S.-based company targeting the Africa market. Branch has closed a $9.2 million series A round that also includes earlier investors Formation 8 and the Khosla Impact Fund. Andreessen-Horowitz is betting on Matt Flannery, […]

It takes a village to raise a successful education technology company—and to build an ecosystem for education innovation that creates meaningful, sustainable change in our schools and for our students. But one of the most critical sources of that capital and expertise has until recently been sitting on the sidelines. In a new article for Stanford […]

Commercial lenders don’t exactly flock to opportunities to offer low-cost loans, lines of credit and equity investments for small businesses and social services for low-income residents in U.S. cities. So a new fund is sweetening the pot to increase the flow of capital for such investments across the country. Living Cities, a collaboration of nearly […]

Dan Schulman, the CEO of PayPal, is on a mission to extend digital payments to the 2.5 billion unbanked people around the world. He is enlisting Village Capital, the scrappy business accelerator and venture capital firm, to help find local companies that can help. PayPal and Village Capital will support roughly 40 financial technology entrepreneurs who are using technology […]

Philip Berber is applying his experience building an online trading platform to the chronic problem of matching interested investors with promising entrepreneurs. An interested investor and philanthropist himself, Berber launched Enable Impact several years ago to help impact entrepreneurs and investors to find each other. Having built CyBerCorp, an online brokerage for day traders (and solid it to […]

Impact investing may have gotten off on the wrong foot, with venture-capital style private equity funds that generally have to be liquidated after 10 years. This season’s new style: Permanently capitalized holding companies with long-term ownership stakes in operating companies that deliver real benefits such as food security, clean water and climate mitigation.   There’s […]

The need for a new strategy for raising living standards for poor Americans was the catalyst for the F.B. Heron Foundation to go “all-in” for impact. The mid-sized foundation is in the process of aligning all of its $300 million in assets with its mission of helping people and communities help themselves out of poverty. Clara Miller, president […]

Small is beautiful (but not enough). The crowdfunding platform Kiva teamed up with development agencies to back women micro-entrepreneurs; Access Power is seeking to identify early-stage African energy companies through a competition; and two more Indian startups get seed financing. Kiva partnership introduces women-focused fund. A crowdfunding platform focusing on women entrepreneurs has been jointly launched by […]

The Bolsheviks stormed St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace in 1917. A century later, a revolution seems to be coming to Wall Street. Listen to ImpactAlpha’s Returns on Investment podcast: Revolution!? It’s not just Bernie Sanders, who is calling for a political revolution to overthrow the “rigged economy.” No less an establishment figure than Sir Ronald Cohen, known as […]

Edtech and fintech dominated the dealflow last week, and India continues to be a hotbed of impact investment activity. Boston education software firm Ellevation raised growth capital from some big names in tech; EduBridge got backing for its youth skills training model; and ATMs, perhaps the original fintech innovation, are considered a key to financial inclusion […]

Now that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has been adopted, governments are confronting the question of how to pay for the enormous investments — especially in infrastructure — required to meet the goals. Clearly, governments don’t have the fiscal space to finance all the investments, or the skills to design and manage them. So the focus has been on how […]

You’ve heard it from impact investors: there just aren’t enough investable deals. And you’ve heard it from impact entrepreneurs: where’s the capital we need to get our business off the ground? In this Returns on Investment podcast from ImpactAlpha, Cathy Clark, director of Duke University’s Case Initiative on Impact Investing (Case i3), says the key to bridging […]

This week in impact investing: mobile ad platform Jana raises $57 million to expand free internet services; Social Finance launches a South Carolina social impact bond for mothers and children; a fund in the UK offers tax relief along with an expected 8 percent return; and more! Jana raises $57 million to expand free internet […]

Small business owners often lack the collateral required by banks for loans. But many small and growing businesses do have another valuable asset: cash. A pilot project in Nicaragua is testing an innovative loan structure that relies on companies’ cashflow to unlock financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises. The test of the new Variable Payment […]

Latin America’s homegrown community of impact investors will get an assist from two visitors this week. First up is Pope Francis, who has called for markets to better serve the basic interests of people. “Impact investors are those who are conscious of the existence of serious unjust situations,” he said at a Vatican conference in 2014. Also visiting […]

This week in impact investing: A new fund from the makers of Sesame Street backs childhood health and education ventures; alternative fish feed producer Calysta teams up with Cargill; Sanergy raises $1.7 million for franchise toilets in Kenya; and retail investors in Canada can now invest online in CoPower’s first green bond. New Sesame Ventures and […]

As governments around the world look for more efficient ways to finance critical social services, the UK government is engaging the private sector to fund the arts, research into treatments for dementia, incubation of new social enterprises and other initiatives. ImpactAlpha recently spoke with Edward Evans, a senior policy advisor in the UK Cabinet Office’s Social Investment […]

Tech innovation is not enough. Sistema Biobolsa, a social enterprise working in Mexico and Latin America, developed biodigester technology that helps farmers turn animal manure into cooking fuel and high-quality fertilizer. That reduces smoke from open fires, increases farm yields, keeps waste out of water sources and reduces greenhouse gases. But those benefits were not […]

When Bill Gates agreed a couple years ago to put a small piece of his personal fortune into a fund that invests in companies serving low-income customers in India, he invited the fund managers to return with a plan to scale up their investments and their social impact. The fund managers recently took such a […]

Dealflow is back with the deals big and small: A $20 million raise for African and Asian solar microgrid provider Powerhive; another financial services investment in Ghana for LeapFrog; and a social impact bond to tackle homelessness in Denver raises $8.6 million — to be repaid based on a reduction in jail time. Powerhive raises […]

Community-supported fisheries are becoming a hit with finicky foodies and green consumers that like to be able to trace their seafood back to the dock, and sometimes the boat that it came from. The idea has been that payment from consumers at the start of the season provides participating fishers upfront capital and a fair […]