The Brief | April 18, 2024
The Brief: Participant Media’s impact on film investing
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Creative Economy Shutdown of Participant Media challenges other investors to drive impact through film. When …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
A ‘dual debt-climate challenge’ for the world’s poorest nations
The Atlantic hurricane season looms large this year, following 2023’s record number of billion-dollar disasters in over four decades of data collection. For …
Ebb Carbon's first marine carbon removal project is underway at Sequim Bay in Washington (photo: Ebb carbon)
Catalytic Capital | April 18, 2024
Prime Coalition launches Trellis Climate to plug gaps for first-of-a-kind climate tech projects
Boston-based Prime Coalition has spent more than a decade identifying funding gaps for early stage climate tech and marshaling risk-tolerant capital to fill …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
Spring Meetings yield green shoots of development finance reform at the World Bank
It’s been less than a year since Ajay Banga took over as president of the World Bank; he immediately faced intense pressure to …
photo: MeduLance
Dealflow | April 18, 2024
Medulance scores $3 million to bring medical emergency response services to India’s smaller cities
Indian healthtech investor Alkemi Growth Capital led a $3 million Series A investment in Medulance, a company founded in 2017 to make emergency …
Screenshot of Ava Duvernay's "When They See Us" | Image Credit: Participant Media
Creative Economy | April 17, 2024
Shutdown of Participant challenges other investors to drive impact through film
When Ava DuVernay made her 2019 series, “When They See Us,” about the five Black teens convicted of a rape they didn’t commit, …
Macro Impact | April 17, 2024
Good economy actually is good news as impact investors adjust to new realities
(Editor’s note: In this conclusion to ImpactAlpha’s four-part Macro Impact series, contributing editor Rob Brown parses the economic signals for public and private …
The Brief | April 17, 2024
The Brief: A good economy is good news
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Macro Impact Good economy actually is good news as impact investors adjust to new realities. …
Ownership Economy | April 17, 2024
Colorado is demonstrating how states can accelerate conversions to employee ownership (video)
When Jared Polis became Colorado’s governor in 2019, he created an employee ownership office to incentivize and provide support for retiring owners to …
Speakers at MO Summit 2024 in Austin
Capitalism Reimagined | April 17, 2024
Impact CEOs are navigating macro uncertainty with purpose
Purpose, it turns out, is durable. CEOs of Seventh Generation, Vital Farms and other purpose-driven companies who gathered at Big Path Capital’s annual …
Photo credit: reach52
Sponsored | April 17, 2024
Innovative startups are changing the landscape of health impact everywhere. Are investors aware?
Editor’s note: This guest post is sponsored by Impact Ventures by J&J Foundation, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with …
Credit: Quilt
Clean Energy | April 17, 2024
Quilt raises $33 million to launch its sleek heat pump
Heat pump sales in the US are expected to ramp up, as states implement generous financial incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. …
Climate Finance | April 17, 2024
Astarte Capital and Silvipar raise $325 million for sustainable forestry in Paraguay
Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America. It also has one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation in the …
Students at Delaware State University: Photo credit: Delaware State University
Return on Inclusion | April 16, 2024
The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs
Editor’s Note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
The Brief | April 16, 2024
The Brief: Investing in HBCUs
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Returns on Inclusion The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs. Four years into …
exclude from paywall | April 16, 2024
ImpactAlpha Open: Climate risk at insurance companies + investing in food waste solutions
Greetings, Agents of Impact! 🎉 Celebrating 10 years. For 10 years, leaders have trusted ImpactAlpha to guide them to the ‘alpha in impact.’ To celebrate our first …
Impact Voices | April 16, 2024
How innovative financing structures can help close California’s housing gap
The way housing is financed and constructed in the United States has experienced little change in decades, leading to skyrocketing costs, barriers to …
Credit: Dawa Mkononi
Investing in Health | April 16, 2024
SEAF provides impact-linked capital to Dawa Mkononi for pharmaceutical access in Tanzania
Impact investment firm SEAF (for Small Enterprise Assistance Funds) launched its Daraja Impact initiative with support from AlphaMundi Foundation and the Swiss Agency …
Climate Finance | April 16, 2024
Pula lands $20 million to offer livestock insurance to smallholder farmers
Insurance tech startup Pula launched in 2015 to provide crop insurance to small scale farmers, 80% of whom lack access to products that …
Credit: SunCulture
Smallholder Agriculture | April 15, 2024
For these tech startups and investors, the next big thing is climate adaptation for smallholder farmers
In India, Mati Carbon is providing smallholder farmers with crop inputs that fertilize plants and sequester carbon. In Kenya, SunCulture is helping farmers …
The Brief | April 15, 2024
The Brief: Catalyzing climate resilience for small farmers
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Adaptation Finance For these tech startups and investors, the next big thing is climate adaptation …
Impact Voices | April 15, 2024
Elevating impact reporting to raise the performance of impact fund managers
“One million lives touched.” “800 jobs created.” “50,000 acres of land restored.” Capital allocators often see these types of punchy headlines in the …
AceliAfrica's impact performance report explores ties between impact performance and financial risk and return
Impact Management | April 15, 2024
Six impact performance reports that go beyond the basics to give investors needed insights
Impact Frontier’s Impact Reporting Norms target a leverage point in the impact investing system: impact reporting. They promise to provide greater clarity and …
Photo by Fairview.
Return on Inclusion | April 15, 2024
New York Life acquires stake in minority-owned firm Fairview Capital
Fairview Capital, a minority-owned investment management firm that specializes in backing diverse and emerging managers in venture capital and private equity, has invested …
Photo by Unwritten.
Climate Finance | April 15, 2024
Unwritten snags $3.5 million for ‘transition risk intelligence’ software for investors
The impact of climate change on infrastructure, properties, agriculture and human health could cost the global economy some $3 trillion per year by …
Credit: Mati Carbon
Impact Voices | April 15, 2024
How Mati Carbon is using the carbon markets to address farmers’ adaptation finance gap and boost their incomes
Ashish Kumar is a long-time climate investor and a market / ecosystem builder. He is a strategic advisor to Mati Carbon. This month, …
Podcasts | April 12, 2024
Reconnecting communities, impact investing in Puerto Rico, and how business owners are exiting to employees
🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: federal funds to …
Deploy! | April 12, 2024
Private sector sees opportunity in federal ‘green bank’ fund
The EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is intended to bring in at least seven times as much in private capital for …
Photo by Wharton ESG Initiative.
Agents of Impact | April 12, 2024
Impact MBAs: Raising up the next impact leaders (video)
The winner of a contest to sharpen the impact lens of students through deal sourcing and diligence was a team from London Business …
The Brief | April 12, 2024
The Week in impact investing: Chaos theory
TGIF, Agents of Impact! 🗣 Three body problem. In the video game at the core of the sci-fi novel by Liu Cixin (as …
Impact Careers | April 12, 2024
The Week’s Jobs: April 12, 2024
Foundations, private equity investors and fund managers are on the hunt for impact talent around the world. Just this week: US Jobs Impact Engine …
Photo: MPI for Plasma Physics, Jan Michael Hosan.
Dealflow | April 12, 2024
The Week’s Dealflow: April 12, 2024
ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week: Agrifood tech. Demark’s Reduced raised $6 million to upcycle agricultural waste into new food products through …
Agrifood Tech | April 11, 2024
Opportunities across the investment spectrum to recycle and reduce food waste
“Where are we?” It’s the question I’m constantly asking myself about food waste reduction. There are many viable food waste solutions, and many …
Credit: DC Central Kitchen
The Brief | April 11, 2024
The Brief: Investing to eliminate food waste
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Food Tech Opportunities across the investment spectrum to recycle and reduce food waste. Understanding how …
Credit: SunCulture
Smallholder Agriculture | April 11, 2024
SunCulture raises $27.5 million to expand solar irrigation for smallholder farmers
Nairobi-based SunCulture has been making affordable irrigation systems for smallholder farmers in Africa since 2013. A decade ago, farmers had difficulty finding affordable …
Climate Finance | April 11, 2024
Insurance companies are fueling climate risks that threaten their business
Climate change is driving more frequent and intense storms, droughts and floods – causing insurers to pull out of entire areas. Yet that …
Dealflow | April 10, 2024
Nexamp snags a half-billion for community solar expansion
The $520 million funding for Boston- and Chicago-based Nexamp comes amid growing demand for distributed renewable energy and tailwinds from federal climate funding. …
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in Birmingham this week
Deploy! | April 10, 2024
With bridges, buses and bike lanes, Reconnecting Communities rebuilds ‘civic muscles’ along with neighborhoods
The Biden administration’s Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods program was conceived with goals as lofty as any in recent memory – to stitch together …
Photo credit: Bess Adler (used with permission)
Corporate Impact | April 10, 2024
Alison Taylor: The broken chain from transparency to accountability to corporate action (podcast)
The era of cake-ism (as in having it and eating it, too) has come to an inglorious end. “I think we’re in an …
St Louis Brickline Greenway | Credit: Great Rivers Greenway
The Brief | April 10, 2024
The Brief: Reconnecting communities divided by highways
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Muni Impact With bridges, buses and bike lanes, Reconnecting Communities rebuilds ‘civic muscles’ along with …
Financial Inclusion | April 10, 2024
Africa50 and Oikocredit lead $14 million round for Zeepay’s cross-border payments
Remittance inflows to Africa are expected to top $55 billion this year. But Africa is the most costly region in the world for …
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Catalytic Capital | April 9, 2024
The impact investing opportunity in Puerto Rico’s economic comeback
In one of Puerto Rico’s poorest neighborhoods, you can find what economists might call a “green shoot.” The plan for Oasis, a six-acre, …
The Brief | April 9, 2024
The Brief: Green shoots in Puerto Rico’s reconstruction
Greetings Agents of Impact! This week, catch ImpactAlpha’s Roody Senatus in Washington, DC, at the Aspen Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, Dennis Price in …
ImpactAlpha Open | April 9, 2024
ImpactAlpha Open: Billion-dollar blended deals + ‘systems level’ stewardship
Greetings, Agents of Impact! This week, catch ImpactAlpha’s Roody Senatus in DC at the Aspen Institute’s Employee Ownership Ideas Forum, Amy Cortese in New York at TIIP’s System-level Investing …
Frontier and Growth Markets | April 9, 2024
How and why British International Investments directs capital to small businesses
Development finance institutions like to style themselves as the original impact investors. It was Lord Reith, the first chairman of the UK’s development …