Essential news and insights to keep you ahead of the curve on impact investing and sustainable finance.
January 25, 2021
The Brief
Featured: ImpactAlpha Original
Digitization of smallholder farming draws investors to Indian agtech startups. Among the world’s largest producers of food, India stands out for its 130 million independent smallholder farmers who till, on average, less than four hectares of land apiece. These farmers have long gotten a raw deal from the agrifood value chain from which they source seeds, fertilizer, equipment and loans, and into which they sell their harvests. What’s new is investor interest in a growing crop of tech entrepreneurs aiming to streamline India’s $280 billion agriculture industry with a shared strategy: improving the incomes and livelihoods of smallholder farmers. “Indian entrepreneurs are solving for the low-hanging fruit in the sector, which is in turn helping farmers reach slightly better income levels and expand into horticulture and commercial farming,” Omnivore’s Jinesh Shah tells ImpactAlpha. “That will help them make more money and also bring more investment into the sector.”
Dealflow: Follow the Money
Electric charging operator EVgo to go public via a climate SPAC. The deal will value the Los Angeles-based electric vehicle charging network at $2.6 billion. The $175 million offering, topped with a $400 million PIPE, for "private investment in public equity," will fund expansion for EVgo, which operates in 34 states. The spate of backdoor IPOs via such special purpose acquisition companies is unleashing a boom in venture capital investment into renewable energy, green infrastructure and EVs by making public-markets financing available for capital-intensive sectors – and providing exits for earlier-stage investors. More than 30 cleantech startups announced mergers with SPACs last year.
Series: Walking the Talk
Patricia Farrar-Rivas: How I invest for equity. The founder and CEO of Veris Wealth Partners was shaped early in her career by her work in El Salvador, where she saw the effects of deep inequality and extreme wealth disparities. "This led me to realize that wealth is about more than money,” Farrar-Rivas writes in ImpactAlpha's Walking the Talk series, in partnership with Confluence Philanthropy. “It is about opportunity, wellness and agency." After buying her own home, she began saving and investing in socially-responsible funds. Farrar-Rivas invested most of her assets in Veris itself; the impact wealth management firm now manages more than $1 billion in client assets. “I see the faults in the current capitalist structure and believe we are working to make necessary changes,” she writes.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation CEO Justin Maxson steps down to join the Biden-Harris administration as USDA deputy undersecretary for rural development… Brian Fernandes-Halloran is the new executive director of Halloran Philanthropies. Tony Carr, executive director since 2007, retired in December… Tony Berkley accepted a buyout from Prudential Financial last fall and has joined the Future Investment Initiative Institute in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as head of investments. Register for FII’s conference, Jan. 27-28.
Editor's Picks
Podcasts | January 22, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of January 22
On this week’s podcast, host Brian Walsh breaks down creative-economy opportunities with Upstart Co-Lab’s Laura Callanan. We also listen, again, to some of …
Agents of Impact | January 22, 2021
Agent of Impact: Amanda Gorman, poet
In a star-studded inauguration featuring Lady Gaga and J-Lo, the 22-year old poet stole the spotlight at president Joe Biden’s inauguration. Accolades poured …
Features | January 21, 2021
U.S. buyers test sustainability strategies at Peter Pan Seafood
New buyers aim to turn around an iconic Alaska salmon processor that was a money-loser for its former Japanese owner. Alaska-based McKinley Capital …
Latest News
Digitization of smallholder farming draws investors to Indian agtech startups
Agrifood Tech | January 25, 2021
Patricia Farrar-Rivas: How I invest for equity
Personal Finance | January 25, 2021
Electric charging operator EVgo to go public via a climate SPAC
Climate and Clean Tech | January 25, 2021
U.S. buyers test sustainability strategies at Peter Pan Seafood
Features | January 21, 2021
Aligned capital for creative entrepreneurs
Creative Economy | January 21, 2021
Two Sigma Impact and BayPine invest in workforce educator Penn Foster
Dealflow | January 21, 2021
The creative industries: Driving economic opportunity in Atlanta
Creative Economy | January 21, 2021
And that was just Day One of Biden’s climate agenda
Climate Finance | January 21, 2021
Local project developers are key to ensuring a just energy transition
Impact Voices | January 20, 2021
Looking Ahead to 2021
Looking Ahead to 2021 | January 7, 2021
Here are 10 ways investors are riding the sustainability wave into 2021
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 7 – The table was set with last year’s flows of capital into sustainable funds, renewable energy ‘SPACs,’ community development financial …
Call Recording | January 6, 2021
The Call: What Agents of Impact are expecting in 2021 (replay)
ImpactAlpha, January 6 — A few of the keywords thrown around on last month’s Agents of Impact Call No. 26: accountability, electrification, institutional, …
ESG | December 18, 2020
Looking Ahead: Investors, asset managers and, yes, corporations, set their sights on impact outcomes in 2021
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 18 – The COVID-19 pandemic revealed global financial systems as one disruption away from disaster. If the markets’ legacies of shareholder …
Climate and Clean Tech | December 17, 2020
Looking Ahead: With alarm bells ringing, investors step up for dramatic climate action in 2021 – or else
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 17 – The COVID pandemic was just a warm-up for the coming catastrophe: climate change. As wrenching as was this year’s …
Looking Ahead to 2021 | December 16, 2020
Looking ahead: Centering Blackness in the U.S. economic recovery and reconstruction in 2021
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – The period after the Civil War was a time of great ferment, division – and systemic change. Today’s confluence …
Catalytic Capital | December 15, 2020
Looking ahead: Catalytic investors sharpen their tools for deep impact in 2021
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – Catalytic capital is always ‘impact on.’ That intention has rarely been more important than this year, when investors able …
Frontier & Growth Markets | December 14, 2020
Looking ahead: Helping small businesses in emerging markets survive and thrive in 2021
ImpactAlpha, December 14 – The stabilization and revival of the micro, small and medium-sized businesses sector has been the emerging markets story of …
Climate Finance
Agrifood Tech | January 25, 2021
Digitization of smallholder farming draws investors to Indian agtech startups
ImpactAlpha, January 25 – Among the world’s largest producers of food, India stands out for its 130 million independent smallholder farmers who till, on …
Features | January 21, 2021
U.S. buyers test sustainability strategies at Peter Pan Seafood
New buyers aim to turn around an iconic Alaska salmon processor that was a money-loser for its former Japanese owner. Alaska-based McKinley Capital …
Climate Finance | January 21, 2021
And that was just Day One of Biden’s climate agenda
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 21 – It was the executive order heard ‘round the world. “Welcome back to the Paris Agreement!” tweeted French president Emmanuel …
Clean Energy | January 20, 2021
Off Grid Electricity Fund invests Energy Systems Group to bring solar electricity to Haiti
ImpactAlpha, January 20 — More than half of Haiti’s population lack access to reliable electricity. The Haitian government established the Off Grid Electricity …
Agrifood Tech | January 20, 2021
DeHaat raises $30 million to support smallholder farmers in India
ImpactAlpha, January 20 — Agtech venture DeHaat, headquartered in the rural state of Bihar, runs an online marketplace that connects India’s small farmers …
Dealflow | January 19, 2021
Renewable Resources Group and Capricorn Investment Group float a SPAC
ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Investment firms Renewable Resources Group and Capricorn Investment Group have launched Sustainable Development Acquisition I Corp. The special purpose acquisition …
Africa | January 19, 2021
Lion’s Head closes $400 million Facility for Energy Inclusion
ImpactAlpha, January 19 – Lion’s Head’s Facility for Energy Inclusion launched in 2017 to finance off-grid renewable power producers in Africa with projects of …
Clean Energy | January 19, 2021
New books on the new rules for a new era of business
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 19 – From the COVID pandemic and climate change to the racial justice uprising and assaults on democracy, the tumultuous events …
Conservation | January 14, 2021
Coral Vita secures $2 million to help corals adapt to climate change
ImpactAlpha, January 14 – Healthy coral reefs foster biodiversity and provide food, income and protection for more than 500 million people. But pollution and …
Africa | January 14, 2021
Daystar Power raises $38 million to expand commercial solar power in West Africa
ImpactAlpha, January 14 – Mauritius-based Daystar Power installs and manages commercial and industrial solar installations in Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire. The …
Climate Finance | January 13, 2021
Jigar Shah: Deployment, deployment, deployment are keywords for sustainable infrastructure in 2021 (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Jan 13 – First came solar and wind energy. Then batteries and storage. Now, a raft of better, cheaper and more sustainable …
Clean Energy | January 13, 2021
Electric fleet company Proterra to go public through merger with ArcLight SPAC
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 13 – Burlingame, Calif. electric bus maker Proterra announced a merger with ArcLight Clean Transition Corp., a publicly traded special purpose acquisition …
Catalytic Capital
Africa | January 13, 2021
Medical Credit Fund blends $19.2 million to finance Africa’s frontline health clinics
ImpactAlpha, January 13 – Small, privately-run clinics are often the only providers of essential health services in remote and low-income parts of Africa. …
Catalytic Capital | January 11, 2021
How to invest in an inclusive business recovery in Latin America
Small and growing businesses are significant actors in economic production, employment, and growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to the OECD, …
Catalytic Capital | December 23, 2020
Bill Gates says the world (sorta) came together to fight COVID-19. Next up: Climate
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 23 – “This is like a world war, except in this case, we’re all on the same side,” Gates wrote last spring, …
Asia | December 23, 2020
Northern Arc Capital scores debt financing to serve India’s underbanked
ImpactAlpha, December 23 — Northern Arc Capital, an East India-based non-banking finance company that provides access to debt for underbanked individual borrowers and …
Catalytic Capital | December 15, 2020
Looking ahead: Catalytic investors sharpen their tools for deep impact in 2021
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 15 – Catalytic capital is always ‘impact on.’ That intention has rarely been more important than this year, when investors able …
Catalytic Capital | December 14, 2020
MacArthur Foundation, Big Society anchor UK’s Women in Safe Homes fund
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 14 – Through a lease-to-own model, Women in Safe Homes fund, a residential property investment fund, will acquire properties and lease them …
Catalytic Capital | December 2, 2020
Texas foundations sets up fund for COVID-impacted health clinics
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 3 – Health facilities in many parts of the U.S., and particularly low-income and rural areas, are buckling under the weight of …
Catalytic Capital | December 1, 2020
Refugee investments provide blueprints for Biden’s reset on immigration
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 1 – As the Trump administration was building walls and new restrictions, impact investors and innovative humanitarians were creating a marketplace of …
Africa | November 24, 2020
CrossBoundary Energy’s fund exit is a proof point for Africa’s commercial solar market – and catalytic capital
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 24 – An African solar energy fund that only five years ago appeared too risky even for impact investors has delivered, …
Africa | November 23, 2020
An ‘impact-first’ approach to investing for climate justice in rural communities
If you are an investor interested in learning more about how to invest in climate justice solutions, join us on December 3rd for …
Catalytic Capital | November 10, 2020
Gates Foundation’s role in Pfizer’s promising COVID vaccine is part of a strategy, not a conspiracy
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 10 – The Gates Foundation’s $55 million equity investment last fall into a German biotech company could have big payoff: an …
Catalytic Capital | October 29, 2020
How a portfolio of inclusive businesses prioritized the poor through COVID
The spread of COVID-19 and the economic devastation in its wake have shown just how necessary for-profit approaches are to serving the poor …
Agents of Impact
Bold leaders. Taking action. Driving impact.