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Kula’s crypto solution to community ownership and governance of impact enterprises
In Silicon Valley, blockchain and crypto startups are so 2022. In Kenya or Zambia or Nepal, they’re innovating to solve real world problems.  Take Kula. The startup was launched by Chris Turner, Samuel Chen and Micah Yeackley in 2023 –…
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The Brief | July 14, 2026
The Brief: Tokenizing community ownership and governance in Africa

Greetings Agents of Impact! ☎️ Tomorrow’s Call: Crafting a positive agenda for faith-based investors. Can faith-aligned investors become known for what they are …

Today’s brief

Featured: Ownership Economy

Kula's crypto solution to community ownership and governance of impact enterprises. To Silicon Valley, blockchain may seem so 2022. In Kenya, Zambia, Nepal and elsewhere, blockchains are solving real-world problems, and evolving to give communities a stake in the game. The crypto startup Kula was launched by Chris Turner, Samuel Chen and Micah Yeackley in 2023 – the same year that VC investment in crypto and blockchain companies nosedived – to funnel capital to clean water, energy access, electric mobility and sustainable agriculture. Its founders were looking for an alternative to traditional development finance, Turner tells ImpactAlpha. “There’s always a great set of principles and processes, but local communities and local stakeholders are overlooked, displaced or not involved in project development.” The idea: Work with local partners to set up high-impact projects, then "tokenize" the governance of the projects and sell the tokens on crypto platforms to retail investors. Local communities are automatically cut in, sharing both decision-making and financial upside. Kula has raised more than $17 million and signed up five projects, including a hydropower project in Nepal's Tsum Valley and an agriculture initiative with a mining partner and local tribe in Zambia. Its latest project is a partnership with Enzi Electric Motors to help informal motorcycle taxi drivers in Kenya adopt electric motorbikes and design financing tools to improve their livelihoods. 

Dealflow: Healthy Youth

Handspring Health raises $19 million to grow the pipeline of youth mental health therapists. Handspring Health hires licensed therapists and offers ongoing training in evidence-based approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy and exposure therapy. The New Jersey-based company also offers one-on-one support and consultation groups to sharpen therapists’ clinical skills. “Good therapy depends on the therapists, so we built the company around ours, with training, supervision and regular clinical consultation, instead of just matching families to whoever is available,” said Handspring’s Sahil Choudhry. “That’s what lets us care for a child whether their needs are mild or severe.” Handspring’s therapists have provided virtual mental healthcare to more than 4,000 families in nine US states, providing care for children as young as eight, as well as teenagers and young adults. The company offers parent coaching for families with children as young as two. Most families pay less than $30 per session, with many major insurance plans accepted.

Impact Voices: Faith-Based Investing

The impact portfolio hiding within US Islamic finance. Impact investors have spent a decade looking to the qualities US Islamic finance was built on: non-extractive returns, real-asset backing, shared risk, ethical screens and capital that stays close to the communities it serves. “Those screens come from religious rules. But the financial structures underneath them do not,” HalalWallet’s Kyle Natter writes in a guest post. “They are the same risk-sharing arrangements impact investors say they want, sitting in a market most of them have never examined.” Islamic law forbids charging or paying interest, so Shariah-compliant products replace interest-bearing debt with arrangements that let both sides share in real economic activity. Investors and capital earn their returns from ownership, profit and rent rather than from interest on loans.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Dalberg’s Kusi Hornberger, a long-time contributor to ImpactAlpha, will depart the consulting firm at the end of July to join IDB Lab as chief strategy officer (see his guest posts on impact fund reporting, private investor climate allocations and paradigm shifts needed to scale impact investing)… Incofin Investment Management promotes Aparna Pittie to partner and fund manager of the Water Access Acceleration Fund… Norfund promotes Naana Winful Fynn to executive vice president for financial inclusion… The International Finance Corp. appoints Olivier Buyoya as division director for Nigeria and Central Africa.

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