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Greetings Agents of Impact! 🇧🇷 Agents of Impact Call No. 68: Unlocking impact and climate alpha in Brazil. Brazilian families are “motivated by …
Investors look for Opportunity Zones to get an extension and a fresh dose of tax-advantaged capital. The shape of Republicans’ new tax bill is not yet known, but that’s not slowing Arctaris Impact Investors. The Boston-based fund manager is looking to close its fourth Opportunity Zones fund at $200 million this year on the assumption that President Donald Trump will work with Congress to extend the Opportunity Zones community economic development program – and its capital gains tax breaks – or make them permanent before the provisions sunset in 2025. Though not without critics, Opportunity Zones represent a rare chance for bipartisan cooperation. The program, originally part of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, has mobilized as much as $84 billion from private equity investors looking for capital gains tax relief in exchange for investments in nearly 9,000 designated low-income census tracts. With Trump back in the White House, the program looks likely to be extended, and perhaps even improved for better transparency and impact. "We remain really optimistic that it’s going to get extended," Arctaris’ Patrick Mullen tells ImpactAlpha, "and that firms like ours will be really well-positioned to help shepherd that into the next generation."
Banyu nabs $1.3 million to boost Indonesian seaweed farmings. Indonesia is one of the largest producers of seaweed, a key source of nutrition that also absorbs carbon and nitrogen from water. Dominated by smallholder farmers, the country's seaweed industry provides income for more than 260,000 coastal households. “Many farmers struggle to rise above the poverty line due to systemic challenges,” such as price volatility, lack of market access, limited financing options and poor quality inputs, said Banyu’s Anis Nur Aini. The Jakarta-based startup trains seaweed farmers on managing seedlings and harvesting techniques to boost their yields. It provides better quality and more resilient seedlings, helps farmers improve income predictability, and links farmers to international and local buyers. Banyu oversees farming and production methods to ensure farmers meet environmental and food- and pharma-grade standards to help secure offtake agreements.
Fund managers go beyond dealmaking to build the field of climate and gender investing. Political backlash against diversity initiatives and climate action is underscoring the importance of field-building, especially for combined climate and gender strategies that are only beginning to gain traction among investors. “Investors who step into their role as system-builders can magnify their impact, unlocking solutions that drive equity, resilience and sustainability on a global scale,” say Natalie Shriber and Sana Kapadia of Heading for Change, the donor-advised fund launched by Suzanne Biegel in 2023 to demonstrate the many ways gender fits into climate investment strategies. A number of Heading for Change’s dozen fund managers are now leaning into ecosystem building. “These funds are doing more than deploying capital,” Shriber and Kapadia write in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. “They’re shaping environments where their investments can succeed and building the market for sustained change in the longer term.”
Summa Equity's Andrew Marino is named board chair at Calvert Impact, succeeding Bart Harvey… Regina Ross, previously with Khan Academy, joins Opportunity Finance Network as executive vice president and chief people and culture officer. Damon Smith, formerly with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, joins OFN as executive vice president and general counsel… PJ Jannuzzi, previously with Blackstone, joins Vision Ridge Partners as managing director and head of asset management.
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As we enter an uncertain 2025, it can seem impossible to anticipate how the world of impact will change. The first Trump administration …
Building on our daily dealflow coverage, ImpactAlpha’s weekly Spotlights take a closer look at the deals and trends shaping the impact sector. With …
Underrepresented? Overlooked? More like, untapped. In her monthly Plugged In video podcasts, ImpactAlpha contributing editor Sherrell Dorsey has been engaging entrepreneurs, fund managers …
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Infrastructure financing. Debt-for-nature swaps. Secondary markets. Gender bonds. Emerging market dealmaking in 2024 reflected exceptional creativity and persistence from fund managers, entrepreneurs and …
The chat is hopping whenever Agents of Impact gather for an ImpactAlpha call. Sure, we recruit thoughtful leaders and tease out takeaways from …
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If you missed any of our look-aheads to 2025, you can find them all here. A new era requires new narratives. In dozens …
Strategies for navigating the ownership economy, wealth-creation and shared prosperity.
The country’s political mood may not reflect it, but the gaping chasm of income inequality in the US actually narrowed, ever so slightly, …
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How lobbying and advocacy are being used by …
How can communities combat displacement and gentrification? By putting control and ownership of land and real estate in the hands of local residents, …
In our current environment, impact investors committed to racial equity and social justice need to clear a higher bar than “mutual benefit” or …
An inconvenient truth is limiting the impact of the rising numbers of business conversions to employee ownership: “There is often a trade-off between …
A few years ago, the mere notion that private equity firms would share any profits at all with workers at the companies they …
Twelve million businesses with $10 trillion in assets will change ownership over the next decade. Most of the owners of these businesses haven’t …
Some 45 million people in the US are “credit invisible,” lacking credit history with the major credit bureaus. Without a credit score, it’s …
Rapidly rising property values across the US work against lower-income families on at least two fronts. Higher prices mean higher rents. And the …
Impact investing in the emerging markets of Latin America, Asia and Africa.
When Suzanne Biegel launched Heading for Change in 2023, her vision was clear: this was about more than moving capital for climate and …
Indonesia is one of the largest producers of seaweed, a key source of nutrition that also absorbs carbon and nitrogen from water. Dominated …
Impaqto Capital invests in impact companies in Colombia as well as in Latin America’s smaller investment markets like Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The …
Heading for Change, the donor-advised fund launched by the late Suzanne Biegel, expanded its portfolio with five fund investments in Asia, Africa and …
The Awareness Company, or TACo, wants to make sustainability accessible and actionable for businesses. The South Africa-based startup’s internet-connected data collection and analysis …
Bogota-based FinMaq uses alternative credit-scoring to help informal, micro and small businesses borrow to acquire equipment to boost their livelihoods. FinMaq provides loans …
Canada-based LemFi was founded in 2021 to give the growing population of African immigrants quick and affordable ways to send money back home. …
Some 65% of African land is considered degraded. Climate-driven droughts and floods are exacerbating the impacts on local farmers and communities. Barka Fund, …
After two decades of providing flexible, patient capital to infrastructure projects in Africa, the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund saw opportunities to apply its …
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