Agent of Impact remembered: The legacy of I-DEV’s Jason Spindler

As co-founder of frontier markets investments advisory I-DEV International, Spindler took early risks on high-impact companies to demonstrate to other investors that perceptions of risk are often misplaced.
Spindler was killed in the attack on a business hub in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday. At least 20 other people also died, including members of development organizations Gatsby International and Adam Smith International. Staff of the African payments company Cellulant were still missing.

Climate reality bites investors with PG&E ’s bankruptcy

Staid and stable utilities have long been viewed as safe investments. Climate change has disrupted that assumption, at least in California, where PG&E indicated it would seek bankruptcy protection by the end of the month.

Impact-linked financial rewards help high-impact companies attract growth capital

Companies that hit impact milestones can reap a range of rewards aimed at making them more investable.

Can carbon credits and cocao outcompete gold mining and deforestation in Peru’s Amazon?

An investment in a project to restore degraded areas of Peru’s Amazon was supposed to demonstrate how the sale of forest carbon credits could be harnessed to finance large-scale conservation and boost the livelihoods of local farmers.
Instead, the Althelia Climate Fund’s investment in the Tambopata project highlights how nimble project managers can make such conservation projects work even in the absence of a robust global market for such carbon credits.

Startups are looking beyond venture capital for money that matches their mission

Revenues over rounds. That’s the ethos of a growing ‘counter’ movement of entrepreneurs, investors and advocates who are rejecting the high-flying venture capital model in favor of more modest capital that allows them to pursue organic growth and real revenues.

How Ceniarth is seeking higher impact on rural livelihoods – while preserving its own capital

Ceniarth’s Greg Neichin recaps the family office’s commitments last year of $32 million to the capital-preservation strategy.

Follow the Talent: Agents of Impact Special Report for Jan. 11

Greetings, Agents of Impact! ‘Follow the talent’ is one of our mantras as ImpactAlpha covers the daily beat of impact investing. Smart, passionate Agents of Impact are driving change within their organizations and across financial markets. In this special report, we recap our daily ‘Follow the Talent’ sections and profile a weekly ‘Agent of Impact.’

Opportunity Zone investors want impact. Let’s help them get it.

"Regulations have not yet been finalized. Opportunity Funds are just beginning to close. But our early belief is that large, positive impact for people and attractive returns for investors are both possible – and critical to the success of the Opportunity Zone legislation," write Beeck Center's Lisa Green Hall and Jennifer Collins.

Institutional Shift: Climate risk hits the market and other impact investing trends to watch in 2019 (podcast)

This is the year impact investing gets real. Really. That's the thread connecting a half-dozen or so forecasts from Equilibrium Capital's Dave Chen, who returned to ImpactAlpha's Returns on Investment podcast for a New Year's check-in on the progress of the "institutional shift" in impact investing.

Can we put a dollar value on impact? Reactions to the Rise Fund’s ‘impact multiple of money’

Though Rise Fund has apparently trademarked the term “Impact Multiple of Money,” impact investors and others have been calculating the economic value of social and environmental returns for decades.

The Call No. 6: A new year, and a new day, for Agents of Impact

ImpactAlpha's Call No. 6 helped round up a year in which impact investing broke through from feel-good to a legitimate source of risk-mitigation and investment advantage or, impact alpha.

Prudential’s first Opportunity Zone investment is a mixed-use project in Baltimore

The mixed-use project, called Yard 56, is being built on the 20-acre former site of glass and porcelain manufacturer Pemco International’s factory.

LGT Impact leads India fresh food distributor WayCool’s $17 million round

Chennai-based fresh food company WayCool is trying to combat food waste and improve livelihoods by sourcing produce directly from small farmers and distributing it to restaurants, local shops and other retailers.

Climate reality bites PG&E’s investors, transit-mapping African cities, fintech for workers, impact-linked financial incentives

Climate reality bites PG&E’s investors, transit-mapping African cities, fintech for workers, impact-linked financial incentives

WhereIsMyTransport raises $1.85 million to map transit in emerging market cities

South African transport data company WhereIsMyTransport aims to improve daily city travel by mapping both formal and informal modes of transport and making its data available to cities, transport operators, and passengers.