Hi there, Agent of Impact!
We hope you had a wonderful holiday break and are rested up for another year of impact. To get you ready for the year ahead we’ve rounded up our year-end lists and 2025 lookaheads.
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In this week’s Open:
- Storylines to watch in 2025
- Signals for Latin American impact
- Agents of Impact with new narratives
- Impact investing deal trends
Let’s jump in. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- Ten compelling storylines to watch in 2025. The operating environment has changed; the fundamentals remain the same. In 2024, the accelerating backlash to investing in climate, sustainability and racial equity created opportunities for those who are staying the course. In 2025, misplaced and mispriced social and environmental risks are likely to create even bigger opportunities for impact alpha in underserved markets. From institutional investors to family offices and emerging markets to developed economies, I looked at the impact trends to watch out for this year. Check them out.
- Eight provocative posts penned by Agents of Impact. Along with our own reporting, ImpactAlpha this year published nearly 150 guest contributions from Agents of Impact around the globe. Practitioners shared their insights, from the lessons of billion-dollar blended finance deals to investing in historically black universities and colleges and social determinants of health. Featured guest authors include Dalberg’s Kusi Hornberger and Marcos Paya, Ceniarth’s Diane Isenberg and Greg Neichin, as well as Vox Capital’s Daniel Izzo and Daniel Brandão. Read them all.
- Nine signals for Latin America impact investors in 2025. We had a hunch when we launched ImpactAlpha Latin America in 2024 that Latin America was poised for an impact takeoff. The growing ecosystem of LPs and GPs, the accelerating dealflow for innovative founders and fund managers, and the sheer enthusiasm of the region’s Agents of Impact signaled that Latin America was the right place for ImpactAlpha’s first regional edition. I sifted through a year of LatAm newsletters (opt-in) to find the trends to keep an eye on this year. ¡Leer más!
- Finding impact alpha in emerging markets. From off-grid solar on rooftops, to clean and quiet electric scooters, to community farms and forest conservation, the most exciting stuff in emerging markets – or anywhere, really – is happening on the ground. And now, with better data and crisper strategies, institutional and commercial investors have new visibility into opportunities to generate sustainable returns by supporting resilience and prosperity for billions of households. See the trends we’ll be watching.
- Institutional investors demand performance – and their money back. It’s crunch time for impact private equity fund managers as they face restive limited partners, volatile economic conditions and few ways to exit their current portfolio investments. Add to that the uncertainties accompanying the new administration in Washington, DC, which, among many other unknowns, could unlock mergers and acquisitions and even IPOs – and also tank many promising but capital-intensive climate solutions and decarbonization plays. Click to see more.
The Year’s Agents of Impact
⭐ Ten Agents of Impact writing new narratives in 2025
A new era requires new narratives. In dozens of profiles and podcasts, ImpactAlpha has shared the stories of Agents of Impact who are crafting those narratives. They’re also investing to generate jobs and economic prosperity, ensuring the energy transition reaches all communities, lifting up Native communities, responding to the crisis in mental health and much more. “I invite you all, if it’s not us, to really think about the opportunities where you are to lean into narrative change,” director Ava DuVernay told funders at this year’s Mission Investors Exchange conference. “Because they’re there and it’s powerful. Be brave.”
- Alongside DuVernay, other profiles include Jahi Wise of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lafayette Square Damien Dwin, and Skya Ducheneaux of Akiptan. Meet them all.
The Year’s Podcasts
🎧 A half-dozen podcasts to binge
The ImpactAlpha Podcast Network is growing. In addition to nearly 50 episodes of This Week in Impact, our weekly news roundup, and more than a dozen provocative podcast conversations with Agents of Impact, we’ve expanded our network of aligned productions to include The Market Makers from Troy Duffie and Lenore Champagne Beirne, Impact(ed) from Lucas Turner-Owens and Eric Horvath, and Capitol Gains from James McIntyre and Matt Posner. Listen in.
The Year’s Calls
☎️ Thousands of Agents of Impact answer the Calls in 2024
The chat is hopping whenever Agents of Impact gather for an ImpactAlpha call. Sure, we recruit thoughtful leaders and tease out takeaways from the speakers and guests. But the real value of this year’s calls, once again, were the thousands of Agents of Impact who engaged them. Topics this year included equity and ownership, economic justice, ownership and affordable housing, and many others. Heed the call.
The Year’s Deal Trends
🔍 Shining a spotlighting on seven impact investing trends for 2025
With an estimated $1.57 trillion in impact assets under management, impact investors are driving healthcare access, creating affordable housing, serving global farmers responsible for food production, regenerating lands and oceans, creating good jobs and more.
- A few trends ImpactAlpha spotlighted this year: Community development financial institutions leveraging private capital for green lending; Japanese corporate venture funds investing for impact in emerging markets; and AI “hyperscalers” scrambling to develop and co-locate data centers with clean energy sources. Read all seven.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Colorado’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade is looking for an employee ownership office program manager for a hybrid role in Denver.
- Village Capital is hiring a fund manager for a remote role in the US.
- Rally Assets is offering an internship in Toronto this summer.
Sign up to Impact Careers get the top impact investing job listings and internships right in your inbox. Register for free.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- Jan. 22: ImpactAssets is hosting “Transforming capital access for women entrepreneurs,” with Grameen America’s Andrea Jung and SoGal Ventures’ Pocket Sun, in conversation with ImpactAssets’ Sandra Osborne Kartt.
- Feb. 4: Convergence XXI, Criterion Institute’s month-long online convening on the future of gender-lens investing, kicks off.
- Feb. 25-27: Latin American Impact Investment Forum, Mérida.
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