Greetings, Agents of Impact! Welcome to this week’s ImpactAlpha LP/GP, where we take you inside the real business of impact investing and the dynamic relationships between owners, managers and intermediaries of impact capital.
☎️ This week’s Agents of Impact Call: Ramping up green lending – even without that $20 billion. The pipeline was robust for the networks of green banks and community lenders set to deploy the US Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The abrupt shift in federal policy stranded deals representing tens of billions of dollars in community investment that stood to reduce energy costs, improve air quality, create jobs and boost resilience in communities across the US. Kresge Foundation’s Aaron Seybert joins Climate United’s Beth Bafford, Justice Climate Fund’s Amir Kirkwood, NYCEEC’s Curtis Probst and other community climate investors who are shaping a new market for green lending, even as litigation continues, tomorrow, June 11, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.
- Background reading. “Turning the stranded pipeline of green loans into investable deal flow for private capital.”
In this week’s newsletter:
- Taking the pulse of European LPs at SuperReturn Berlin
- Automating beehives to save the pollinators
- LPs in Latin America’s gender-lens strategies
Featured: SuperReturn Berlin
For European LPs, material risks are still material, and American GPs come calling. Thousands of private equity fund managers and limited partners descended on Berlin last week for SuperReturn and SuperVenture, the private equity industry’s Lollapalooza. Many of the more than 5,000 participants wrung their hands about the lack of liquidity and the decline of the buyout sector. Others took solace in the continued buoyancy of private credit. Among the buzzy topics were the emergence of Europe as an investment destination and the ascendent opportunity in defense tech as the continent re-arms. And, of course, AI. “We think that next year, 40% of the people at this conference will have an AI agent and the remaining 60% will be looking for work,” said Vista Equity’s Robert Smith. ImpactAlpha columnists Johannes Lenhard and Hannah Leach of VentureESG joined the fray to take the pulse of sustainable investing. They saw the increased presence of American GPs at this year’s SuperVenture as a telltale sign of the geopolitical vibe shift. “The political momentum in Europe for funding innovation is strong,” they write in their dispatch on ImpactAlpha. “VCs believe there is now a real chance to capitalize on European climate and deep tech.”
- Celebrity investors. On stage at the Intercontinental, Bono, the U2 frontman, appeared with his climate investment collaborator, Jim Coulter of TPG Rise, eight years after Bono famously called impact investing “an excuse for good people to do bad deals.” Now, Coulter says, “This is not ‘investing in good.’ It’s just good investing.” Tennis legend Serena Williams talked up her VC fund (see, “Serena Ventures raises $111 million to back diverse founders building inclusive solutions”). The firm has backed ventures like Teal Health, which makes an FDA-approved home cervical cancer screening kit, and Esusu, which is helping low-to-middle income minority and immigrant renters in the US save money and build credit. “We invest in true diversity, backing underrepresented founders who are turning bold ideas into unstoppable companies,” Williams tweeted. Also at SuperReturn was Nico Rosberg, the former Formula One champion who now runs Rosberg Ventures, a $100 million fund of funds, as well as a portfolio of more than three dozen angel investments.
- LP watch. Lenhard and Leach listened in on conversations with limited partners Schroders Capital, the European Investment Fund, KfW Capital, Allianz and Adam Street Partners. “Their guidance is clear: there is a strong business case for responsible investing, especially in the long run, and the asset owners are working toward making it a hygiene factor,” they write. Hygiene factors are necessary preconditions, if not necessarily drivers of outperformance. Even the American GPs who made the pilgrimage to woo European LPs acknowledged that environmental, social and governance criteria – despite the weaponization of “ESG” – is fundamentally about material risks. In that context, Europe’s importance is rising as US leadership retreats. Material ESG risks are just “part of how you make investment decisions,” Lenhard and Leach say of European LPs’ approach. “If you are not on board with that, dear VC, we will have a very hard time wiring you money.”
- Keep reading, “For European LPs, material risks are still material, and American GPs come calling,” by VentureESG’s Johannes Lenhard and Hannah Leach.
Dealflow: Food and Agriculture
Beewise raises $50 million to protect bees – and global food security. Bees, among the planet’s most crucial pollinators, are dying at an alarming rate. Major food crops, including avocados, peaches, nuts, seeds, melons and cucumbers, rely on bee pollination. San Ramon, Calif.-based Beewise has built BeeHome, a solar-powered beehive that uses robotics and machine learning to help beekeepers monitor and protect bees in real time. BeeHome reduces bee mortality by 80% and increases yields by at least 50%, Beewise says, while eliminating 90% of manual labor when compared to traditional beehives. Beewise’s Saar Safra said its Series D financing round validates the company’s use of AI “to tackle one of humanity’s most pressing issues: declined pollination to the global collapse of bee colonies.”
- Climate adaptation. Beewise has dispatched 1,240 BeeHomes since 2018 to provide pollination for hundreds of growers. Clients include Nuveen Natural Capital, which is part of TIAA Investments, Agriland and Olam Food Ingredients. Beewise’s latest model of its modular beehive includes a heat chamber that destroys varroa mites, a parasite that feeds on honey bees, without exposing bees to harmful chemicals. “What Saar and the Beewise team are building has global implications for the environment, food chain and so much more,” said Daniel Aronovitz of Insight Partners, which backed Beewise’s round with Fortissimo Capital, APG Asset Management, Badiya Capital and other investors.
- Gift this post.
Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Exagon Impact Capital, a New York and Bogota-based energy transition investor, took a controlling stake in SunRoof, a commercial and industrial renewable energy provider in Mexico and Chile. (Exagon)
- Distributed renewable energy developer Onyx Renewables secured a $260 million credit facility with backing from Apollo’s financing group Atlas SP Partners and Investec. (Onyx Renewables)
- Runwise, which makes software to help building owners manage energy consumption, raised $55 million in Series B financing from Menlo Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Nuveen Real Estate, Munich Re Ventures and others. (Runwise)
- 8090 Industries, a New York-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage industrial decarbonization startups, raised $90 million for its second Industries Decarbonization Fund. (8090 Industries)
- Enko Capital secured a $25 million equity investment from the International Finance Corp. for its maiden impact credit fund, which is seeking $150 million to provide growth capital for businesses driving sustainable development in Africa. (Enko Capital)
Signals: LP Scan
These LPs are backing gender lens investment strategies in Latin America. There are more vehicles run by or focused on women than capital supporting them. The number of funds led by women continues to increase (albeit slowly). But the capital they manage remains stuck at around 2% of global assets. Ahead of this week’s gender-lens investing forum in Mexico City, Pro Mujer’s Carmen Correa is calling out the slow speed of investor commitments. “LPs are pushing for diversity, but they are not advancing much,” Correa tells ImpactAlpha. “There is a willingness, a desire, an openness. But there is limited action.” A handful of LPs are meeting that challenge in Latin America. Based on ImpactAlpha’s recent reporting, our LP/GP database has captured a half dozen LPs making commitments to funds investing with a gender lens (for a broader look at LPs active in Latin America, see, “More than 20 institutions hot on Latam impact strategies”). Many of these gender-focused GPs align with the criteria of 2X Challenge, the G7-backed initiative to mobilize capital for women’s economic empowerment.
- FinDev Canada. The Canadian DFI committed to Lafise Investment Managers’ fourth Central America Small Enterprises Investment Fund to provide growth capital for small and mid-sized businesses in Central America, as well as Colombia and the Dominican Republic. It also invested in women-led EcoEnterprises Fund‘s fourth fund, which invests with a gender-lens in sustainable agroforestry, eco-tourism and biodiversity preservation across Latin America.
- IDB Lab. The innovation arm of the Inter-American Development Bank has been active in early-stage gender-smart funds. It backed Atta Impact Capital, which is moving capital to small and mid-sized businesses in Mesoamerica, the historical and cultural region that spans central and southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador. The fund is aiming for 50% women-led businesses in its portfolio. IDB Lab also invested in Mexico-based Dalus Capital’s third fund.
- Japan International Cooperation Agency. JICA, has also placed bets on women-led innovation in Latin America. The agency joined IDB Lab as an investor in Dalus Capital Fund III as part of its broader push to fund tech and climate resilience strategies that center local leadership and gender equity.
- Green Climate Fund. The UN-backed catalytic investor supported Regenera Ventures, a women-led first-time fund manager investing in regenerative agriculture and land restoration in Mexico (see, “Regenera Ventures secures $9.3 million for regenerative farming in Mexico”). The fund integrates gender equity in its sourcing, training and ownership models for local farmers and cooperatives.
- Check it out. Know an LP investing in gender smart strategies? Let us know.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Eneasz Kadziela plans to step down as the Bureau of Asset Management’s deputy CIO and head of private equity assets… Trisha Miller, who has led the DC Green Bank since 2023, steps down as CEO. Board chair Brandi Colander will replace her as interim CEO, and Ed Hubbard will become acting board chair… Congruent Ventures welcomes Austin Pringle, previously with Summit Nanotech, as an analyst for its Continuity Fund.
Prologis seeks a sustainability data analyst in San Francisco… Also in San Francisco, Acumen is looking for a development and partnerships manager… East Bay Community Foundation has an opening for a philanthropic services advisor in Oakland, Calif… Macquarie Group is hiring a green investment associate in New York… Citi Commercial Bank’s sustainability team is recruiting a senior vice president.
The UN Joint Staff Pension Fund is on the hunt for a sustainable investment-focused impact and partnerships intern… Groundswell is searching for a finance and investment manager… Avivar Capital is looking for a monitoring vice president and an impact investment research consultant on a contract basis. Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund is hosting a webinar, “Shifting capital, shifting power: Moving global capital for local impact,” Thursday, June 12.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– June 10, 2025
