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.
In this week’s newsletter:
- GPs are leveraging “impact” to drive portfolio performance
- Galvanize debuts $1.3 billion climate credit fund
- Women-led fund for Polish startups
- Climate fund managers get gender smart
Featured: Impact Alpha
Even for GPs that shun the label, ‘impact’ drives portfolio performance. When the New York transit tech company Via went public on the New York Stock Exchange last week, its $3.5 billion valuation rested at least partly on its innovative strategies to boost the accessibility and efficiency of public transportation. Some might call those “impact” strategies. A growing number of investors and business operators are simply calling them… good business. “Via doesn’t use the term ‘impact,’ Holistic Impact’s Cecile Blilious tells ImpactAlpha. “It’s mostly implied in the way they promote the values they care about: affordable and accessible public transportation, paratransit access, social mobility and reducing emissions.” Impact’s value as a source of alpha, rather than a label, was top of mind for European LPs and GPs gathered in London last week at Frame, the responsible investing conference from Reframe Venture (previously VentureESG) and Impact Flock, and hosted by ImpactVC and Impact Europe.
- Leaning in. In Europe, as in the US, fund managers attempting to invest responsibly in the sectors of the future are struggling to navigate the backlashes to ESG and diversity, and to reallocations of capital. Impact, partly unscathed by the backlash, nonetheless carries its own baggage, from a reputation for concessional returns, to lengthy due diligence processes. But if some GPs are leaning away from the impact label, more fund managers – including those that don’t self-identify as impact fund managers – are leaning into the practice. Blilious, for example, worked with the Tel Aviv-based generalist tech fund Pitango, which backed Via as early as 2016, to help Via amplify the impact of their product and create tangible business value. “The label ‘impact’ isn’t always necessary,” says Blilious. “What matters is the application of impact and weaving it into the product, as it creates significant business advantages.”
- Driving value. To cut through the noise, smart managers are leaning into impact strategies, not as a brand, but as a driver of value. Berlin-based Masawa, which invests in mental wellness, supports the mental health of founders in its portfolio to mitigate burn-out risk. Ada Ventures in London taps a diverse network of “Ada scouts” to spot overlooked founders capable of delivering “inclusion alpha.” Lagos-based Ingressive Capital drives company growth by requiring 100% of the companies it invests in to have local ownership, including through employee stock ownership plans. “Our bet is that Africans are best positioned to build viable solutions for Africa,” Ingressive’s Maya Horgan Famodu said at Frame. Famodu says Ingressive has made four exits and plans to publicly list one portfolio company this year.
- Impact outperformance. Across Europe, leading generalist investors, including Accel, LocalGlobe, Balderton, Northzone, Atomico, Kindred, Connect, Index, HV Capital and others, are leaning into impact, according to ImpactVC, which was incubated by Better Society Capital. ImpactVC’s “Impact as a driver of value” report spotlights founders who are leveraging impact to attract talent, find new customers in underserved markets, raise funding from aligned sources, and navigate regulations. The subtitle: “Why the most valuable companies of the next 20 years will be impact-driven.” Separate research supports the claim that impact drives returns. BNVT Capital, VenCap International, and Josh Lerner of Harvard Business School evaluated data on 500 VC funds and 14,000 companies over the last 40 years. Their findings: Companies addressing real-world challenges outperform traditional venture investments on returns, strike rate and fund-level outcomes.
- Keep reading, “Even for GPs that shun the label, ‘impact’ drives portfolio performance,” by Dennis Price.
Dealflow: Energy Transition
Galvanize debuts $1.3 billion credit fund to finance renewable energy companies and projects. The investment firm launched by Tom Steyer is looking to tap investors’ interest in private credit with its Credit and Capital Solutions fund, which will structure investments in energy transition companies and projects in North America and Europe (see our Q&A with Galvanize’s Tom Steyer). The bespoke debt and other financing aims to fill a gap between bank debt and private credit markets for underserved mid-market developers, operators and even large-scale infrastructure rebuilds. “That’s the part of the market that is most attractive, but also helps unleash the most projects to advance the energy transition,” Galvanize’s John Delaney told ImpactAlpha. The fund’s pipeline includes an onshore US-based wind farm that will power data centers. The project has bank debt to finance construction but needs additional capital to finish the project. The fund’s $1.3 billion was provided by an unnamed institutional investor.
- Green credit. Delaney, a former member of Congress from Maryland and a specialty lending expert, is co-leading the new strategy with Chris Creed, a Goldman Sachs veteran and former chief investment officer of the US Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. The Credit and Capital Solutions strategy adds to Galvanize’s investment offerings, which include venture and growth, real estate and public equities.
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Women-led Vastpoint notches $22 million for Polish startups. Poland this year broke the top 20 of world’s largest economies. It’s one of the few markets where venture capital is on the upswing. Among the newest entrants: Vastpoint VC, an all-women fund manager that is investing in the country’s early-stage innovators. The firm has raised €18 million ($22 million) for its first fund and is set to cut its first checks next month. Vastpoint did not disclose the names of its limited partners.
- For founders, by founders. Vastpoint’s team includes Aleksandra Pedraszewska, co-founder of UK-based deep tech startup VividQ; former startup founder and investment banker Karolina Kukiełka; and Zuzanna Brzosko, a neuroscientist who worked for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and co-founded a biotech startup. “We built Vastpoint to be the partner we wished we had: hands-on, globally connected and deeply understanding of the journey,” Pedraszewska wrote on LinkedIn. Kukiełka noted the team’s “deep understanding of the founder’s journey,” and added, “Trust me, we’ve been in your shoes.”
- Gender dynamics. Vastpoint is a rare women-only GP team in Europe. There are fewer than two dozen such firms, according to one tally. The share of venture funding that goes to women-led companies in Europe is about 12% – higher than the roughly 2% global average. The figure nevertheless represents a decrease since the funding crunch began. More women are stepping into VC fund management roles, which could unblock the flow of capital to female founders.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Development finance institutions Norfund, British International Investment and the Industrial Development Corp. exited their stakes in the Kenhardt solar + battery storage plant in South Africa. The facility’s new long-term investor is South African bank Standard Bank. (Norfund)
- Commercial airline group Oneworld Alliance partnered with Breakthrough Energy Ventures on a $150 million investment fund to support sustainable aviation fuel innovation. (Travel and Tour World)
- Macquarie Asset Management raised $2.4 billion in investments and $647 million in co-investment capital for its first energy transition fund, Macquarie Green Energy Transition Solutions. (ESG Today)
Impact Voices: Climate + Gender
From vision to action: Gender-smart climate investing comes of age. Gender-smart climate investing has gathered steam, with more than 150 funds active in the space and 70 currently raising. This momentum is thanks in part to the field-building efforts of Suzanne Biegel and the Heading for Change endowment she created in the last year of her life (see, “With climate + gender fund, Suzanne Biegel is heading for change”). The endowment’s new report distills lessons learned in its first two and half years of operation. In a guest post on ImpactAlpha, Heading for Change’s Sana Kapadia and Rachel Hills highlight the growing roster of funds using a gender lens for their climate investments. “What felt conceptual in 2021 is now visible in practice, with a growing body of funds demonstrating how these principles sharpen climate investing,” they write.
- GP leadership. More managers are using gender to drive their investment practice, “to design products that work, to identify markets that others miss, and to build companies more likely to scale and endure,” write Kapadia and Hills. Among them: Unconventional Ventures, KawiSafi Ventures and Circulate Capital (see ImpactAlpha’s list of Climate + Gender funds). Early catalytic funding laid strong foundations, giving funds an abundance of climate and gender investments to choose from, they say. “There are managers already doing this work and doing it well – and they are ready for more capital to flow.” They continue: “The next chapter depends on how boldly we scale this momentum.”
- Keep reading, “From vision to action: Gender-smart climate investing comes of age,” by Sana Kapadia and Rachel Hills of Heading for Change.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Just Futures PBC promotes Mika Weinstein to CEOr, and George Guerrero to chief investment officer… Allevate Impact Capital taps Kyle Kotsios as vice president of underwriting and deal structuring for its employee ownership fund… Episcopal Health Foundation promotes CJ Eisenbarth Hager to vice president of grants.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board seeks an associate for its sustainable energy group… Pension Protection Fund is looking for a climate investments manager… Goldman Sachs is recruiting an asset and wealth management associate for its sustainable investing group… World Wildlife Fund has an opening for a senior director of climate communications… Textile Exchange is hiring a climate and nature impact assistant.
Allianz Global Investors is on the hunt for a portfolio analyst for development finance and impact credit… Southwest Airlines is searching for a corporate responsibility regional manager… Prime Coalition is looking for a senior executive associate… The Boston Foundation’s Latino Equity Fund is accepting proposals for grant funding from Latinx-focused organizations in Massachusetts. The deadline to apply is Monday, Nov. 3.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– Sept. 23, 2025
