Featured: Proxy Preview
Shareholders test their power with votes at ExxonMobil, Chevron, BlackRock and McD’s. It’s spring, and your fancy may lightly turn to thoughts of love – or summer vacation. Shareholder activists are focused instead on taking on management with at least 60 resolutions that will come to a vote this week at the annual meetings of some of America’s biggest companies. Amazon alone faces a dozen resolutions today. And because shareholder resolutions are merely advisory, activists at some companies are turning to binding board elections. But last year’s heady wins for environmental, social and governance proposals are giving way to a more mixed record this year. The votes “are going to serve as a fundamental test of investor resolve on the material risks of the escalating climate crisis and the economy-wide drag on sustainable growth from systemic racial inequities,” Majority Action’s Eli Kasargod-Staub told ImpactAlpha.
Featured: Institutional Impact
Tracing a line from the lack of diversity in asset management to the undoing of Roe v. Wade. ImpactAlpha contributing editor Imogen Rose-Smith used to keep a copy of William Butler Yeats’ “The Second Coming” pinned to her cubicle wall. “The best lack all conviction,” the poet wrote, “while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” And here we are once again, Rose-Smith says. The U.S. Supreme Court’s expected overturning of Roe v. Wade reflects deeper problems with the place of women in the U.S., and the world, she argues. That includes how we choose to deploy and allocate capital in today’s economy. “Institutional investors, from venture capitalists to pension plans, as well as banks and other capital-market participants, bear some responsibility.”
Dealflow: E-Mobility
India’s M Auto raises $20 million for electric mobility-as-a-service in Africa. Investing in the low-carbon transition of Africa requires solutions to alleviate poverty and uplift local economies. Chennai-based M Auto, a manufacturer of two and three-wheel electric vehicles with its own network battery-swapping stations, secured the investment from the Africa Transformation and Industrialisation Fund. The fund aims “to accelerate Africa’s industrial transformation and ecological transition while creating jobs and lifting people out of poverty,” said ATIF’s Shegun Adjadi Bakari (for context, see "High fuel prices spur Africa’s transition to electric mobility").
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
60 Decibels is hiring a remote senior business development manager… Eurosif is looking for an executive director… Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance group is recruiting a vice president of products and solutions for the EMEA region, based in London… Boehringer Ingelheim seeks an impact investing manager… Accion Venture Lab is hiring an investment officer for Africa, ideally in Lagos… Generation Investment Management seeks an analyst for its growth equity team in San Francisco.
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Podcasts | May 20, 2022
Briefing: Building the next-generation of diverse climate fund managers with Bahiyah Robinson
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Top Stories
Tracing a line from the lack of diversity in asset management to the undoing of Roe v. Wade
Gender Smart | May 24, 2022
IFC invests $30 million with Partners for Growth to deploy private credit in emerging markets
Dealflow | May 24, 2022
India’s M Auto raises $20 million for electric mobility-as-a-service in Africa
Africa | May 24, 2022
MacArthur Foundation commits $20 million for housing for justice-involved people
Catalytic Capital | May 24, 2022
At elite World Economic Forum, Davos Man and Davos Woman will talk sustainability, inclusion and action
Capitalism Reimagined | May 23, 2022
LGT’s Lightrock secures $300 million for impact tech in Latin America
Dealflow | May 23, 2022
Black-led Cayaba Care raises $12 million to reduce maternal morbidity
Dealflow | May 23, 2022
Invest in agriculture for its critical role in food security and climate change
Agrifood Tech | May 23, 2022
Global corporations commit to carbon removal tech buys in South Pole-led initiative
Catalytic Capital | May 23, 2022
Overheard at Total Impact: Diversify decision-making and shift power to communities
Entrepreneurship | May 19, 2022
How Opportunity Zones can accelerate American Rescue Plan projects
Inclusive Economy | May 19, 2022
Climate Finance
Impact Investing | May 23, 2022
At elite World Economic Forum, Davos Man and Davos Woman will talk sustainability, inclusion and action
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Impact Voices | May 23, 2022
Invest in agriculture for its critical role in food security and climate change
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Impact Investing | May 23, 2022
Global corporations commit to carbon removal tech buys in South Pole-led initiative
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2030 Finance | May 19, 2022
Generation Investment Management raises $1.7 billion sustainable solutions fund
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Green Infrastructure | May 19, 2022
Infinitum Electric raises $80 million to commercialize electric motors
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Blockchain/AI/IoT | May 18, 2022
Soluna scores $35 million from Spring Lane Capital to use wasted clean energy for crypto mining
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Dealflow | May 18, 2022
Bloomberg Philanthropies commits $242 million for clean energy in developing countries
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Climate Finance | May 17, 2022
Sustain.Life secures $16 million to help small businesses take climate action
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Agrifood Tech | May 17, 2022
Sencrop secures $18 million to help farmers manage ‘ultra-local’ weather risks
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Features | May 16, 2022
YAPU is giving microfinance a digital upgrade with a climate twist
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Regeneration | May 16, 2022
AXA, Unilever and Tikehau Capital seed regenerative agriculture fund with €300 million
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The Reconstruction | May 11, 2022
Seven or more ways to lead with justice in climate investing
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Climate and Clean Tech | May 24, 2022
India’s M Auto raises $20 million for electric mobility-as-a-service in Africa
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Dealflow | May 24, 2022
IFC invests $30 million with Partners for Growth to deploy private credit in emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, May 24 — San Francisco-based Partners for Growth, which specializes in private lending for growth-stage companies in emerging markets, will invest $30 …
Catalytic Capital | May 19, 2022
British International Investment provides $100 million guarantee for supply-chain financing in Africa
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Dealflow | May 18, 2022
Bloomberg Philanthropies commits $242 million for clean energy in developing countries
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Frontier and Growth Markets | May 12, 2022
BRAC International Microfinance taps capital markets for $40 million for households in poverty
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Dealflow | May 11, 2022
Equity Group secures $165 million to finance small businesses and climate projects in Africa
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Good Jobs | May 10, 2022
Manara scores $3 million to upskill tech workers in North Africa and the Middle East
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Frontier and Growth Markets | May 9, 2022
High fuel prices spur Africa’s transition to electric mobility
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Frontier and Growth Markets | May 5, 2022
BUILD fund raises $60 million for small and growing businesses in Africa
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Agrifood Tech | May 3, 2022
Lightsmith Group backs Brazil’s Solinftec’s precision agriculture-as-a-service
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Financial Inclusion | May 3, 2022
Open secures $50 million for small business services in India
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Dealflow
Climate and Clean Tech | May 24, 2022
India’s M Auto raises $20 million for electric mobility-as-a-service in Africa
ImpactAlpha, May 24 — Investing in the low-carbon transition of Africa requires solutions to alleviate poverty and uplift local economies as well. Chennai-based …
Dealflow | May 24, 2022
IFC invests $30 million with Partners for Growth to deploy private credit in emerging markets
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Impact Tech | May 23, 2022
LGT’s Lightrock secures $300 million for impact tech in Latin America
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Investing in Health | May 23, 2022
Black-led Cayaba Care raises $12 million to reduce maternal morbidity
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Catalytic Capital | May 19, 2022
British International Investment provides $100 million guarantee for supply-chain financing in Africa
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2030 Finance | May 19, 2022
Generation Investment Management raises $1.7 billion sustainable solutions fund
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Green Infrastructure | May 19, 2022
Infinitum Electric raises $80 million to commercialize electric motors
ImpactAlpha, May 19 — Austin-based Infinitum says its low-carbon air-core motors are more energy efficient and half the weight and size of conventional …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | May 18, 2022
Soluna scores $35 million from Spring Lane Capital to use wasted clean energy for crypto mining
ImpactAlpha, May 18 — If crypto doesn’t save the earth, it may destroy it. By some estimates, Bitcoin and other crypto mining consumes …
Dealflow | May 18, 2022
Bloomberg Philanthropies commits $242 million for clean energy in developing countries
ImpactAlpha, May 18 — With $164 million in commitments, Michael Bloomberg’s foundation says it has helped close down more than two-thirds of coal …
Agrifood Tech | May 17, 2022
Sencrop secures $18 million to help farmers manage ‘ultra-local’ weather risks
ImpactAlpha, May 17 — French agtech venture Sencrop provides microclimate information to 20,000 farmers in Europe from its network of ultra-local weather stations. …
Climate Finance | May 17, 2022
Sustain.Life secures $16 million to help small businesses take climate action
ImpactAlpha, May 17 — The combined carbon emissions of the 90% of the world’s businesses that are small and mid-sized exceeds that of …
Regeneration | May 16, 2022
AXA, Unilever and Tikehau Capital seed regenerative agriculture fund with €300 million
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