editor and CEO of ImpactAlpha
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
With stakes in Anthropic, impact investors seek a seat at the AI table
Not long after last fall’s boardroom drama at OpenAI thrust issues of governance, stakeholders and mission into the debates over artificial intelligence, Omidyar …
The Brief | April 23, 2024
The Brief: Impact investments in Anthropic’s AI
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Responsible AI With stakes in Anthropic, impact investors seek a seat at the AI table. …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
How impact investments in Anthropic can strengthen responsible innovation in tech
In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …
Dealflow | April 23, 2024
Upstart Co-Lab raises $15 million to invest in an inclusive creative economy
Upstart Co-Lab raised $15 million in a mix of mission and program-related investments and recoverable grants from 14 investors. Investors include the Andy …
Credit: Tangent
Inclusive Economy | April 23, 2024
Tangent secures early funding to democratize referrals for UK tech workers
Less than 10% of the UK’s tech talent comes from lower-income backgrounds compared to nearly 30% in finance and 23% in law. An …
Deploy! | April 22, 2024
Greening down payment assistance to create better homes and better mortgages
Editor’s Note: Community Finance Brief is a newsletter from Matt Posner of Court Street Group, occasionally syndicated on ImpactAlpha. An enduring and perhaps …
Former US climate envoy John Kerry has pushed for acceptance of carbon credits to finance low-income countries' energy transitions
Low-carbon transition | April 22, 2024
Science Based Targets Initiative meets realpolitik on the path to Net Zero
An apparent reversal by one of the main arbiters of corporate climate action plans has roiled climate activists and advocates and highlighted tensions …
Impact Investing | April 22, 2024
“I’m Your Heat Pump”: Cool when you want it, hot when you need it (video)
Electric heat pumps are five times more efficient than gas furnaces, saving homeowners money and reducing emissions that contribute to pollution and climate …
The Brief | April 22, 2024
The Brief: Solar for all
Greetings Agents of Impact and happy Earth Day to you! In today’s Brief: Featured: Climate Finance For this Earth Day, the White House …
Deploy! | April 22, 2024
For this Earth Day, the White House delivers a $7 billion message: Solar for All
“Cheaper, faster, better” is not just for affluent households or wealthy neighborhoods. Hundreds of millions in annual cost-savings from ever-cheaper solar energy, not …
Africa | April 22, 2024
IFC writes a $300 million check to Standard Bank for low-income housing and renewable energy in South Africa
South Africa is in the midst of a critical, years-long power crisis. The country also needs nearly four million new units of low-income …
Credit: Henry Ford Health System
Muni Impact | April 22, 2024
Michigan raises $53 million to green its healthcare services
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha has partnered with HIP Investor to highlight upcoming bond issues with social and/or environmental significance. Disclaimer: Nothing in this post or on …
Impact Voices | April 21, 2024
Unpacking the experiments, barriers, and pivots: exploring community banking with Kataly Foundation
Developing an investment strategy that meets our fiduciary requirements as resource stewards, embodies our racial justice values, and prioritizes the communities we serve …
Photo by FINCA Ventures.
Dealflow | April 19, 2024
The Week’s Dealflow: April 19, 2024
ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week: Agrifood investing. Astarte Capital and Silvipar raised $325 million for sustainable forestry in Paraguay… Brazil’s goFlux …
Emerging and Growth Markets | April 19, 2024
Deal spotlight: African banks help Acre Impact Capital bridge gaps in infrastructure finance
It’s taken three years for Mauritius-based Acre Impact Capital to reach a first close for its first infrastructure finance fund. The firm is …
The Brief | April 19, 2024
The Week in impact investing: Spring into action
TGIF, Agents of Impact! 🗣 New leaves. Anyone living in a place with four seasons or long winters can spot the moment spring …
careers | April 19, 2024
The Week’s Jobs: April 19, 2024
Foundations, private equity investors and fund managers are on the hunt for impact talent around the world. Just this week: US Jobs In Washington, …
The Brief | April 18, 2024
The Brief: Participant Media’s impact on film investing
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Creative Economy Shutdown of Participant Media challenges other investors to drive impact through film. When …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
A ‘dual debt-climate challenge’ for the world’s poorest nations
The Atlantic hurricane season looms large this year, following 2023’s record number of billion-dollar disasters in over four decades of data collection. For …
Ebb Carbon's first marine carbon removal project is underway at Sequim Bay in Washington (photo: Ebb carbon)
Catalytic Capital | April 18, 2024
Prime Coalition launches Trellis Climate to plug gaps for first-of-a-kind climate tech projects
Boston-based Prime Coalition has spent more than a decade identifying funding gaps for early stage climate tech and marshaling risk-tolerant capital to fill …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
Spring Meetings yield green shoots of development finance reform at the World Bank
It’s been less than a year since Ajay Banga took over as president of the World Bank; he immediately faced intense pressure to …
photo: MeduLance
Dealflow | April 18, 2024
Medulance scores $3 million to bring medical emergency response services to India’s smaller cities
Indian healthtech investor Alkemi Growth Capital led a $3 million Series A investment in Medulance, a company founded in 2017 to make emergency …
Screenshot of Ava Duvernay's "When They See Us" | Image Credit: Participant Media
Creative Economy | April 17, 2024
Shutdown of Participant challenges other investors to drive impact through film
When Ava DuVernay made her 2019 series, “When They See Us,” about the five Black teens convicted of a rape they didn’t commit, …
Macro Impact | April 17, 2024
Good economy actually is good news as impact investors adjust to new realities
(Editor’s note: In this conclusion to ImpactAlpha’s four-part Macro Impact series, contributing editor Rob Brown parses the economic signals for public and private …
The Brief | April 17, 2024
The Brief: A good economy is good news
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Macro Impact Good economy actually is good news as impact investors adjust to new realities. …
Ownership Economy | April 17, 2024
Colorado is demonstrating how states can accelerate conversions to employee ownership (video)
When Jared Polis became Colorado’s governor in 2019, he created an employee ownership office to incentivize and provide support for retiring owners to …
Speakers at MO Summit 2024 in Austin
Capitalism Reimagined | April 17, 2024
Impact CEOs are navigating macro uncertainty with purpose
Purpose, it turns out, is durable. CEOs of Seventh Generation, Vital Farms and other purpose-driven companies who gathered at Big Path Capital’s annual …
Photo credit: reach52
Sponsored | April 17, 2024
Innovative startups are changing the landscape of health impact everywhere. Are investors aware?
Editor’s note: This guest post is sponsored by Impact Ventures by J&J Foundation, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with …
Credit: Quilt
Clean Energy | April 17, 2024
Quilt raises $33 million to launch its sleek heat pump
Heat pump sales in the US are expected to ramp up, as states implement generous financial incentives in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. …
Climate Finance | April 17, 2024
Astarte Capital and Silvipar raise $325 million for sustainable forestry in Paraguay
Paraguay is one of the poorest countries in South America. It also has one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation in the …
Students at Delaware State University: Photo credit: Delaware State University
Return on Inclusion | April 16, 2024
The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs
Editor’s Note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
The Brief | April 16, 2024
The Brief: Investing in HBCUs
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Returns on Inclusion The brilliant case for impact investing in America’s HBCUs. Four years into …
exclude from paywall | April 16, 2024
ImpactAlpha Open: Climate risk at insurance companies + investing in food waste solutions
Greetings, Agents of Impact! 🎉 Celebrating 10 years. For 10 years, leaders have trusted ImpactAlpha to guide them to the ‘alpha in impact.’ To celebrate our first …
Impact Voices | April 16, 2024
How innovative financing structures can help close California’s housing gap
The way housing is financed and constructed in the United States has experienced little change in decades, leading to skyrocketing costs, barriers to …
Credit: Dawa Mkononi
Investing in Health | April 16, 2024
SEAF provides impact-linked capital to Dawa Mkononi for pharmaceutical access in Tanzania
Impact investment firm SEAF (for Small Enterprise Assistance Funds) launched its Daraja Impact initiative with support from AlphaMundi Foundation and the Swiss Agency …
Climate Finance | April 16, 2024
Pula lands $20 million to offer livestock insurance to smallholder farmers
Insurance tech startup Pula launched in 2015 to provide crop insurance to small scale farmers, 80% of whom lack access to products that …
Credit: SunCulture
Smallholder Agriculture | April 15, 2024
For these tech startups and investors, the next big thing is climate adaptation for smallholder farmers
In India, Mati Carbon is providing smallholder farmers with crop inputs that fertilize plants and sequester carbon. In Kenya, SunCulture is helping farmers …
The Brief | April 15, 2024
The Brief: Catalyzing climate resilience for small farmers
Greetings Agents of Impact! In today’s Brief: Featured: Adaptation Finance For these tech startups and investors, the next big thing is climate adaptation …
Impact Voices | April 15, 2024
Elevating impact reporting to raise the performance of impact fund managers
“One million lives touched.” “800 jobs created.” “50,000 acres of land restored.” Capital allocators often see these types of punchy headlines in the …
AceliAfrica's impact performance report explores ties between impact performance and financial risk and return
Impact Management | April 15, 2024
Six impact performance reports that go beyond the basics to give investors needed insights
Impact Frontier’s Impact Reporting Norms target a leverage point in the impact investing system: impact reporting. They promise to provide greater clarity and …
Photo by Fairview.
Return on Inclusion | April 15, 2024
New York Life acquires stake in minority-owned firm Fairview Capital
Fairview Capital, a minority-owned investment management firm that specializes in backing diverse and emerging managers in venture capital and private equity, has invested …
Photo by Unwritten.
Climate Finance | April 15, 2024
Unwritten snags $3.5 million for ‘transition risk intelligence’ software for investors
The impact of climate change on infrastructure, properties, agriculture and human health could cost the global economy some $3 trillion per year by …
Credit: Mati Carbon
Impact Voices | April 15, 2024
How Mati Carbon is using the carbon markets to address farmers’ adaptation finance gap and boost their incomes
Ashish Kumar is a long-time climate investor and a market / ecosystem builder. He is a strategic advisor to Mati Carbon. This month, …
Podcasts | April 12, 2024
Reconnecting communities, impact investing in Puerto Rico, and how business owners are exiting to employees
🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: federal funds to …
Deploy! | April 12, 2024
Private sector sees opportunity in federal ‘green bank’ fund
The EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is intended to bring in at least seven times as much in private capital for …