Inclusive Economy
Innovative Finance | March 29, 2023
Using social bonds to address gender and racial inequities (podcast)
Corporate, nonprofit and municipal issuers are designating bond proceeds to support organizations that increase access to finance for women and people of color. …
Photo credit: MDIF
Europe | March 29, 2023
MDIF and partners democratize impact investing in independent media
ImpactAlpha, March 29 – Media Development Investment Fund has for 23 years invested in independent media outlets in places where a free press …
Metrics Madness | March 28, 2023
Chasing the holy grail of a universal metric for racial equity and wealth-building
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 28 – If the world manages in the coming decades to avert the worst-case climate catastrophe, it will be the result …
Investing in Health | March 27, 2023
Mamotest secures $3.3 million for breast cancer screening in Latin America
ImpactAlpha, March 27 – Breast cancer survival rates are significantly lower in many emerging markets than in high-income countries. Startup Mamotest want to …
Impact Voices | March 21, 2023
Tree planting has gotten a bad name. Here’s how to restore its effectiveness as a climate solution.
What’s not to love about planting trees? Once considered a tried and true solution to the climate crisis, tree-growing has lately been given …
Image by Freepik
Impact Management | March 21, 2023
Ten outcomes and three levers for investors in racial and economic equity
ImpactAlpha, March 21 — Moral imperative? The threat of economic instability? Or the unrealized economic potential of our nation’s diversity? Whatever their motivations, …
Photo credit: Wheel the World
Dealflow | March 21, 2023
Wheel the World secures $6 million to make travel more accessible to people with disabilities
ImpactAlpha, March 21 – Wheel the World is a travel planning site aims to “make the world accessible” for people with disabilities. “We …
Photo by Michael Fousert on Unsplash
Climate and Clean Tech | March 16, 2023
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator backs ChargerHelp and Repurpose
ImpactAlpha, March 16 — Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator is back women-led climate tech startups ChargerHelp and Repurpose. South L.A.-based ChargerHelp will use the …
Features | March 15, 2023
Freada and Mitch Kapor write the book on startup investing to close gaps of equity and opportunity
ImpactAlpha, March 15 — Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein have spent more than a decade betting on diverse founders with lived experience …
Kampala, Uganda
Frontier and Growth Markets | March 15, 2023
Inua Capital secures $8 million to offer flexible capital for small businesses in Uganda
ImpactAlpha, March 15 – Kim Kamarebe founded Inua Capital to provide growth equity and mentorship to Uganda’s small businesses that are creating jobs …
Return on Inclusion | March 10, 2023
ImpactAlpha Deal Spotlight: Representation matters
ImpactAlpha, March 10 — At your Oscar party this weekend, keep an eye, and ear, out for Rihanna. The Agent of Impact received …
Climate Finance | March 9, 2023
MCE secures $19.5 million to boost smallholder farmers’ climate resilience
ImpactAlpha, March 9 – MCE Social Capital provides loans to small businesses and financial services firms in emerging markets that are supporting climate …
Gender Smart | March 8, 2023
Frontline communities hold the keys to inclusive gender and climate finance
Good green jobs. Better climate solutions. Food security. Resilient supply chains. Increased wealth in low-income communities. And increased returns for more stakeholders. Those …
Macro's Charles D. King | Credit: Getty
Creative Economy | March 8, 2023
Charles King’s Macro raises $90 million to amplify diverse voices in Hollywood
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 8 – Hollywood super agent turned entrepreneur and investor Charles King created Macro in 2015 to put voices and perspectives of …
Impact Investing | March 8, 2023
Trillion-dollar opportunity: Tackling women’s digital exclusion in the developing world
For all the optimism contained in International Women’s Day, the reality is that in most places around the world, the gender gap isn’t …
Photo credit: Quotanda
Dealflow | March 6, 2023
IDB Lab backs Quotanda to finance digital upskilling for women and youth in Mexico
ImpactAlpha, March 6 – About one-quarter of Mexico’s population attains a university degree. To improve livelihoods and earning potential for the rest, Quotanda …
Inclusive Economy | March 6, 2023
DreamSpring secures $5.3 million grant from Kauffman Foundation for small business lending in underserved Kansas City
ImpactAlpha, March 6 — Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation is providing $5.3 million to DreamSpring, an Albuquerque-based national community development financial institution, or CDFI. …
Return on Inclusion | March 6, 2023
Want to wring impact from ESG? Look to governance
If ESG is a foot in the door to an economy built around sustainability, inclusion and equity, then governance is the power that’s …
Podcasts | March 3, 2023
Sana Kapadia on the alpha opportunity for investors who are gender smart
2x Global’s Sana Kapadia joins host Monique Aiken to ring in Women’s History Month and talk about the state of gender-lens investing. Plus, …
Photo by Eduardo Barrios on Unsplash
Investing in Health | March 1, 2023
How private investment in the care economy can work for care workers as well
The pandemic heightened awareness of the foundational role that caregiving plays in the US economy. Yet care infrastructure for childcare, eldercare, and other …
Photo by BlocPower.
Climate and Clean Tech | March 1, 2023
BlocPower raises $154 million to decarbonize buildings in low-income neighborhoods
ImpactAlpha, March 1 — Brooklyn-based climate tech venture BlocPower has raised $154 million in debt and equity funding to partner with municipalities in …
Photo by Bitwise Industries.
Inclusive Economy | February 28, 2023
Bitwise Industries raises $80 million to upskill workers on Chicago’s South Side
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 28 – Fresno, Calif.-based Bitwise Industries has raised $80 million to take its model for upskilling low-income residents for high-growth tech jobs …
Frontier and Growth Markets | February 27, 2023
Latin America’s impact entrepreneurs find opportunities in nature-based solutions and smarter services for low-income consumers
ImpactAlpha, February 27 – Street demonstrations, populist leaders and economic strife dominate news headlines about Latin America. Less appreciated are the entrepreneurs who …
Latin America | February 27, 2023
Root Capital and other impact investors emerge as key players in Biden’s Partnership for Central America
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 27 – The U.S.- Mexico border gets the attention. But in addressing the root causes of migration, it is long-term investments in …
Dealflow | February 27, 2023
In Latin America, bigger impact funds and investments defy venture capital slowdown
ImpactAlpha, February 27 — Impact investment in Latin America has remained strong even as overall venture capital activity is slowing down after a …
Dealflow | February 24, 2023
ImpactAlpha Deal Spotlight: Black and Brown green startups
ImpactAlpha, February 24 — Founders are using their proximity to communities and their own lived experience to build climate solutions. Local accelerators and …
Montrose, Colorado
Opportunity Zones | February 23, 2023
From Alabama to Utah, rural Opportunity Zones attract private investors for local development (video)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 23 – Opportunity Zones are bringing investors to the table in a place they’ve long avoided: rural America. The capital gains tax …
Photo by 2Gether-International.
Signals | February 23, 2023
The impact case for bridging financing gaps for disabled founders
ImpactAlpha, February 23 — Mexican-American paralympic athlete Diego Mariscal, who was born three months premature with cerebral palsy, is out to prove the …
Koz on MLK before it opened (photo: Koz Development)
Inclusive Economy | February 23, 2023
Sorenson’s Catalyst Fund crafts real estate opportunities with public funds and impact strategies
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 23 – Decades ago, Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood descended into gang violence and disinvestment, driving longtime residents away. Now, remaining residents face …
photo: Christopher Burns
Inclusive Economy | February 21, 2023
Move over, private equity. Here comes worker ownership.
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 21 – Who better to buy an established, profitable small business than the employees who work there? They know the operations, the …
Impact Tech | February 21, 2023
COMMUNITYx snags $2 million to build the Instagram of social and environmental activism
ImpactAlpha, February 21 — COMMUNITYx has raised $2 million to connect global activists to petitions, events and fundraising campaigns around racial justice, climate …
Inclusive Economy | February 17, 2023
Rihanna: Shining star power on inclusion in music and business
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 17 – Years before this week’s elegant and understated Super Bowl appearance, Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty turned down the NFL’s invitation to headline …
Image credit: Comun
Financial Inclusion | February 16, 2023
Spanish-language digital bank Comun secures $4.5 million from investors.
ImpactAlpha, February 16 – Nearly 10% of the Hispanic population in the U.S. is unbanked and 40% don’t have a credit card or …
Evette Ellis and Kameale Terry. Photo by ChargerHelp!
Green Infrastructure | February 15, 2023
ChargerHelp scores $17.5 million to repair EV chargers and create inclusive green jobs
ImpactAlpha, February 15 — More electric vehicles on the road means more demand for EV chargers that work. Broken and unreliable chargers have …
Inclusive Economy | February 14, 2023
Social Capital Partners widens its ‘ownership lens’ with $2 million fund
Social Capital Partners, the Toronto-based nonprofit, has made a specialty out of convincing Canada’s pension funds to invest in U.S. worker-ownership conversions through …
Leslie Brun and Aarti Kotak of Ariel Alternatives
Inclusive Economy | February 13, 2023
Why corporate buyers bet $1.5 billion with Ariel Alternatives to diversify supply chains and close racial wealth gaps (Q&A)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 13 – Building up Black-led firms to become suppliers to America’s largest corporations is a long-term project. With Project Black, Ariel …
Return on Inclusion | February 13, 2023
Community Preservation Corp. invests $5 million in SHIFT Catalyst Fund to back diverse developers
ImpactAlpha, February 13 — SHIFT Catalyst Fund has secured a $5 million equity investment from Community Preservation Corp. to invest in real estate …
The production of lithium from brine extracted from the Clayton Valley basin
Climate and Clean Tech | February 13, 2023
EV supply chains are riddled with human rights abuses. Tech can help eliminate them.
More electric vehicles (EVs) were sold each week of 2022 than in all of 2011. Analysts expect this explosive growth to remain unabated …
Inclusive Economy | February 9, 2023
Turning the boom in small-business starts into a long-term driver of economic mobility
ImpactAlpha, February 9 — A record 10 million Americans applied to start new businesses over the past two years, as President Biden highlighted …
Nature's Garden for Victory and Peace in Tuskegee, AL, a member of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance
Inclusive Economy | February 9, 2023
Common Future launches first racial equity accelerator
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 9 – When Common Future absorbed the social impact accelerator Uncharted last May in a rare nonprofit merger, it brought together …
Photo by Nex Cubed.
Return on Inclusion | February 8, 2023
Nex Cubed scores $5 million from Costco to invest in diverse founders from historically Black colleges
ImpactAlpha, February 8 — San Francisco-based accelerator Nex Cubed is looking to raise $40 million for an HBCU Founders Fund, which will back …
Signals | February 6, 2023
Four ways impact investors are supporting economic mobility for Black Americans
ImpactAlpha, February 6 — The median Black household in the U.S. has one-tenth the wealth of the median white household. Over the next …
Return on Inclusion | February 6, 2023
Ariel Alternatives’ secures $1.5 billion to build the pipeline of minority-owned suppliers
ImpactAlpha, February 6 – Black, Brown, Indigenous and other diverse-led businesses receive just 2% of Fortune 500 companies’ procurement spend, according to private …
The Sendero Verde in East Harlem
Dealflow | February 2, 2023
Jonathan Rose Companies eyes $750 million for its sixth affordable housing fund
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 2 – The New York-based real estate firm has been a pioneer in creating and preserving green affordable housing for more …
Impact Voices | January 31, 2023
How Fair Food Network is reshaping investment norms to fight wealth inequity
Despite the good intentions and creative strategies of impact investors, extreme wealth inequity persists. The climate crisis will only deepen the divide, unless …