Good Jobs
Flat Vector Illustration.
Dealflow | June 14, 2021
KKR’s Burning Glass merges with Emsi to form labor market data platform
ImpactAlpha, June 14 — KKR in 2019 acquired a majority stake in Burning Glass, a software company that sells intelligence on labor market …
Photo credit: Urban Company.
Dealflow | June 7, 2021
Urban Company secures $255 million for gig marketplace in India
ImpactAlpha, June 7 — Urban Company has hired and trained approximately 35,000 gig service providers since 2014 for beauty treatments, haircuts, carpentry, appliance …
Photo credit: Charter Next Generation.
Good Jobs | May 13, 2021
KKR investment in Charter Next Generation makes all 1,700 employees owners
ImpactAlpha, May 13 — Private-equity giant KKR has backed Lexington, Ohio-based Charter Next Generation, one of the largest U.S. producers of specialty films …
Impact Voices | May 5, 2021
Three ways to invest in the upskilling of workers for the post-COVID economy
The booming stock market has masked the wide gaps in the U.S. economy and labor markets that are increasingly a threat to a …
Dealflow | May 3, 2021
Two Sigma Impact and Avance acquire Wholesale Supplies to supply artisans with quality products
ImpactAlpha, May 3 — Hedge fund Two Sigma in January launched Two Sigma Impact, a nine-figure impact investing business from its own balance …
Clean Energy | April 27, 2021
Shared solar generates savings and jobs for New York City Housing Authority residents
ImpactAlpha, April 27 — Sunwealth Power, a Cambridge, Mass.-based impact investor that finances small-scale solar projects, is helping develop a 1.8-megawatt solar array …
PC: Transport Topics.
Catalytic Capital | April 12, 2021
Social Finance raises $36 million for ‘career impact bonds’ and backs American Diesel Training
ImpactAlpha, April 12 — Career impact bonds are bringing income-share agreements, which dozens of universities are using to provide help to low-income students …
PC: HBR.
Impact Tech | April 12, 2021
Village Capital backs tech startups in Jordan and Chile
ImpactAlpha, April 12 — Washington, D.C.-based Village Capital has made its first pair of investments through the early-stage Financial Innovation Fund it manages …
Dealflow | March 22, 2021
CIM backs Salary Finance to provide affordable loans for underserved workers
ImpactAlpha, March 22 — Community Investment Management is providing Salary Finance with $150 million in debt financing over the next three years to …
United States | March 18, 2021
A grand challenge surfaces solutions to upskill Americans for the future of work
ImpactAlpha, March 18 – Technology is replacing people. Gig jobs are replacing full-time work. Unions are organizing (see, “Why pension funds and other Amazon …
Dealflow | March 11, 2021
Souls Grown Deep Foundation backs Paskho to create quality jobs for Gee’s Bend quilters in Alabama
ImpactAlpha, March 11 — The Souls Grown Deep Foundation is providing a $600,000 convertible note to Paskho, a Black-owned eco-friendly apparel company. Souls …
Dealflow | February 8, 2021
Online grocer Good Eggs raises $100 million to deliver fresh food and good jobs
ImpactAlpha, February 8 – San Francisco-based grocery delivery company Good Eggs says it’s committed both to local growers and to good jobs that …
Photo credit: Shoegaro
Frontier and Growth Markets | January 27, 2021
Upaya Social Ventures supports ‘good jobs’ in India with four investments
ImpactAlpha, January 27 – Seattle-based Upaya Social Ventures invests in small and growing businesses creating dignified jobs for underserved Indians. It closed four convertible …
Dealflow | January 21, 2021
Two Sigma Impact and BayPine invest in workforce educator Penn Foster
ImpactAlpha, January 21 – Hedge fund Two Sigma launched its nine-figure impact investing initiative from its own balance sheet to prove the correlation between …
Taylor Guitars employees, now owners, at the El Cajon, CA factory prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dealflow | January 14, 2021
Canadian pension fund backs Taylor Guitars’ conversion to employee ownership
ImpactAlpha, January 14 — Cajon, Calif.-based guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars is now 100% owned by its more than 1,200 employees through an Employee …
Dealflow | January 13, 2021
Morgan Stanley invests $100 million in Lafayette Square to support housing, jobs, and financial inclusion
ImpactAlpha, January 13 — Black-run investment firm Lafayette Square invests in “communities that have been traditionally neglected by fiscal and monetary policy, not …
Dealflow | January 7, 2021
Morgan Stanley backs fund to acquire affordable housing in Atlanta
ImpactAlpha, January 7 — A quarter of American renters spend more than half of their income on housing. Morgan Stanley is investing $100 …
Dealflow | December 21, 2020
Living Cities backs Black-led investment firm Jacmel Growth Partners
ImpactAlpha, December 21 – Brooklyn-based Jacmel Growth Partners was founded by Haitian-American Nick Jean-Baptiste, a former Wall Street banker, to support mid-size, family …
Dealflow | November 25, 2020
Factory_OS secures $55 million for better affordable housing design
ImpactAlpha, November 25 — Vallejo, Calif.-based Factory_OS is addressing the affordable housing crisis in the San Francisco Bay Area using digital technology to …
Entrepreneurship | November 2, 2020
How creative financing structures can help companies preserve jobs and weather the pandemic
Flexible investment structures that prioritize employees and customers alongside entrepreneurs and investors are proving useful in helping companies preserve good jobs through the …
Climate Finance | October 7, 2020
Helping companies make good on their commitments to stakeholders
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 7 – When 181 members of the Business Roundtable signed on to a new statement of corporate purpose a year ago, …
Dealflow | September 30, 2020
Greenhouse venture AppHarvest will reach the Nasdaq before its tomatoes reach consumers
ImpactAlpha, September 30 – High-tech greenhouse grower AppHarvest, which will go public via an acquisition by Novus Capital Corp., ticks the boxes for …
Dealflow | September 28, 2020
Blue Meridian, Schmidt Futures back ‘career impact bonds’ via Social Finance’s UP Fund
ImpactAlpha, September 28 – Career impact bonds finance vocational training with the kind of income-share agreements offered by an increasing number of universities …
Dealflow | September 22, 2020
Co-op Cincy and Seed Commons launch $3 million worker ownership fund
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 22 – Even before the COVID pandemic, more than 5,500 businesses in the region were at risk of closing due to …
Features | August 26, 2020
Turning the small business crisis into an opportunity for equitable employee ownership
Small business owners are facing catastrophically bad choices these days, with half predicting they will be forced to close as a result of …
Catalytic Capital | August 25, 2020
How investors can blend finance for CDFIs to advance economic and racial justice
Community development finance institutions have long been “first responders” to small businesses in historically underinvested communities. The COVID-19 pandemic has in stark terms …
Dealflow | August 10, 2020
AppHarvest closes $28 million for its high-tech rural farms
ImpactAlpha, August 28 – Indoor farming venture AppHarvest is building a 2.8 million-square-foot greenhouse in Morehead, Ky. to bring technology to sustainable agricultural …
Dealflow | June 22, 2020
New York City restaurant fund ties COVID relief to wage increases
ImpactAlpha, June 23 – New York City’s $3 million Restaurant Revitalization Program is offering grants to 100 family-run restaurants as restaurants get back …
Dealflow | June 18, 2020
Gig-worker platform Steady secures $15 million to expand pandemic support
ImpactAlpha, June 29 – Atlanta-based Steady set out to be a one-stop shop to improve the financial health of U.S. gig workers, by …
Dealflow | June 15, 2020
Worker-owned Obran Cooperative acquires Appalachian Field Services
ImpactAlpha, June 15 – Obran is a holding company owned by the workers of two Baltimore-based staffing agencies: CORE Staffing, a temporary job-placement …
Features | May 19, 2020
Stakeholders stake new claims on corporate cash to finance an inclusive recovery
ImpactAlpha, May, 19 – Buy back this. That’s the increasingly loud message from employees, suppliers, communities and customers – all essential stakeholders in …
Features | May 19, 2020
Beyond Buybacks: 10 ways to put corporate cash to work
ImpactAlpha, May 19 – Even in the new stakeholder economy, suppliers, communities, customers and employees largely still lack the clout to steer the …
Features | May 14, 2020
Climate makes a comeback in coronavirus recovery plans (just don’t call it climate action)
ImpactAlpha, May 14 – The science was undermined. The economics were ignored. But the case for jobs and livelihoods in the wake of …
Entrepreneurship | April 9, 2020
How community banks and local lenders are bridging racial gaps in COVID recovery
ImpactAlpha, April 9 – When President Trump gathered bankers for a video conference about financial relief for small businesses, CEOs of Goldman Sachs, …
Entrepreneurship | March 19, 2020
Helping Main Street businesses weather the coronavirus superstorm
ImpactAlpha, March 19 – The coronavirus is cratering industries from airlines to hotels. The most vulnerable may be local restaurants and retailers that …
Africa | February 3, 2020
Secha Capital makes sixth investment in Rush Nutrition
ImpactAlpha, February 3 – Secha Capital gravitates to what others do not: “boring” business sectors. The South African “micro-private equity” firm launched with …
Dealflow | January 28, 2020
Skills and workforce startups standout in Techstars’ impact cohort
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 28 – Five of the 10 startups in the Techstars’s Atlanta-based social impact accelerator hosted with Cox Enterprises are focused on skills …
affordable-housing | January 27, 2020
Fifth Third Bank commits $100 million to impact-focused Opportunity Zone projects
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 27 – Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank will invest a capital gains windfall in affordable and workforce housing and other community development …
Creative Economy | December 16, 2019
Local, inclusive and entrepreneurial: How stakeholders are taking back capitalism in 2020
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – The people are rising up. Protests erupted this year in cities around the globe, sparked by price hikes and …
Big and small business businessman big group people. Color vector illustration. EPS10
Democracy and Peace | December 16, 2019
Small vs. big – not blue vs. red – is the great battle of the next American century
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – While I was running Village Capital a few years ago, I noticed two starkly divided realities in the U.S. Vilcap, …
Asia | November 26, 2019
CloudFactory raises $65 million, providing a partial exit for Dolma Impact
ImpactAlpha, November 26 – It took four years for Dolma Impact Fund to raise its $37 million first fund. It only took two …
Africa | November 25, 2019
Samasource raises $14.8 million to connect tech giants with Africa’s data talent
ImpactAlpha, November 25 – Behind the red-hot “machine learning” market are human minds that design algorithms and sort underlying data. San Francisco-based Samasource …
Dealflow | November 14, 2019
Reskilling frontline workers, Guild Education becomes a B Corp unicorn
ImpactAlpha, November 14 – Denver-based Guild Education helps companies invest in workers who keep sales and operations rolling in storefronts and on factory …
community-development | November 13, 2019
Leveraged buyout funds help businesses convert to worker-ownership
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 13 – The widening wealth gap has sparked interest in worker ownership models that can build individual and community wealth. Across …
Marines from 6th Communications Battalion, Marine Forces Reserve, marched in the annual New York Veterans Day parade Nov. 11., 2011
Entrepreneurship | November 11, 2019
Veterans build ecosystems for an entrepreneurial revival
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 11 – Veterans have a natural affinity for entrepreneurship. Just ask the founders of Nike, Fed-Ex, WalMart, and USAA. The leadership, team-building, …