Women Rising
Dealflow | January 12, 2021
Black-led real estate firm East Chop Capital closes $4 million fund
ImpactAlpha, January 12 — Columbus, Ohio-based East Chop Capital, founded by a pair of Black real estate investors and developers, has rallied Black …
Dealflow | December 18, 2020
Grameen America raises $17.5 million for second microfinance fund
ImpactAlpha, December 18 — Grameen America, started by Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, has been providing low-income women business owners with access to …
Photo credit: IFC
Gender Smart | November 25, 2020
Call No. 25 recap: Gender smart investing for a sustainable recovery
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 25 – The pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women is exposing the need and opportunity for more investors to embrace a gender lens. …
Photo credit: HEVA Fund
Gender Smart | November 17, 2020
A guide for fund managers investing in gender equity
ImpactAlpha, November 17 – Venture capital, private equity and debt firms raised $4.8 billion for strategies focused on gender equity in 2019, up …
Signals | November 16, 2020
With billions as bait, development financiers seek to hook private investors on gender-lens investing
ImpactAlpha, November 16 – Private equity and venture capital fund managers have an added incentive to apply a “gender lens” in their investment …
Photo credit: mHUB
Dealflow | November 12, 2020
Chicago’s mHUB raises $5 million to build an inclusive ‘hardtech’ ecosystem
ImpactAlpha, November 12 – Early-stage hardware companies get only a small slice of the venture capital pie—roughly $1 for every $15 software and …
Dealflow | November 3, 2020
Chingona Ventures backs SUMA Wealth to help U.S. Latinos build wealth
ImpactAlpha, November 3 – Beatríz Acevedo built mitú, a media and entertainment company for young Latinos. Now, she has adapted the engagement tools …
Africa | October 22, 2020
Catalyst Fund secures $4.3 million to accelerate digital commerce in Ghana
ImpactAlpha, October 22 – Catalyst Fund supports local fintech entrepreneurs to accelerate access to basic goods and services in emerging markets. A new …
Dealflow | September 23, 2020
Lightship Capital invests in fashion brand Haute Hijab
ImpactAlpha, September 23 – Melanie Elturk founded Haute Hijab to serve hundreds of millions of Muslim women underserved by global clothing brands. Backstage …
Dealflow | September 14, 2020
Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium secures $10 million
ImpactAlpha, September 14 – The Southern Black Girls and Women’s Consortium is tackling a glaring lack of investor and philanthropic attention. The Appalachian …
Erika Cramer and Julie Castro Abrams of How Women Invest
Dealflow | August 13, 2020
How Women Invest closes first $5 million for new gender lens fund
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 13 – How Women Invest, a San Rafael, Calif.-based venture capital firm, is aiming to raise $10 million for its first …
Catalytic Capital | July 30, 2020
Beyond gender-lens: CARE’s new impact fund opts for ‘gender justice’
As impact investors who have launched a new “gender-justice” impact investment fund, CARE wants to make it clear: we seek deep systems change. …
Agents of Impact | July 24, 2020
Dawn Sherman, Native American Natural Foods
ImpactAlpha, July 24 – Dawn Sherman says the buffalo is the perfect metaphor for what it’s like to be at the helm of …
Gender Smart | July 15, 2020
Surge in funds investing in and for the benefit of women
ImpactAlpha, July 15 – Rising awareness of the value of gender and diversity in business has led to a spike in venture funds …
Dealflow | July 13, 2020
Female investors power Rethink Impact’s $182 million gender lens impact fund
ImpactAlpha, July 13 – Jenny Abramson and Heidi Patel launched Rethink Impact in 2016 to invest in female entrepreneurs tackling tough problems. Interest …
Asia | July 9, 2020
Proximity Finance secures $14 million for loans to Myanmar’s farmers
ImpactAlpha, June 9 – Nearly 40% of Myanmar’s rural population lives in poverty. Proximity Finance, the microfinance arm of agriculture services provider Proximity …
Victress Capital's Suzanne Norris and Lori Cashman
Dealflow | July 8, 2020
Victress Capital closes $21.7 million fund to back female founders
ImpactAlpha, July 8 – Lori Cashman and Suzanne Norris started Victress Capital in 2015 to help close the gender gap for venture capital …
Africa | June 25, 2020
COVID-recovery financing facilities aim to bridge capital gaps for small and growing businesses
ImpactAlpha, June 25 – A quarter of small businesses will fail and a quarter will succeed, and even thrive, in the aftermath of …
Dealflow | June 22, 2020
Egypt’s Chefaa secures early funding for medicine delivery service
ImpactAlpha, June 22 – Cario-based Chefaa launched its prescription drug marketplace in 2017 to help chronic-disease patients fill prescriptions and access items like …
Agrifood Tech | June 17, 2020
BIOMILQ secures $3.5 million for “alt-breast milk,” grown in a lab
ImpactAlpha, June 17 – Durham, N.C.-based BIOMILQ began tampering with the idea of a lab-grown baby formula alternative back in 2013, when “cellular” …
Gender Smart | June 10, 2020
How gender power imbalances put the COVID recovery at risk
Power is the thread that connects the surge in gender-based violence during the COVID crisis with violence against people of color, including by …
Dealflow | June 8, 2020
‘Smart sewage’ startup raises $4.2 million to help track COVID-19
ImpactAlpha, June 8 – BioBot Analytics uses sensors in sewer systems to analyze the contents of city waste, helping them to track opioid …
Asia | June 1, 2020
ANDE’s Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund awards $1.2 million
ImpactAlpha, June 1 – ANDE’s Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund, backed by USAID and the Visa Foundation, sought innovative ways to bridge the estimated …
Gender Smart | May 29, 2020
Redesigning due diligence for a deal pipeline in lockdown
Constraints breed creativity. Investors with the determination (or mandate) to keep capital flowing through the COVID crisis are turning physical constraints into opportunities …
Gender Smart | May 13, 2020
10x Challenge: Four ways to drive exponential growth in gender-lens investing
ImpactAlpha’s David Bank challenged investors to “10x” impact investing, to grow total assets under management from billions to trillions and to develop “moonshot ideas” …
Africa | April 30, 2020
Lessons Learned: How Liberia and Sierra Leone rebounded after the Ebola shutdown
ImpactAlpha, April 30 – A health crisis shattered families, quarantined communities, closed borders and shut down businesses. Lenders pulled in their horns, figuring …
Dealflow | April 8, 2020
Square’s (and Twitter’s) Jack Dorsey commits $1 billion for COVID, girls education and UBI
ImpactAlpha, April 8 – Tech CEO Jack Dorsey said (via tweet) that he would move $1 billion of his Square equity, about 28% …
Catalytic Capital | April 7, 2020
Visa Foundation to provide $210 million for COVID relief, with a gender lens
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 7 – Visa Foundation has committed $210 million for COVID relief. A $10 million initiative will offer immediate emergency relief to …
2030 Finance | March 12, 2020
Engineers Without Borders Canada spins off early stage Africa tech investing arm
ImpactAlpha, March 12 – Toronto-based Engineers Without Borders has been making early-stage venture investments since 2013 as a complement its non-profit global development …
Entrepreneurship | March 9, 2020
To empower women, back female fund managers
ImpactAlpha, March 9 – Expanding women’s access to education, healthcare and economic opportunities is the key to ending poverty and strengthening communities, especially …
2030 Finance | March 3, 2020
Realizing the Caribbean’s renewable energy potential
ImpactAlpha, Mar. 3 – For all their solar and wind, the Caribbean islands largely depend on high-cost fossil fuels and state-owned utility monopolies. …
Gender Smart | February 24, 2020
Impact investors outperform on gender diversity in asset management
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 24 – Impact investors are outperforming asset management overall on gender diversity. That’s the standout finding from a Russell Reynolds Associates …
Africa | February 5, 2020
Call No. 12: How local early-stage funders are finding impact alpha in emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, February 5 – Small and growing businesses are the pillars of local economies, in both developed and developing economies. Startups are engines …
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 30, 2020
New York City fund invests in Cosynd to help creatives get copyrights
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 30 – The $10 million WE Venture fund was launched last March by the city’s economic development arm to co-invest in …
Features | January 27, 2020
Impact Investment Exchange closes second Women’s Livelihood Bond at $12 million
ImpactAlpha, January 27 – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) launched its Women’s Livelihood Bond series in 2017 to help low-income women in Southeast Asia …
Africa | January 22, 2020
Janngo raises €15 million for African startups targeting SDGs
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 22 – The Capital Startup Fund is the second for Janngo, an Abidjan- and Paris-based tech ecosystem builder and investor (a …
Dealflow | January 15, 2020
Chicago’s new Chingona Ventures will invest in diverse businesses (and founders)
ImpactAlpha, January 15 – Fresh off of five years at Chicago’s MATH Ventures, Samara Mejia Hernandez saw an opportunity to create an alternative …
2030 Finance | December 18, 2019
Capital on the Frontier: Impact in emerging markets is a 2020 growth story
ImpactAlpha, Dece. 18 – Not enough money for promising ventures. Too much money flowing to a few companies. Both statements are true for impact-oriented small …
Dealflow | December 11, 2019
Operator Collective taps operator wisdom, and capital, for new $45 million fund
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 11 – Founders get the glory, but it’s the operators behind them that build the companies. Mallun Yen, co-founder of SaaStr, wants …
Entrepreneurship | December 10, 2019
Inclusive capital means more flexible terms and more diverse founders
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 10 – The venture capital model has fostered a culture of growth at any cost – and of founder homogeneity. Pitchbook …
Africa | November 19, 2019
Alitheia and IDF Capital raise $20 million for African gender-lens fund
ImpactAlpha, November 19 – There aren’t many female-led investment funds in Africa, but investors are buying into the few there are. Nigeria-based Alitheia …
Gender Smart | October 17, 2019
Gender-Smart Investing: More than two dozen new funds investing with a gender lens
ImpactAlpha, October 17 – I’m getting calls regularly from people who are starting new funds or who want to reshape the funds they …
Dealflow | October 7, 2019
Kiva hits $1 billion in loans to women
ImpactAlpha, October 7– Kiva is doing a lot these days to diversify the ways it promotes financial inclusion worldwide, but its crowdfunding platform …
Entrepreneurship | September 23, 2019
Thirty-two teams join MIT Solve’s latest “open innovation” cohort
ImpactAlpha, September 23 – Entrants in Solve’s latest challenge are offering solutions to promote the circular economy, community-driven innovation, early childhood development, and healthy …