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Dealflow | April 14, 2017
Edtech startup Smart Sparrow rakes in $4 million in new funding
Edtech startup Smart Sparrow has raked in $4 million in new funding. The company has raised $14 million since it launched in Australia in …
Bitwise Industries raises $50 million to go national with its model for inclusive tech ecosystems. Before the growth of Bitwise Industries, few would have mistaken Fresno, Calif. for a tech hub, even though the gritty San Joaquin Valley farm city is only 150 miles from pricey Silicon Valley. Bitwise has challenged those assumptions, training more than 5,000 locals for technology careers since 2013 and rehabilitating more than 450,000 square feet in faded downtown buildings in Fresno and the nearby Bakersfield and Merced. The Hive, a former records warehouse, has become a colorful 50,000-square-foot building that houses two dozen startups and anchors downtown Fresno. With a new round of $50 million in financing, Bitwise is taking its integrated model to Toledo, Ohio and other cities that have been largely left out of tech-related investment and job creation. “The Bitwise model empowers communities of concentrated poverty to access quality jobs in the fastest growing industry in the global economy,” says Jake Soberal, co-founder and co-CEO with Irma Olguin Jr. (see, “Agent of Impact”).
Ikea-backed foundation invests in fossil fuel-free equities and green steel. The IMAS Foundation, launched by the furniture company’s founder, is committing €250 million to a fossil fuel-free public equities fund developed by U.K.-based investment boutique Osmosis. The Netherlands-based foundation, with assets of €11 billion ($13.4 billion), invests on behalf of Ikea’s corporate philanthropy. It is the first backer of Osmosis’s Resource Efficient fund. IMAS also is investing directly in a fossil fuel-free steel manufacturing plant in Sweden. The €2.5 billion plant, being developed by Swedish company H2 Green Steel, will be powered by green hydrogen.
ImpactAssets 50 showcases an increasingly diverse impact ecosystem. Worker ownership. Small business relief. Impact real estate. Climate solutions. This year’s ImpactAssets 50 showcases a diversity of impact investment options, from billion-dollar funds to first-time managers. The public database of 50 funds with at least $25 million in assets and three years of track record spans asset classes, sizes and geographies.
Athena Ronquillo-Ballesteros, ex- of Growald Family Fund, joins the Climate Leadership Alliance as managing director of global climate strategies… OneTen’s Maurice Jones joins Ignite Social Impact as an advisor… Kristen Eshak Weldon, ex- of Louis Dreyfus Company, joins Partners Capital as global head of ESG and impact investing… Elemental Excelerator is seeking applications for its energy and cleantech accelerator...
ImpactAlpha, January 6 — A few of the keywords thrown around on last month’s Agents of Impact Call No. 26: accountability, electrification, institutional, …
What: The Call No. 25: Gender-smart investing for a sustainable recovery Join SME.NG’s Thelma Ekiyor, Trade Depot’s Onyekachi Izukanne, Development Partners International’s Takudzwa Mutasa, Alitheia’s Temilade Denton, …
The people and principles needed to solve the challenges of financing solar power for frontline health clinics were represented on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 1 – What got us here won’t get us where we need to go. Guidelines that govern global finance need to …
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – Investors have been talking about systemic risks at least since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. More recently, climate …
It’s long past time to get political. Impact investing, with appeal on both the left and the right, has generally steered clear of …
“It’s a great time for new entrants, but for those of us who’ve been doing this for a while it is equally urgent to raise our game right and to not get complacent,” said Margot Brandenburg of the Ford Foundation.
ImpactAlpha, Jun 24 – The action in climate action is shifting to infrastructure. Driven by falling price curves for renewables, mispriced risk, and …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 4 – A disruptive technology has to be 10 times better than what it’s replacing. Tech venture capitalists aim to recoup …
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 30 – The first annual assessments of impact investors are coming in under the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact …
ImpactAlpha, February 5 – Small and growing businesses are the pillars of local economies, in both developed and developing economies. Startups are engines …
ImpactAlpha, April 14 – Don’t refer to conventional finance as ‘mainstream,’ ImpactAlpha’s David Bank said on The Call earlier this month. Call it ‘legacy …
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Amy Cortese to talk about the growing corporate demand for soil carbon.
Host Monique Aiken checks in with Suzanne Biegel in London to debrief this week’s GenderSmart Investing Summit.
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 10 – The broad problem of systemic bias in the asset management industry became very specific when fund manager Rachel Robasciotti pitched …
On this week’s show, host Brian Walsh engages NYU Stern School’s Tensie Whelan about corporate board leadership – or the lack of it …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 3 – As founder of The Workers Lab, Dr. Carmen Rojas led a nonprofit incubator and investor with the tagline “building power …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 2 – A contested election. A political deal. An historic sellout. Screech… halt… stop. The presidential election just finished had a decidedly …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 1 – Talk about a signal. The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 kicked off the period of systemic reform, multi-racial progress and shared …
ImpactAlpha, Feb 1 – The Reconstruction series will engage investors, entrepreneurs, activists and academics in the U.S. and around the world, as Aiken puts …
Host Monique Aiken and David Bank introduce The Reconstruction, the series of racial justice podcasts and posts launching next week on ImpactAlpha.
On this week’s podcast, host Brian Walsh breaks down creative-economy opportunities with Upstart Co-Lab’s Laura Callanan. We also listen, again, to some of …
On this week’s podcast, host Monique Aiken engaged Frontline Solutions’ Jessica Barron and Marion Johnson on the political power of women of color. …
ImpactAlpha, Jan 13 – First came solar and wind energy. Then batteries and storage. Now, a raft of better, cheaper and more sustainable …
In The Price of Inequality, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes the moments in history when people rise up to say something …
With Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the Biden Administration has a once in a generation opportunity to “build …
As it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss yesterday, Exxon tried to deflect a growing shareholder revolt by adding an independent board member …
“Materiality is being redefined – through pressure on business from wider civil society, and through precedents established by company practice and, increasingly, regulation …
As we finally put 2020 into hindsight, the road ahead is uncertain. On the one hand, stock markets continue to thrive, and the …
Regenerative agriculture may be in vogue, but in many ways, it’s as old as agriculture itself, as practiced by our ancestors and to …
Pollution and climate change disproportionately affect communities of color. In the U.S., decades of systemic racism and economic disadvantages mean Black and Hispanic …
After years of signaling its intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the United States made the decision official …
During Bill Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, he shared his vision of a federal government initiative that would provide $1 billion in financial …
Marcia Fudge will be the 6th Black person to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 1966, so how could …
Power is critical to Africa’s development. At least 600 million people across the continent that don’t have access to affordable and reliable power. …
Redavia Solar created a concessionary solar power program to continue attracting customers
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 19 – The former Hollywood super agent spotted a disconnect. Those green-lighting movies and TV didn’t represent the diverse audiences consuming them. …
Goldman Sachs’ commitment this week of $130 million in credit to Jackson, Miss.-based Hope was the latest, and one of the largest, shows …
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 5 – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has a warning for nations prioritizing self-interest in their pandemic responses: “No one in the world can be …
If putting a price on carbon is the key to getting to net-zero, Bill Winters – with an assist from Mark Carney – …
In a star-studded inauguration featuring Lady Gaga and J-Lo, the 22-year old poet stole the spotlight at president Joe Biden’s inauguration. Accolades poured …
“Welcome to the New Georgia,” proclaimed Senator-elect Raphael Warnock. “It is more diverse, and it’s more inclusive. And it readily embraces the future.” …
Earlier this week, 91-year-old Margaret Keenan in England received the first COVID-19 vaccination (yes, the second was an 81-year-old named William Shakespeare). That …
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 4 – You could almost see the tumbleweed blowing down the streets of downtown Las Vegas when Tony Hsieh launched The Downtown …
ImpactAlpha, November 20 – Follow the women… to catalyze an economic recovery and unlock trillions in new consumer spending power. Tech-enabled startups are …
ImpactAlpha, Nov. 13 – Bold leaders. Taking action. Driving impact. That’s the tagline on the snappy Agents of Impact section on the new ImpactAlpha.com …
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 30 – Two years ago, ImpactAlpha recognized Kesha Cash as an Agent of Impact for her cutting-edge investment thesis: the billion-dollar …
Edtech startup Smart Sparrow has raked in $4 million in new funding. The company has raised $14 million since it launched in Australia in …