Dealflow | January 31, 2017
Biz and tech execs pledge to support refugees and immigrants
With Silicon Valley the epicenter of immigrant-driven wealth creation, tech titans are making up for a slow start to speak out against the …
- Beats
- The Brief
February 26, 2021
The Brief
The Week’s Big 6
1. Neighborhood trusts might be a game-changer. The trusts give residents and local businesses a say – and a stake – in the growth of their communities. From the Kensington Corridor Trust in Philadelphia, to Trust Neighborhoods in Tulsa and Kansas City, to The Guild in Atlanta, and California’s NICO and East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, communities are retaking control of commercial and residential real estate. Take the tour.
The Week’s Agent of Impact
Donnel Baird, BlocPower. There was no heat in the building in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where Baird grew up, so he and his sister would turn on the oven to heat their apartment. “In low-income communities, there’s a waste of energy,” Baird told ImpactAlpha, “and there’s a waste of human potential.” Baird founded the climate tech startup with Morris Cox in 2014 to bring clean energy to low-income Americans. BlocPower helps utilities, government agencies and property owners retrofit city buildings in underserved communities and finances eco-friendly electric heating and cooling systems for small and mid-sized property owners at no up-front cost. The company has retrofitted more than 1,000 buildings in New York City, saving property owners up to 50% on energy costs. This week, BlocPower raised $8 million in equity and $55 million in debt, led by American Family Institute, AccelR8 and Goldman Sachs.
The Week’s Dealflow
Low-carbon transition. Resilient Infrastructure Group acquires renewable natural gas facility from Equilibrium Capital… Vestas Ventures backs Modvion to create wooden wind turbines… Volta Energy Technologies closes $72.6 million to fund battery tech… Ikea-backed foundation invests in fossil fuel-free equities and green steel… ChargeLab raises $4.3 million for EV infrastructure software… Patch raises $4.5 million to channel carbon-offset financing… Malta raises $50 million for thermal energy storage.
The Week’s Talent
Brookfield Asset Management’s Mark Carney, former head of the Bank of England, joins the board of Stripe… Align Impact adds Patience Marime-Ball of Women of the World Endowment, Shu Dar Yao, ex- of RSF Social Finance, and Mamadou-Abou Sarr of V-Square Quantitative Management to its investment committee… Sophie Durham, ex- of Kosmos Energy, is named director of ESG and infrastructure investments at First Sentier Investors.
The Week’s Jobs
BlackRock is hiring a director of its impact opportunities fund in New York and hiring an impact investing vice president for its fundamental equity division… Prime Coalition is recruiting a director of impact in Cambridge, Mass… Croatan Institute seeks a part-time or full-time analyst or associate… 17 Asset Management is hiring a data-science sustainable investing fellow… Envestnet is looking for an impact investing intern in Denver.
- The Call
Call Recording | January 6, 2021
The Call: What Agents of Impact are expecting in 2021 (replay)
ImpactAlpha, January 6 — A few of the keywords thrown around on last month’s Agents of Impact Call No. 26: accountability, electrification, institutional, …
Call Recording | November 13, 2020
Call No. 25: Gender-smart investing for a sustainable recovery
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, …
Africa | October 19, 2020
Call No. 24: Agents of Impact converge on financing solutions to ‘light every clinic’
The people and principles needed to solve the challenges of financing solar power for frontline health clinics were represented on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of …
Call Recording | October 1, 2020
Call No. 23 recap: Changing investment algorithms to advance racial justice
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 1 – What got us here won’t get us where we need to go. Guidelines that govern global finance need to …
Call Recording | August 27, 2020
Call No. 22: Rooting out racism as a systemic risk
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 27 – Investors have been talking about systemic risks at least since the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. More recently, climate …
Call Recording | August 11, 2020
Call No. 21: Impact investors confront the impact of the November election
It’s long past time to get political. Impact investing, with appeal on both the left and the right, has generally steered clear of …
Call Recording | July 1, 2020
Call No. 20: Investors share experiences in getting their assets off the sidelines
“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.
2030 Finance | June 24, 2020
Call No. 19: Green infrastructure is back on the agenda
ImpactAlpha, Jun 24 – The action in climate action is shifting to infrastructure. Driven by falling price curves for renewables, mispriced risk, and …
Agents of Impact | May 4, 2020
Call No. 16: Impact investors step up to the 10x challenge
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 4 – A disruptive technology has to be 10 times better than what it’s replacing. Tech venture capitalists aim to recoup …
Call Recording | April 30, 2020
Impact management is hot: Recapping Call No. 15
ImpactAlpha, Apr. 30 – The first annual assessments of impact investors are coming in under the International Finance Corporation’s Operating Principles for Impact …
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 …
Call Recording | August 14, 2019
Call No. 10: Calling trends and scooping ideas in ImpactAlpha’s newsroom
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 …
- Podcasts
Podcasts | February 26, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of February 26
On this week’s podcast, host Monique Aiken chats with ImpactAlpha’s Roodgally Senatus about Bitwise Industries’ big raise and BlocPower’s Donnel Baird, this week’s …
Surdna Foundation's Don Chen | Photo credit: Surdna FoundationCatalytic Capital | February 25, 2021
Surdna Foundation’s Don Chen on mobilizing resources and redefining risk (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Philanthropic foundations tend to be cautious and slow-moving beasts. One signal of the urgency of the current moment: the billion-dollar …
Podcasts | February 19, 2021
Impact Brief: Week of February 19
Host Brian Walsh is joined by Amy Cortese to talk about the growing corporate demand for soil carbon.
Podcasts | February 12, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of February 12
Host Monique Aiken checks in with Suzanne Biegel in London to debrief this week’s GenderSmart Investing Summit.
(left to right) Erika Seth Davies, Tracy Gray, Rachel Robasciotti, Brent KesselPodcasts | February 10, 2021
The Reconstruction: How unlikely partners came together to fight racial bias in asset allocation (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 10 – The broad problem of systemic bias in the asset management industry became very specific when fund manager Rachel Robasciotti pitched …
Podcasts | February 5, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of February 5
On this week’s show, host Brian Walsh engages NYU Stern School’s Tensie Whelan about corporate board leadership – or the lack of it …
Podcasts | February 3, 2021
The Reconstruction: Carmen Rojas on practicing truth in the service of freedom
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 3 – As founder of The Workers Lab, Dr. Carmen Rojas led a nonprofit incubator and investor with the tagline “building power …
Artwork from “The Moment Was Now,” a play by Gene BruskinPodcasts | February 2, 2021
The Reconstruction: That moment when everything was possible… is now
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 2 – A contested election. A political deal. An historic sellout. Screech… halt… stop. The presidential election just finished had a decidedly …
1863 Ventures' Melissa Bradley | Photo: Washington Business JournalPodcasts | February 1, 2021
The Reconstruction: Learning from history to create opportunities for equitable wealth-building now (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 1 – Talk about a signal. The Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 kicked off the period of systemic reform, multi-racial progress and shared …
Podcasts | February 1, 2021
Welcome to The Reconstruction (podcast)
ImpactAlpha, Feb 1 – The Reconstruction series will engage investors, entrepreneurs, activists and academics in the U.S. and around the world, as Aiken puts …
Podcasts | January 29, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of January 29
Host Monique Aiken and David Bank introduce The Reconstruction, the series of racial justice podcasts and posts launching next week on ImpactAlpha.
Podcasts | January 22, 2021
Impact Briefing: Week of January 22
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 …
- Opinion
Annie Donovan, Local Initiatives Support Corp.
Impact Voices | February 18, 2021
How impact investors can challenge three fallacies of legacy finance
In The Price of Inequality, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes the moments in history when people rise up to say something …
Catalytic Capital | February 17, 2021
‘Pay for success’ can help the Biden administration build back better
With Democrats now in control of both the House and Senate, the Biden Administration has a once in a generation opportunity to “build …
Business People Meeting Discussion Communication ConceptImpact Voices | February 3, 2021
Corporate boards are not leading companies where they need to go
As it reported its fourth straight quarterly loss yesterday, Exxon tried to deflect a growing shareholder revolt by adding an independent board member …
ESG | February 3, 2021
Redefining materiality (again) to transform the role of business in society
“Materiality is being redefined – through pressure on business from wider civil society, and through precedents established by company practice and, increasingly, regulation …
Climate and Clean Tech | January 26, 2021
Obvious’ Andrew Beebe: We have entered the climate decade
As we finally put 2020 into hindsight, the road ahead is uncertain. On the one hand, stock markets continue to thrive, and the …
Impact Voices | January 26, 2021
Retool finance to rebuild soil health
Regenerative agriculture may be in vogue, but in many ways, it’s as old as agriculture itself, as practiced by our ancestors and to …
Impact Voices | January 20, 2021
Local project developers are key to ensuring a just energy transition
Pollution and climate change disproportionately affect communities of color. In the U.S., decades of systemic racism and economic disadvantages mean Black and Hispanic …
Climate Finance | January 13, 2021
What the U.S. return to the Paris Agreement means for investors
After years of signaling its intent to withdraw from the Paris Agreement to fight climate change, the United States made the decision official …
Community Finance | January 12, 2021
Community lenders can lead the COVID recovery for small businesses – with an infusion of common equity
During Bill Clinton’s campaign for the presidency, he shared his vision of a federal government initiative that would provide $1 billion in financial …
Impact Voices | December 23, 2020
A Black developer’s advice to incoming HUD Secretary
Marcia Fudge will be the 6th Black person to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) since 1966, so how could …
Africa | December 21, 2020
Financing for climate adaptation can drive Africa’s economic development and climate goals
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. …
Impact Voices | December 15, 2020
Resilience is the New ROI
Redavia Solar created a concessionary solar power program to continue attracting customers
- Agents of Impact
Agents of Impact | February 26, 2021
Donnel Baird, BlocPower
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 26 – There was no heat in the building in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood where Baird grew up, so he and his sister …
Macro's Charles King | Image credit: MacroAgents of Impact | February 19, 2021
Charles King, Macro
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. …
Agents of Impact | February 12, 2021
Bill Bynum, Hope
Goldman Sachs’ commitment this week of $130 million in credit to Jackson, Miss.-based Hope was the latest, and one of the largest, shows …
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala | Photo credit: GAVIAgents of Impact | February 5, 2021
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, development economist
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 …
Agents of Impact | January 29, 2021
Bill Winters, Standard Chartered
If putting a price on carbon is the key to getting to net-zero, Bill Winters – with an assist from Mark Carney – …
Agents of Impact | January 22, 2021
Amanda Gorman, poet
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 …
Agents of Impact | January 15, 2021
Georgia’s organizers
“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.” …
Agents of Impact | December 11, 2020
Scientists
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 …
Agent of Impact: Tony Hsieh, Zappos and Downtown Project (1973 - 2020 | Photo: Charley Gallay, Getty ImagesAgents of Impact | December 4, 2020
Tony Hsieh, Zappos and Downtown Project (1973 – 2020)
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 4 – You could almost see the tumbleweed blowing down the streets of downtown Las Vegas when Tony Hsieh launched The Downtown …
Agents of Impact | November 20, 2020
Wukina’s Maureen Sibanda and Secha Capital’s Kuhle Mnisi
ImpactAlpha, November 20 – Follow the women… to catalyze an economic recovery and unlock trillions in new consumer spending power. Tech-enabled startups are …
Agents of Impact | November 13, 2020
Bold leaders. Taking action. Driving impact.
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 …
Agents of Impact | October 30, 2020
Kesha Cash, Impact America Fund
ImpactAlpha, Oct. 30 – Two years ago, ImpactAlpha recognized Kesha Cash as an Agent of Impact for her cutting-edge investment thesis: the billion-dollar …
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