Industry News
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Industry News | June 7, 2023
Meltdown at Bitwise leaves employees, cities and investors in limbo
ImpactAlpha, June 7 — The Fresno-based upskilling company and social venture darling fired its co-founder CEOs Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr., days …
Dealflow | October 6, 2020
Jonathan Rose closes $525 million impact fund for affordable housing
ImpactAlpha, October 6 – New York-based real estate investor Jonathan Rose Companies spotted the opportunity in buying, preserving and greening affordable housing earlier …
Beats | September 16, 2020
Constructing ESG portfolios that go beyond stock selection to mitigate systemic risk
Can asset managers, RIAs and other fiduciaries act both as responsible fiduciaries as well as promote long-term societal good through their investment actions? …
Beats | September 10, 2020
ImpactAlpha is recruiting reporters/producers as the impact investing media battle heats up
ImpactAlpha, Sept. 9, 2020 –– Business and finance reporting will never be the same. The pandemic, the protests and the climate emergency have …
Beats | July 22, 2020
Book review: Nick O’Donohoe on Sir Ronald Cohen’s Impact
ImpactAlpha, July 22 – There is nothing surprising about the fact that Sir Ronald Cohen has written a book on impact. What is …
Catalytic Capital | July 14, 2020
Impact investors catalyze $10 billion for India’s social venture market over 10 years
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – A decade ago, India’s first wave of impact investing collapsed under the weight of unregulated and unsustainable microfinance lending. …
Policy Corner | July 14, 2020
Trump administration seeks to turn back the ESG tide
ImpactAlpha, July 14 – Investors are flocking to funds keyed to environmental, social and governance factors, or ESG. The Trump administration is trying …
Dealflow | May 6, 2020
Education lender Varthana secures $15 million loan from DFC
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Tens of millions of students in India attend low-cost private primary and secondary schools. The quality of education these …
Dealflow | April 23, 2020
Morningstar fully acquires ESG research firm Sustainalytics
ImpactAlpha, April 23 – Sustainalytics offers data on 40,000 companies’ environmental, social and governance performance, and ratings on 20,000. Financial research and ratings …
Dealflow | April 23, 2020
Acumen backs Solaris Offgrid’s pay-as-you-go solar software
ImpactAlpha, April 23 – Early pay-as-you-go solar ventures had to manage everything from sourcing, selling and distributing equipment, to collecting payments and providing …
Dealflow | April 1, 2020
LeapFrog leads $55 million investment in MedGenome to expand genetic testing
ImpactAlpha, April 1 – The Indian subcontinent makes up about 20% of the world’s population, but only 0.2% of the DNA sequences in …
Dealflow | March 10, 2020
Accion Venture Lab invests in Egyptian neobank Khazna
ImpactAlpha, March 10 – Cairo-based fintech Khazna launched in 2019 to bring financial services to 20 million underbanked Egyptians. The company offers mobile …
Africa | March 2, 2020
LeapFrog and Goldman back African fintech Jumo’s $55 million raise
ImpactAlpha, March 2 – Cape Town-based Jumo makes software to help financial services firms and other companies expand lending, savings and insurance products to …
Catalytic Capital | February 24, 2020
Nonprofit Finance Fund’s $10 million fund to spur homeless housing in L.A.
ImpactAlpha, February 24 – Los Angeles’ homeless population is the rise. Nearly 60,000 people lack permanent housing in the Los Angeles metro area, …
Dealflow | February 13, 2020
KKR raises $1.3 billion for Global Impact Fund
ImpactAlpha, February 13 – Private equity giant KKR launched its Global Impact Fund just under two years ago as an early entrant into …
2030 Finance | February 10, 2020
Decision time for BP as new CEO takes the helm
ImpactAlpha, Feb. 10 – On his first day as CEO of BP last Wednesday, Bernard Looney was greeted by Greenpeace protestors who had …
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
Village Capital to manage $3 million financial health fund for MetLife Foundation
ImpactAlpha, January 30 – After eleven years and more than 100 investments in early-stage startups, Village Capital is getting into the fund management …
2030 Finance | January 29, 2020
Social Impact Ventures exits GoodFuels with FinCo acquisition
ImpactAlpha, January 29 – Dutch alternative energy company GoodFuels launched five years ago to introduce sustainable plant-based biofuels to the heavy transport and …
Catalytic Capital | January 28, 2020
Bamboo Capital scores first-loss funding for new SDG investing platform
ImpactAlpha, January 28 – There’s a $2.5 trillion annual funding gap for the Sustainable Development Goals and a $5 trillion funding gap for …
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 …
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 …
Creative Economy | January 15, 2020
Benefit Corp. Electric Playhouse raises $5 million for immersive entertainment in “third spaces”
ImpactAlpha, January 15 – Albuquerque-based Electric Playhouse is the latest creative economy upstart to seize on the growth of immersive experiences. Its first …
2030 Finance | January 14, 2020
Lightsource BP spends $100 million on equipment to fuel solar expansion
ImpactAlpha, January 14 – San Francisco-based utility-scale solar developer Lightsource BP is prepping a 4-gigawatt pipeline of projects with “solar tracking” equipment from …
Dealflow | January 13, 2020
Ecovadis inks $200 million investment to rate companies’ supply chain sustainability
ImpactAlpha, January 13 – Corporate operations are the key to sustainable business and to impact investing at scale. Corporations’ approximately $183 billion per …
Dealflow | January 9, 2020
Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT raises $6 million for soil restoration funding
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 9 – The Evanston, Illinois-based REIT closed funding for its 2018 soil restoration notes. The notes drew a wide range of …
cities | January 9, 2020
French social housing fund Immobilier Impact Investing tops €100m with second close
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 9 – The fund, launched by Cedrus & Partners and Swiss Life Asset Managers in April 2019, aims to re-house up …
Dealflow | January 9, 2020
Edquity raises seed funding to help colleges provide emergency student aid
ImpactAlpha, January 8 – As the price of higher education has soared, millions of students are dropping out of school, often because of …
Africa | January 8, 2020
Senegal’s Startup Act eases the way for entrepreneurs
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 8 – Entrepreneurship is critical to economic vitality, especially in Africa, where small and growing businesses are tackling challenges from financial …
Dealflow | January 7, 2020
Royal Street Ventures raises $16 million for Middle America’s startups
ImpactAlpha, January 7 – By global standards, American startups’ access to capital is good. U.S.-based businesses take in half of all venture capital …
Africa | December 12, 2019
Consonance backs AFEX to help capitalize smallholder farmers
ImpactAlpha, December 12 – AFEX is on a mission to make agriculture in Africa more inclusive, scalable and efficient. The Abuja-based company has …
Dealflow | December 12, 2019
SaverLife secures $1.5 million to boost employee saving
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 12 – The raft of solutions for low-wage workers that fintech companies are rolling out won’t fix large-scale workforce problems like wage …
Dealflow | December 10, 2019
Hastee secures £208 million to bridge U.K. workers’ wage gap
ImpactAlpha, December 10 – British workers are struggling with minimal savings and mounting debt, much like American workers. Adding to the pressure, they …
Dealflow | December 5, 2019
KKR Global Impact dives into wastewater treatment
ImpactAlpha, Dec. 5 – Excessive nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways, largely from agricultural runoff, can lead to toxic algae blooms, which are harmful to …
Asia | December 2, 2019
Australia’s ATEC raises $1.6 million to sell biodigesters in Cambodia, Bangladesh
ImpactAlpha, December 2 – Solar startups pioneered the pay-as-you-go model to introduce low-income, off-grid customers to electricity. Australia’s ATEC is applying the financing …
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 …
Asia | November 20, 2019
Stone Family Foundation backs $10 million sanitation impact bond in Cambodia
ImpactAlpha, November 20 – U.K.-based Stone Family Foundation is providing an undisclosed amount of upfront capital for Cambodia’s first development impact bond, which …
Agrifood Tech | November 20, 2019
Australia’s Tenacious Ventures raises A$16 million for sustainable ag fund
Australia claimed only $29 million of the $16.9 billion in global agtech deal activity in 2018. The founders of agtech startup consulting firm …
Dealflow | November 19, 2019
Medikabazaar raises $16 million for India’s medical supply chain
ImpactAlpha, November 19 – Inefficiency and lack of transparency in the medical supply chain are obstacles to affordable and quality healthcare in India. …
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 …
Dealflow | November 18, 2019
Impact Engine focuses on the future of work with $25 million second fund
ImpactAlpha, November 18 – Chicago-based Impact Engine has raised a second impact fund to back entrepreneurs preparing and upskilling the U.S. workforce. The …
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 …
Dealflow | November 13, 2019
“Kangaroo bond” helps Australians export financial inclusion
ImpactAlpha, November 13 – Australia’s impact investors have backed 10 domestic social impact bonds, along with private-equity funds for healthcare, affordable housing, jobs …
Dealflow | November 13, 2019
French entrepreneurs raise $5.5 million for Lalilo’s U.S. literacy app
ImpactAlpha, November 13 – American students got poor grades for reading proficiency in the latest national report card from the National Center for …
Clean Energy | November 12, 2019
India’s Hero Future Energies eyes global growth with $150 million infusion
ImpactAlpha, November 12 – Hero Group is an industrial equipment giant in India that launched a clean tech division seven years ago. Its …