Impact Tech
Financial Inclusion | April 25, 2024
Indian home lender Altum Credo’s $40 million round gives investors a partial exit
Pune, India-based Altum Credo provides mortgages for first-time homebuyers underserved by other financial institutions. Its digital underwriting and loan disbursement process offers five …
Latin America | April 25, 2024
IDB Lab backs small businesses in Paraguay and health access in Ecuador
The Inter-American Development Bank’s experimental venture funding group IDB Lab provided a $3 million anchor investment for iThink VC, an investment firm that …
Builders Vision's Lukas Walton, Joanna Cohen and Miranda Lindl O’Connell | Photo credit: Builders Vision
Climate Finance | April 24, 2024
The climate transition and investment opportunities for family offices
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
Impact Tech | April 24, 2024
Next Billion raises capital to invest in digital infrastructure and services in Latin America, Asia and Africa
The investment firm Next Billion Capital Partners funds tech ventures supporting access to basic services in emerging markets. It reached a first close …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
With stakes in Anthropic, impact investors seek a seat at the AI table
Not long after last fall’s boardroom drama at OpenAI thrust issues of governance, stakeholders and mission into the debates over artificial intelligence, Omidyar …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
How impact investments in Anthropic can strengthen responsible innovation in tech
In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …
Ebb Carbon's first marine carbon removal project is underway at Sequim Bay in Washington (photo: Ebb carbon)
Catalytic Capital | April 18, 2024
Prime Coalition launches Trellis Climate to plug gaps for first-of-a-kind climate tech projects
Boston-based Prime Coalition has spent more than a decade identifying funding gaps for early stage climate tech and marshaling risk-tolerant capital to fill …
photo: MeduLance
Dealflow | April 18, 2024
Medulance scores $3 million to bring medical emergency response services to India’s smaller cities
Indian healthtech investor Alkemi Growth Capital led a $3 million Series A investment in Medulance, a company founded in 2017 to make emergency …
Photo credit: reach52
Sponsored | April 17, 2024
Innovative startups are changing the landscape of health impact everywhere. Are investors aware?
Editor’s note: This guest post is sponsored by Impact Ventures by J&J Foundation, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with …
Credit: Dawa Mkononi
Investing in Health | April 16, 2024
SEAF provides impact-linked capital to Dawa Mkononi for pharmaceutical access in Tanzania
Impact investment firm SEAF (for Small Enterprise Assistance Funds) launched its Daraja Impact initiative with support from AlphaMundi Foundation and the Swiss Agency …
Climate Finance | April 16, 2024
Pula lands $20 million to offer livestock insurance to smallholder farmers
Insurance tech startup Pula launched in 2015 to provide crop insurance to small scale farmers, 80% of whom lack access to products that …
Credit: SunCulture
Smallholder Agriculture | April 15, 2024
For these tech startups and investors, the next big thing is climate adaptation for smallholder farmers
In India, Mati Carbon is providing smallholder farmers with crop inputs that fertilize plants and sequester carbon. In Kenya, SunCulture is helping farmers …
Photo by Unwritten.
Climate Finance | April 15, 2024
Unwritten snags $3.5 million for ‘transition risk intelligence’ software for investors
The impact of climate change on infrastructure, properties, agriculture and human health could cost the global economy some $3 trillion per year by …
Agrifood Tech | April 11, 2024
Opportunities across the investment spectrum to recycle and reduce food waste
“Where are we?” It’s the question I’m constantly asking myself about food waste reduction. There are many viable food waste solutions, and many …
Credit: SunCulture
Smallholder Agriculture | April 11, 2024
SunCulture raises $27.5 million to expand solar irrigation for smallholder farmers
Nairobi-based SunCulture has been making affordable irrigation systems for smallholder farmers in Africa since 2013. A decade ago, farmers had difficulty finding affordable …
Dealflow | April 10, 2024
Nexamp snags a half-billion for community solar expansion
The $520 million funding for Boston- and Chicago-based Nexamp comes amid growing demand for distributed renewable energy and tailwinds from federal climate funding. …
Financial Inclusion | April 10, 2024
Africa50 and Oikocredit lead $14 million round for Zeepay’s cross-border payments
Remittance inflows to Africa are expected to top $55 billion this year. But Africa is the most costly region in the world for …
Credit: Alterno
Climate and Clean Tech | April 9, 2024
Vietnam’s Alterno raises $1.5 million to store renewable energy in sand batteries
More than 80% of Vietnam’s power is generated from fossil fuels, mostly coal. The country’s coal dependence will affect Vietnam’s ability to trade …
Financial Inclusion | April 3, 2024
Gawa Capital and OikoCredit invest in Sindhuja Microcredit for rural lending in India
Sindhuja Microcredit launched in 2018 in India’s mostly rural state of Uttar Pradesh to provide access to capital to traders, shopkeepers and farmers …
Agrifood Tech | April 3, 2024
Seso inks $26 million to address US farm labor shortages
Difficulty finding and hiring farm workers, particularly migrant workers, is hurting production on American farms. Seso, based in San Francisco and Monterrey, Mexico, …
Green Infrastructure | April 2, 2024
IRA-backed program commits $4 billion in tax credits for 100 green projects
The tax credits for more than 100 projects in 35 states are backed by the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit (48C) program, which …
Dealflow | April 1, 2024
Uganda’s Credify raises early funding to address Africa’s trade finance gap
Small businesses that source products from overseas pay for the goods well before they sell them. In Africa, where small businesses already face …
Photo: Lightshift Energy
Dealflow | March 31, 2024
Greenbacker provides $100 million to battery storage developer Lightshift Energy
Batteries are key to unlocking value from intermittent renewable energy, such as wind and solar. Lightshift Energy’s standalone, utility-scale battery technology helps utilities …
Climate Finance | March 28, 2024
How a $75 million ‘basket bond’ is catalyzing climate lending to small businesses in emerging markets
Local and community lenders in the US have been preparing for a windfall of financing from the federal government to support communities—particularly underinvested …
Dealflow | March 28, 2024
Capria Ventures backs fintechs in Nigeria and Bangladesh to expand financial services
Capria Ventures, a Seattle-based venture investor in emerging markets, continues to deploy capital from its Global South Fund II, which achieved a first …
Photo by InStride Health.
Investing in Health | March 28, 2024
InStride Health raises $30 million for pediatric mental health services
About one-third of young people will struggle with anxiety disorder or obsessive compulsive disorders by the age of 18. Boston-based InStride launched in …
Impact Voices | March 27, 2024
Investing in life vs. tech: Lifting up nature-based solutions for ecosystems and communities
“We need to invest in life, rather than expensive infrastructure investments,” Anne van Leeuwen, a founding farmer from the European Alliance for Regenerative Agriculture, pleaded …
Latin America | March 27, 2024
Mexico’s Savia Ventures backs Chilean alt-protein startup Done Properly (video)
Santiago-based biotech company Done Properly uses fermentation to produce healthy and sustainable food alternatives, including meat and additives. Mexico City-based climate tech VC …
Ownership Economy | March 26, 2024
Wealth-building and community ownership in the next stage of The Great Deployment
Later this year, solar panels will be installed on the roof of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Like thousands of emerging green projects across the …
Climate and Clean Tech | March 26, 2024
Evari raises $7.5 million to build more efficient heat pumps
More than 100 million households globally use heat pumps, which are gaining popularity as a more sustainable alternative for heating and cooling. Most …
Credit: Nsave
Financial Inclusion | March 26, 2024
Nsave secures $4 million to democratize Swiss offshore accounts
Amer Baroudi from Syria and Abdallah AbuHashem from Gaza launched inclusive fintech venture Nsave to give people from countries with high inflation, political …
Cohort from Village Capital's 2022 Innovations in Health Equity accelerator program
Sponsored | March 25, 2024
Elevating Outcomes Beyond Clinics: Investing in diverse-led startups to advance health equity in the US
Editor’s note: This guest post is sponsored by Impact Ventures by J&J Foundation, which supports ImpactAlpha’s Investing in Health coverage. In partnership with Impact Ventures, ImpactAlpha is exploring the …
Financial Inclusion | March 25, 2024
Optimo Loans secures $10 million to offer credit to rural India’s micro businesses
Just one-quarter of India’s micro and small businesses have access to formal financial services; an estimated 53 million businesses are unbanked. Bangalore-based Optimo …
World Fund portco Mission Zero | Credit: Mission Zero
Climate and Clean Tech | March 25, 2024
World Fund raises €300 million venture fund for European climate tech
World Fund invests in Europe’s early and growth-stage climate startups. The three-year-old, Berlin-based VC firm crossed the €300 million mark for its first …
Credit: Koko Fuel
Climate Finance | March 21, 2024
Leveraging the carbon markets for clean cooking, climate justice and social impact
Nairobi’s slums are dotted with little aqua blue signs alerting residents to top-up points for cooking fuel. Many households don’t have electric stoves …
Dealflow | March 20, 2024
Mad Capital raises $14 million in blended capital for regenerative farmland transitions
Mad Capital raised $10 million in 2021 for its debut Perennial Fund, which went on to finance two dozen farmers in the US …
Photo by Moove.
Dealflow | March 20, 2024
Nigeria’s Moove raises $100 million for revenue-based vehicle financing
Since it launched out of Lagos in 2020, Moove has provided revenue-based vehicle financing for over 20,000 ride-hailing and delivery drivers in Nigeria, …
Partech Africa general partners Tidjane Deme and Cyril Collon.
Africa | March 19, 2024
African venture capital rebounds as global LPs re-up in Partech Africa
ImpactAlpha, March 19 — Africa was not spared from last year’s venture capital funding slowdown. But nearly all of the limited partners in …
Photo by TELO Trucks.
Climate and Clean Tech | March 19, 2024
TELO Trucks clinches $5.4 million to build a compact pickup electric truck
Electric trucks may defy the EV malaise. Electric truck sales were surprisingly robust in China last year – a bellwether of market adoption. …
Photo by Westbound.
Dealflow | March 18, 2024
Westbound raises $100 million to back tech ventures built by, for or with underrepresented people of color
Westbound Equity Partners launched in 2019 as Concrete Rose Capital to close the racial wealth gap by providing financial and social resources to …
Agrifood Tech | March 14, 2024
KAS snags $3 million for low-cost production of aquaculture ingredient
Astaxanthin is used in aquaculture feed to enhance the health and pigmentation of farmed fish and shrimp. Synthetic astaxanthin is cheaper than natural …
Dealflow | March 13, 2024
IBM commits $45 million for AI-powered climate resilience solutions
Startup accelerators backing early-stage AI-driven solutions geared towards making cities safer, more resilient and sustainable aren’t new (see, “Urban-X aims to accelerate startups …
Financial Inclusion | March 13, 2024
IFC extends $20 million to Burundian bank to bolster small business lending
The International Finance Corp. and a group of institutional investors have extended a $20 million loan to Banque de Crédit de Bujumbura to …
Latin America | March 12, 2024
Potencia Ventures backs Trampay to bank gig economy workers in Brazil (video)
On-demand delivery of food, packages and other products provides much-need income for millions of workers in Brazil. For such gig workers, schedules and …
Credit: RecoMed
Investing in Health | March 11, 2024
Pharma company Eisai backs South African health tech venture RecoMed
Japanese pharmaceutical company Eisai launched subsidiaries in South Africa and Kenya in 2022 to supply drugs for cancer, dementia and other non-communicable diseases. …