Agents of Impact | April 19, 2019

Follow the Talent: Agents of Impact Special Report for Apr. 19

Dennis Price
ImpactAlpha Editor

Dennis Price

Greetings, Agents of Impact!

Welcome to ImpactAlpha’s weekly “follow the talent” roundup of impact investing career moves, job openings, events and opportunities. Help the growing ImpactAlpha community follow your talent: Send job moves, mandates, event announcements and other news to [email protected].

– Dennis Price, editorial director

Agent of Impact

Mark Kahn of Omnivore. Demand for resource-efficient and sustainable food production has pushed the global agriculture technology, or agtech, market to $17 billion. That demand is urgent in India, which has the largest number of smallholder farmers (110 million) in the world and where there are few large farms. Omnivore was launched in 2010 as India’s first dedicated impact agtech venture capital firm. The fragmented market, combined with the country’s tech-savvy makes Indian agriculture ripe for disruption, Omnivore’s Mark Kahn told ImpactAlpha. “Agriculture in India is impactful by default,” he says.

Kahn launched the Mumbai-based impact investment firm with Jinesh Shah, the former chief financial officer of Nexus Venture Partners. Nexus and Accel have made ag investments, as have impact investors Aavishkaar and Ankur Capital, but Omnivore remains India’s only dedicated agriculture impact fund. Omnivore has invested in 12 companies with its first fund and has been closing deals this year from its second fund, which is raising a targeted $75 million fund. In just the last month, Omnivore has closed investments in agriculture robotics company TartanSense; farm products and services marketplace De Haat; and commodities platform Intello Labs. Omnivore looks for companies that have an explicit impact mission and track metrics like farmer income, farm productivity, and job creation. “We find that the best startups are the ones where that intentionality is built in.” Follow ImpactAlpha on Instagram.

Seize the Opportunity

Uber is hiring a senior manager of global vehicle electrification in San Francisco… Also in San Francisco, Salesforce is hiring a marketing manager for impact initiatives… The Inter-American Development Bank is looking for a natural capital lab work consultant in Washington D.C…. NatureVest seeks a conservation trust fund specialist to support its debt conversion work around the globe in Arlington, VATechstars Impact Accelerator is recruiting a program manager in Austin… Ashoka is hiring a managing director for its Start Empathy program in London…

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs is looking for a senior program coordinator in Bangalore… Rally Assets is recruiting an impact advisory consultant and an investment research associate in Toronto… Also in Toronto, SolarShare is hiring a community engagement coordinator…

Opportunity Alabama is looking for a director of operations to connect investors with investable assets in Alabama’s Opportunity Zones… The Global Impact Investing Network seeks a summer associate for its capital mobilization program in New York…  Refugee Investment Network is looking for an intern in Washington D.C… Agora Partnerships is hiring an impact investing intern in Mexico City… The Omidyar Network is recruiting a global vice president of finance and operations for education (who will report to Amy Klement)… The Mid-Atlantic Food Hub is hiring an executive director in Philadelphia.

Follow the Talent

Alex Papageorgis, ex- of Goldman Sachs, is the new head of quantitative investments at Ethic, the sustainable investing tech startup.

Apply, Respond, Submit

Soros Economic Development Fund invites proposals from U.S. and UK fund managers and financial institutions that support shared ownership and economic fairness in marginalized communities… Wine industry body Winetech and the SA Innovation Summit launch the “Winetech Pitching Den” competition for startups focused on climate change, water reclamation and resourcing, genetics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data and other approaches to help South African wine producers… The U.S. state of Virginia partners with LOCUS Impact Investing and Virginia Community Capital in an online Opportunity Zone marketplace.

Get Smarter

Register for the April 25 webinar from Dalberg and WOCAN, “Measuring Impact: Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture“… Beijing-based Kuaishou Technology launches a social impact institute on sustainable businesses for low-income entrepreneurs.

That’s a wrap! Help the growing ImpactAlpha community follow your talent: Send your own job moves, new opportunities and event announcements to [email protected].