Agents of Impact | May 31, 2019

Follow the Talent: Agents of Impact Special Report for May. 31

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

Agents of Impact

Sofia Hmich of Future Positive Capital. What’s one answer to venture capital’s ills? Positive social impact. Hmich, the founder of Paris- and London-based Future Positive Capital, has raised more than $57 million on the thesis that “tech for good” also generates better returns than legacy venture capital. Hmich’s thesis is that ventures with explicit positive social and environmental intent will out-perform non-impact businesses. The underlying technologies are “solving complex challenges that create greater value,” by creating new markets or addressing overlooked populations, Hmich tells ImpactAlpha. The 31-year-old investor and entrepreneur is the daughter of Moroccan immigrants and grew up in Paris’s peripheral, low-income banlieues before graduating from an elite French business school. Hmich got a taste of the impact opportunity as an investor in Ynsect, an early-mover in insect-based animal feed. Her limited partners are betting on Future Positive’s knack for finding startups using AI, robotics synthetic biology and other “deep technologies” to address climate change, demographic shifts, health care and food production.

The growing tech-for-good club includes Fifty.vc and Techstars Impact, which target the Sustainable Development Goals; Breakthrough Energy Ventures in climate and Generation Investment Management in sustainability. TPG Growth’s Rise Fund touted Zipline, which raised $190 million, as “not just a drone company, but rather a transformative technology business using next-generation logistical solutions to provide lifesaving services.” With Future Positive Capital, Hmich is out to prove the value of impact tech. “The reason there is skepticism is that we need more exits,” she says. “It’s a chicken-and-egg problem. If you don’t invest, you won’t have those exits.” Follow ImpactAlpha on Instagram.

Seize the Opportunity

Omidyar Network is hiring a director of people in Redwood City… The U.S. Department of the Treasury is looking for a program manager for the CDFI Fund in Washington DC… Business for Social Responsibility seeks a manager of financial services in New York… U.K. development finance institution CDC Group seeks an investment associate for its impact funds, based in London… Accion is hiring a director of digital communications in Washington, D.C…

Carbon Lighthouse seeks a director of finance in San Francisco… PG Impact Investments is looking for an impact investing investment manager in Singapore (see, “PG Impact closes its first fund targeting the Global Goals at €210 million)… German development bank Kfw’s DEG is hiring a senior analyst or investment manager for its equity and funds business in Brazil and other Latin American countries.

Follow the Talent

Amy Bell, ex-of Tideline, joins the corporate venture team at Whole Foods. Bell will remain an advisor to the impact investing strategy firm… Nonprofit Finance Fund was awarded $55 million in New Markets Tax Credits.

Where to Be

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit is happening June 3-5 in The Hague, the Netherlands… New Ventures Mexico is hosting a happy hour June 5 in New York to showcase this year’s I3 LATAM impact entrepreneurs… Village Capital is convening a fintech community event June 5 in Los Angeles… i(x) investments and Good Money present the Entrepreneurs Impact Summit June 13-14 in Santa Monica (Register with code IMPACTALPHA19 for 25% off)… The Refugee Investment Network formally launches in New York City June 20 (see, “A growing community of investors steers capital to solutions that benefit refugees).

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].