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In this week’s Open:
- Trump’s big chill on development finance
- Better quality carbon credits
- Agent of Impact: Azzi Agnelli
- Spotlight: Better, cheaper cleantech
Let’s get to it. – Dennis Price
Must-reads on ImpactAlpha
- US funding freeze upends private investment in Africa. It’s not just USAID. The Trump administration has frozen investments and grants approved by the US International Development Finance Corp., which helps secure private sector investments in emerging markets. “What was small money for the DFC was enormous for us and the companies we would have funded,” the general partner of one Africa-based fund manager tells ImpactAlpha’s Jessica Pothering. Read more.
- An allocator’s guide to impact investing in healthcare. Private equity investors are on the receiving end of long-simmering frustrations with the US healthcare system. Yet the healthcare sector represents a meaningful source of alpha and, potentially, impact. What’s a responsible investor to do? ImpactAlpha contributor Ibrahim Rashid interviewed asset owners, advocates, researchers and field builders about how to spot such problematic investments. See the recommendations.
- Demand for ‘carbon dioxide removal’ credits. Corporate buyers are signing big carbon deals in spite of setbacks for climate policy and action, reports Jessica Pothering. New offtake commitments from Shopify and Microsoft highlight some corporations’ growing interest in higher-quality – and higher-priced – credits in the “carbon dioxide removal,” or CDR, corner of the voluntary market. Check it out.
- Scooping up ‘GP stakes’ in impact fund managers. Owning part of an impact fund manager’s business is becoming as common as fleece vests, report ImpactAlpha’s David Bank and Snehal Shah. For some investors and largest asset managers, simply being limited investors in impact funds is not enough; they are buying takes in the general partnerships to get closer to the business of fund management. Get on trend.
- Nature + livelihoods investing in Latam. Most commercial and institutional investors have little understanding of how to profitably and sustainably invest in natural ecosystems. EcoEnterprises Fund, with offices in Costa Rica, Colombia and the US, has 25 years of experience. The firm’s first fund attracted international impact-first, socially-focused investors drawn to the firm’s livelihoods mission. Now, climate is “dominating the conversation,” EcoEnterprises’ Julia Santander tells ImpactAlpha in a video interview. Watch now.
- Catalytic capital for food waste reduction. Innovative technologies like Ottawa-based Food Cycle Science’s FoodCyclers are emerging to address the pressing issue of food waste. But perceived financial risks, the long-term nature of food waste solutions, and the systemic nature of the problem have created a $5 billion “catalytic capital gap,” according to ReFED, a nonprofit looking to curb food waste. A catalytic recoverable grant helped Food Cycle Science expand into the US, explains Toniic’s Dario Parziale in the latest of a series of catalytic capital case studies on ImpactAlpha. Eat up.
Sponsored by Morgan Stanley
Enabling startups to achieve their potential. Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures provides early-stage innovators with access to capital, powerful networks and hand-picked mentors to help them develop and scale their startups. Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures includes two in-house accelerator programs – the Lab, designed for startup founders, and the Collaborative to support emerging nonprofits.
Through March 14, the Lab and Collaborative are accepting applications for their 2025 cohorts. Learn more about the mission to foster a more equitable and sustainable investment landscape.
- “The Lab’s support helped me create a healthier work-life balance by focusing on impactful priorities over endless tasks.” – Rory Richards, CEO and Co-Founder of GroceryList
- “The Collaborative helped transform The Soil Inventory Project from a promising concept into a resilient organization with clear growth strategies.” – Kris Covey, Co-Founder and President of The Soil Inventory Project
- “The Lab provides very hands-on and purpose-driven support to help founders tackle their individual challenges.” – Natalia Tomiyama, CEO and Co-Founder of NÜWIEL
Agents of Impact
💚 Azzi Agnelli, TMV Lifecycles: Modeling an investment portfolio for mental health
When venture capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz led last month’s eight-figure Series A financing round for Slingshot AI, it hailed the AI startup as “the world’s first foundation model for psychology.” Investing alongside a16z was tiny TMV: Lifecycles, a $25 million “proof of concept” fund launched last year by Azzi Agnelli, an heir to Italy’s Fiat fortune. “It’s been an active year,” Agnelli, the fund’s sole LP and one of its general partners, told ImpactAlpha over coffee.
- Keep reading, “Modeling an investment portfolio for mental health,” by Amy Cortese on ImpactAlpha.
🏃🏽♀️ On the move
- ImpactAssets welcomes Curtis Cohen as an investment operations associate, Kimberly Morris Hall as assistant counsel, Nilanjana Chowdhury as a grant operations associate, and Sophia Sunderji as impact measurement and management lead.
- Ghana Venture Capital and Private Associate appoints Amma Gyampo, previously with Criterion Institute, as CEO. She succeeds Hannah Acquah.
- Tensie Whelan announces that she will step down as director of the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business at the end of this year.
The Week’s Podcasts
🎧 This Week in Impact: Trump’s Big Chill
Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with ImpactAlpha’s Jessica Pothering. Up this week: The Trump administration’s freeze on global development finance. How corporate buyers are driving higher-quality carbon credits in the voluntary carbon markets. And tips for asset owners and allocators in spotting risks in private equity healthcare investments.
- Tune in to this week’s episode.
Agents of Impact: Responsible AI in the Age of Trump. TechBetter’s Ravit Dotan, an AI governance advisor and researcher, joined David Bank to discuss how investors can navigate AI risk, opportunity and impact in the Trump era. Read the recap and listen in.
The Week’s Deal Spotlight
⚡ Is better and cheaper enough to sustain cleantech?
The stormy weather that engulfed San Francisco last week served as a metaphor for policies that in recent years have buoyed battery, solar and electric vehicle investments and a host of climate tech innovations. Aside from occasional references to “policy uncertainty,” the hundreds of clean tech professionals at Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit largely looked past the first-month actions of the second Trump administration, Clint Wilder reports for ImpactAlpha. Most speakers highlighted bullish market trends and a strong global outlook with the optimism that has always been a hallmark of the clean tech industry.
Get in the Game
💼 Step up
- Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is hiring a venture investment director in Madison.
- Restoration Climate Capital seeks a finance manager in New York.
- Open Society Institute is looking for a risk officer in New York.
🤝 Meet up
Don’t miss these upcoming impact investing events:
- Feb. 25-27: The Latin America Impact Investing Forum or FLII (Mérida, MX)
- Mar. 12-14: Latin American Regenerative Investment Summit (Bogotá)
- Sept. 2025: Impact Summit Asia Pacific (Singapore)
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