Lower cost capital, better data and other emerging trends in sustainable investing

A corporate shift away from “shareholder primacy” towards an alignment with a broader set of “stakeholders” is number one on Anuj Shah’s emerging trends in sustainable investing. Check.

Building credit with blockchain at the base of the economic pyramid

Crowdlending platform Kiva and the government of Sierra Leone on Wednesday launched Sierra Leone’s National Digital Identity Platform, which allows individuals to link their national identity numbers to digital transactions, including healthcare, social and financial services.

Blokable secures $23 million for modular housing that promises affordability

Kapor Capital noted that its investment in the firm was based on the company’s potential to provide “well-designed, well-constructed housing” to people “across the entire socioeconomic spectrum.”

The Brief: Policy incentivizes for impact investing, affordable modular housing, biodigesters in Cambodia, diagnostics devices in Kenya, stakeholder primacy

Featured: "How government policy can help mobilize private capital for public good"

Setting the Table: How government policy can help mobilize private capital for public good

In the latest in ImpactAlpha’s What’s Next series, the CEO of the Global Impact Investing Network opens up a public policy discussion and invites Agents of Impact to weigh in.

Stakeholder primacy: CEOs redefine the role of business in society

The statement from nearly 200 CEOs redefining ‘corporate purpose’ to include customers, workers, communities and suppliers, along with shareholders, catches them up with business leaders, not to mention impact investors. Put another way, the Business Roundtable is a lagging, not leading, indicator.

The Brief: Apollo’s impact fund targets $1 billion, Newday adds advisory, AgDevCo in Ivory Coast, Emergy’s alternative meats, Phenix Capital’s impact summits

Featured: For private equity giants, $1 billion is table stakes for entry into impact investing