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  • The Brief
    March 22, 2023

    The Brief

    Read more Read today's brief
    Featured: Metrics Madness

    Metrics and mood music in impact reports from Founders First, Mercy Corps Ventures, Upstart Co-Lab and ALIVE. Acumen Latin America Impact Ventures, or ALIVE, tracks the number of informal-economy jobs its portfolio companies have formalized. Upstart Co-Lab reports on how its investments improve quality jobs and sustainable livelihoods. And Mercy Corps Ventures, the investment arm of the global humanitarian relief agency, looks at the increased revenues and property values of end-users. Looking across ImpactAlpha’s latest roundup of impact reports, it’s difficult to make apples-to-apples comparisons. “Impact reporting is inherently more context-dependent and therefore does not lend itself as readily to standardization of data in the way that financial reporting does,” the consultancy BlueMark's Sarah Gelfand says in an FAQ on impact reporting that accompanies our latest roundup (see earlier editions here and here). Still, the reports provide starting points from which to interrogate the effectiveness of different impact strategies. A sampling: 

    Dealflow: Financial Inclusion

    Credable raises $2.5 million to accelerate embedded finance in emerging markets. A raft of tech-enabled companies are delivering essential goods and services, such as food supplies and transportation, to low-income customers worldwide. They’re increasingly embedding financial services in their business models to improve affordability and boost financial inclusion. Dubai-based Credable wants to accelerate “embedded finance” by designing products and back-end tech for banks, telecom companies and other service providers. Low-income customers interact daily with tech-based services, like mobile networks, e-commerce and gig apps, Credable’s Nadeem Juma told TechCrunch. “Rather than try to create a new channel to bank these customers, we aim to enable these channels through a B2B2C offering that provides the customers with the banking services they need in the channels they’re already in.” Credable’s customers include Vodacom M-Pesa in Tanzania and Diamond Trust Bank in Kenya.

    Six Short Signals: What We’re Reading

    👩🏽‍🦱🧑🏼‍🦱👨🏾‍🦲👩🏻‍ “This ‘distraction’ is potentially the solution.” Black Women in Venture Capital, BLCK VC, 1863 Ventures and Living Cities are pushing back on an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal that claims Silicon Valley Bank was “distracted by diversity demands.” Data shows diverse boards and investing in diverse entrepreneurs is better for business and for the U.S. economy. (1863 Ventures)

    Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

    James Andrus, ex- of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, joins Franklin Templeton in the new role of sustainability global markets vice president… Claudia Levan, former principal at General Atlantic, joins Lightspeed Venture Partners as fundraising vice president… Josepha Montana, ex- of Turenne Capital, joins Partech as chief sustainability officer, a new role.

  • The Call
    Memphis skyline
    Muni Impact | February 9, 2023

    Engaging racial-equity risks and opportunities in municipal finance (video)

    ImpactAlpha, Feb. 9 – The fatal beating by police of Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month exposed risks to the city’s finances that have …

    Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash
    Muni Impact | November 18, 2022

    Mispriced risks, investor demand and community power center racial equity in municipal bonds (video)

    ImpactAlpha, Nov. 18 – Cities around the U.S. are raising low-cost capital in the municipal bond markets by highlighting intentional efforts to address long-standing …

    Call Recording | September 30, 2022

    Agents of Impact Call No. 45: Creative capital for gender-smart investments (video)

    ImpactAlpha, September 30 – Capital to support women’s economic growth and financial inclusion is flowing – finally! – in many advanced economies. In emerging …

    Climate Finance | September 19, 2022

    New momentum and stubborn challenges as Climate Week kicks off (Call No. 44)

    ImpactAlpha, Sept. 19 – Investors, entrepreneurs, corporate executives and world leaders have descended on New York for Climate Week, the annual gathering alongside the …

    photo: Pixabay
    Originals | June 27, 2022

    Seven Calls: Agents of Impact on carbon pricing, political risk, climate adaptation, responsible fintech and more

    ImpactAlpha, June 27 – ImpactAlpha’s spring season of Agents of Impact Calls spanned a period of tumult in the financial markets: instability in …

    Call Recording | June 3, 2022

    Call No. 43: How responsible fintech in Africa provides resilience in a downturn (video)

    ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Just as investment in financial inclusion in Africa was really ramping up, a market downturn threatens to slow progress. Or …

    Impact Investing | May 13, 2022

    Call No. 42: Business financing beyond venture capital to fuel the boom in entrepreneurship (video)

    ImpactAlpha, May 13 –  One defining outcome of the pandemic: a boom in entrepreneurship. A record five million businesses were started in the …

    Inclusive Economy | April 22, 2022

    Call No 41: How investors are catalyzing climate capital for adaptation and equity (video)

    ImpactAlpha, April 22 – The Ukraine crisis risks tipping up to 1.7 billion people — over one-fifth of humanity — into poverty, destitution …

    Frontier and Growth Markets | April 1, 2022

    Call No. 40: How impact investors embrace political risk to keep progress flowing (video)

    ImpactAlpha, Apr. 1 – High-impact investments in fragile countries invariably entail political risk. And impact investments in a free press, humanitarian tech, financial inclusion …

    Capitalism Reimagined | March 11, 2022

    Call No. 39: Moving from ESG talk to action at major corporations (video)

    ImpactAlpha, Mar. 11 – It’s one thing for a corporation to set environmental or social goals. It’s another to shift executives, employees and supply …

    Policy Corner | February 25, 2022

    Call No. 38: Inside the generational opportunity to reshape rules of corporate disclosure

    ImpactAlpha, Feb. 25 – Bottom-up policies for access to capital in divested communities. Top-down strategies to reshape capitalism to work for all stakeholders. “We …

    Call Recording | February 11, 2022

    Call No. 37: Ramping up the supply of carbon reduction to meet the urgent demand (video)

    ImpactAlpha, Feb. 11 – ”$100 a ton?” exclaimed CDP’s Paula DiPerna on ImpactAlpha’s Agents of Impact Call this week. “I should be popping champagne.” …

  • Podcasts
    agents-of-impact | March 17, 2023

    Ben McAdams, Sorenson Impact: Marrying public real estate and private capital (podcast)

    What is the net worth of Salt Lake City? It’s a relatively straightforward exercise to total up the balance sheet of a company …

    Podcasts | March 10, 2023

    Scaling purpose built impact with Priya Parrish

    Impact Engine’s Priya Parrish joins David Bank to explain why purpose built investment firms end up with better impact outcomes than purpose driven …

    Podcasts | March 3, 2023

    Sana Kapadia on the alpha opportunity for investors who are gender smart

    2x Global’s Sana Kapadia joins host Monique Aiken to ring in Women’s History Month and talk about the state of gender-lens investing. Plus, …

    Podcasts | February 24, 2023

    University of California’s rescue of Blackstone’s REIT

    The roundtable – that’s Brian Walsh, Imogen Rose-Smith and David Bank – is back together to discuss private equity and, specifically, that $4.5 …

    Podcasts | February 17, 2023

    How Project Equity is surfing the ‘silver tsunami’ to help turn employees into owners

    It’s called the Silver Tsunami. In the United States, baby boomers own half of the privately held businesses with employees. And those boomers …

    Policy Corner | February 10, 2023

    Finding the opportunities for impact investors in Biden’s SOTU

    Fran Seegull of the Impact Investing Alliance joins host David Bank (filling in for Brian Walsh) to talk about jobs, climate and communities …

    Podcasts | February 3, 2023

    Finding the opportunities in (and the problems with) the municipal bond market

    ImpactAlpha’s David Bank joins Host Monique Aiken to to share some takeaways from this week’s Agents of Impact Call on the steps that …

    Catalytic Capital | January 27, 2023

    Why development finance institutions are being pressed to ‘publish what you fund’

    Development finance institutions are essential to the mobilization of capital to slow climate change and to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. So why …

    Agents of Impact | January 20, 2023

    Demetric Duckett, Living Cities: New decision-makers for the new majority (podcast)

    ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …

    Impact Investing | January 13, 2023

    Impact Briefing: How the Milken Institute is connecting disadvantaged communities with critical project development financing

    The historic buildout of low-carbon and sustainable infrastructure is on. Spurring this climate action is hundreds of billions in federal spending in the …

    Podcasts | December 16, 2022

    Why early Tesla investor Kristin Hull sees Elon Musk as an ESG risk (podcast)

    Host Brian Walsh is joined by Kristin Hull of Nia Impact Capital, a long-time Tesla investor who says Elon Musk’s Twitter escapades threaten …

    Jigar Shah (Photo: David Deal/Redux)
    Climate Finance | December 13, 2022

    Jigar Shah on building a $140 billion ‘bridge to bankability’ for the energy transition (podcast)

    ImpactAlpha, Dec. 13 – Talk about catalytic capital.  With a fresh $100 billion in funding from the Inflation Reduction Act boosting its financing capacity …

  • Opinion
    Impact Management | March 22, 2023

    Impact Reporting: Frequently asked questions (and answers!) from impact investors

    Impact fund managers are increasingly expected to provide their investors (i.e., institutional investors and allocators) with reporting that offers visibility into their portfolio’s …

    Photo by Zach Key on Unsplash
    Conservation | March 21, 2023

    Privately owned working forests are a climate asset

    When Fred van Eck, a New York investment manager, purchased 9,400 acres of Northern California and Oregon forest for timber production in the …

    Impact Voices | March 21, 2023

    Tree planting has gotten a bad name. Here’s how to restore its effectiveness as a climate solution.

    What’s not to love about planting trees? Once considered a tried and true solution to the climate crisis, tree-growing has lately been given …

    Sustaining Impact | March 9, 2023

    Leveraging catalytic capital to transform economic systems in Africa

    Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Sustaining Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Sustaining Learning Labs. Key insights …

    Impact Investing | March 8, 2023

    Trillion-dollar opportunity: Tackling women’s digital exclusion in the developing world

    For all the optimism contained in International Women’s Day, the reality is that in most places around the world, the gender gap isn’t …

    Return on Inclusion | March 6, 2023

    Want to wring impact from ESG? Look to governance

    If ESG is a foot in the door to an economy built around sustainability, inclusion and equity, then governance is the power that’s …

    Photo by Eduardo Barrios on Unsplash
    Investing in Health | March 1, 2023

    How private investment in the care economy can work for care workers as well

    The pandemic heightened awareness of the foundational role that caregiving plays in the US economy. Yet care infrastructure for childcare, eldercare, and other …

    Impact Investing | February 28, 2023

    Six trust-based practices to help investors shift power to communities

    Often within the impact investing landscape, “impact” is defined by who we invest in and what we invest in. To truly create systems …

    Impact Investing | February 26, 2023

    War on Ukraine One Year Later: Response, Reconstruction, and Recovery

    One year ago, the unthinkable happened: history, whose end had been (perhaps academically) proclaimed after the fall of the Soviet Union, came roaring …

    Pulled from "Scaling Impact" cover
    Impact Voices | February 16, 2023

    Six financial paradigm shifts needed to scale impact

    Over my 20-plus years as a professional working on economic development, development finance, and impact investing, as both an investor and an advisor, …

    Sustaining Impact | February 15, 2023

    Beyond the fairy tale: Investment strategies that catalyze real impact

    Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Sustaining Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Sustaining Learning Labs. Key insights …

    The production of lithium from brine extracted from the Clayton Valley basin
    Climate and Clean Tech | February 13, 2023

    EV supply chains are riddled with human rights abuses. Tech can help eliminate them.

    More electric vehicles (EVs) were sold each week of 2022 than in all of 2011. Analysts expect this explosive growth to remain unabated …

  • Agents of Impact
    agents-of-impact | March 17, 2023

    Ben McAdams, Sorenson Impact: Marrying public real estate and private capital (podcast)

    What is the net worth of Salt Lake City? It’s a relatively straightforward exercise to total up the balance sheet of a company …

    Agents of Impact | March 10, 2023

    Laura Ortiz Montemayor, SVX Mexico and Regenera Ventures: Stewarding capital for Mexico’s regenerative economy

    ImpactAlpha, March 10 – Laura Ortiz Montemayor is not on board with decarbonization or its advocates.  “Carbon is key to life. It’s a …

    Inclusive Economy | February 17, 2023

    Rihanna: Shining star power on inclusion in music and business

    ImpactAlpha, Feb. 17 – Years before this week’s elegant and understated Super Bowl appearance, Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty turned down the NFL’s invitation to headline …

    Agents of Impact | February 3, 2023

    Andrew Crosson, Invest Appalachia: Catalytic capital for community impact

    ImpactAlpha, February 3 — Andrew Crosson was a decade deep in the work of community economic development in central Appalachia when he got …

    Agents of Impact | January 27, 2023

    Gary Forster, Publish What You Fund: Holding development finance institutions accountable for impact

    ImpactAlpha, January 27 – Gary Forster left his job in logistics at Procter & Gamble to volunteer in Zambia, inspired by the 2005 …

    Agents of Impact | January 20, 2023

    Demetric Duckett, Living Cities: New decision-makers for the new majority (podcast)

    ImpactAlpha, Jan. 20 – Building wealth for women and people of color is about numbers as well as equity. By mid-century, there will be …

    Agents of Impact | January 13, 2023

    Laurie Spengler, Courageous Capital Advisors: Structuring and designing finance for impact

    ImpactAlpha, Jan. 13 – A small-business lender in the Mississippi delta. A microfinance bank in Uganda. A global development finance institution in London. Laurie …

    Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund
    Agents of Impact | December 16, 2022

    Napoleon Wallace, Southern Reconstruction Fund: Restorative capital for Black wealth

    ImpactAlpha, Dec. 16 – Napoleon Wallace’s presence was all over the recent Mission Investors Exchange conference in Baltimore.  …As the co-founder of Activest, which …

    Agents of Impact | December 9, 2022

    Eric Berlow, Vibrant Data Labs: Visualizing the flows of climate finance

    “I love complexity,” says Berlow, founder of Vibrant Data Labs, a “social impact data science” group. An ecologist and data nerd, Berlow spent …

    Fifty Years' Seth Bannon
    Agents of Impact | December 2, 2022

    Seth Bannon, Fifty Years: Big swings at big challenges (podcast)

    ImpactAlpha, Dec. 2 – Back in 1931, Winston Churchill predicted we’d grow real meat without the animals. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug …

    Agents of Impact | November 4, 2022

    Mia Mottley, Barbados: Shaping the global finance agenda.

    ImpactAlpha, Nov. 4 – Barbados is an island nation of just 166 square miles and less than 300,000 inhabitants. But its leader, Mia …

    photo credit: Jim Hill/CPR News
    Agents of Impact | October 28, 2022

    Blake Jones, Kachuwa Impact Fund: Making co-ops work for investors, too.

    Blake Jones is “a cooperative geek.” After co-founding four co-op enterprises, including Namaste Solar and Clean Energy Credit Union, he has brought the …

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