The Brief

The Brief: An abundance agenda for investing

ImpactAlpha · June 11, 2025

Greetings Agents of Impact!

In today’s Brief:

An abundance agenda for investing and finance
Soil carbon credits in Europe
Safer and smarter EVs in India
Art museums as investors in the creative economy

Featured: Abundance-Based Investing

From winning to thriving, maximizing to healing: Investing is ripe for its own abundance agenda. In “Abundance,” one of the year’s most talked-about books, journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson tee up an alternative approach to public policy. Rejecting the politics of scarcity, they argue for a “politics of abundance” that creates and enables more of what we need – think housing, energy or healthcare. Agents of Impact voted “abundance” the word of the year back in 2022. Making the case this month for “world positive capitalism,” Obvious Ventures’ Vishal Vasishth argues that “an abundance mindset” can help investors, entrepreneurs, thought leaders and policymakers “build bold solutions that serve the public good, and do it with both speed and integrity.” To change how we design societies and fund businesses, RSF’s Jasper van Brakel now offers an approach to abundance-based investing that shifts the focus “from winning to thriving and from maximizing to healing.” In providing for our children and future generations, he writes in a guest post on ImpactAlpha, “one approach is to give them as much wealth as possible to help them survive in a deteriorating world roiled with conflicts over scarce resources; the other way is to invest in the world we want them to inhabit.”

Regenerative approach. “Act from abundance” is one of RSF’s core principles of regenerative finance. Van Brakel says the investment approach is designed to revitalize communities and environments and promote mutual wellbeing. Key features include integrated capital (a combination of investments, loans, grants and social capital designed to fill gaps and remove barriers for social and environmental innovators), attention to the interlocking causes and effects that characterize complex challenges, and a commitment to involving core stakeholders in decision-making. People who invest from abundance, van Brakel says, “regularly express relief, joy and liberation.”
Practicing abundance. Fossil fuel energy investments may generate fortunes in the short-term but create a scarcity of healthy air and essential ecosystems in the long-run. Investments in renewable energy and regenerative agriculture, by contrast, offer real returns while creating lasting benefits. Abundance oriented investment practices are designed to share benefits broadly, says van Brakel. RSF consults borrowers and investors to determine lending rates. By rejecting a winner-take-all mentality of conventional finance, “we might join in the belief that our planet offers more than enough for individuals, communities and the natural world to thrive in harmony,” concludes van Brakel. “We can activate our community and give social enterprises that act with abundance the resources we all need to flourish.”

Keep reading, “From winning to thriving, maximizing to healing: Investing is ripe for its own abundance agenda,” by RSF’s Jasper van Brakel. View ImpactAlpha’s vibrant archive of Impact Voices – guest posts by Agents of Impact. Submit your own.

Dealflow: Regenerative Agriculture

Key Carbon commits €100 million to InSoil for soil carbon credits in Europe. Canada’s Key Carbon, launched in 2021 as Carbon Neutral Royalty, is building a global portfolio of carbon removal projects. The idea is to generate revenue streams and royalties from high-integrity carbon credits for its corporate backers “to meet evolving compliance standards,” said Key Carbon’s Luke Leslie (see, “Corporate buyers nudge voluntary carbon markets toward higher-quality projects“). The Vancouver-based company, which operates similarly to an evergreen fund, formed an agreement with InSoil (formerly HeavyFinance) to tap into its zero-interest green loans for small and mid-sized farmers in Europe. The conditions: Farmers agree to transition to regenerative agriculture in exchange for a fixed share of the carbon credits generated by their farmland. Key Carbon will retain royalty rights to the credits, which will be verified by a third party to meet the requirements of the EU Carbon Removals Certification Framework.

Carbon markets. InSoil’s Laimonas Noreika said the $114 million deal will allow the company to “reach more farmers, accelerate climate-positive outcomes, and deliver the kind of high-integrity credits the carbon market increasingly demands.” As part of the royalty agreement, InSoil received a €3.7 million ($4.2 million) investment from Key Carbon, which it will use to expand across 2.5 million acres of European farmland by 2026. KeyCarbon estimates that target will enable the sequestration of nearly 28 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere.
Low-carbon farming. EU Soil Carbon Corp., the operational arm of Key Carbon’s partnership with InSoil, will support InSoil’s carbon farming business, which provides assistance to farmers in their regenerative transition. Research shows that adopting climate-smart practices helps farmers boost farm productivity, increase biodiversity and build climate resilience. “As farmers across Europe face headwinds from climate change and global regulatory dynamics, financial and agronomic support from projects like these are critical,” said Noreika. InSoil has deployed €80 million of its zero-interest loans to more than 3,000 farmers since 2020.
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Aavishkaar Capital and Ecosystem Integrity Fund back Vecmocon Technologies to make safer EVs. In the early days of India’s electric vehicle roll-out, Vecmocon Technologies focused on developing safe components for manufacturers of two- and three-wheeled vehicles to ensure the new EVs met quality standards. Now, with millions of new EV sales in India each year, Vecmocon is adding battery management systems, smart chargers and AI-based analytics, “with a goal of building the most robust and advanced platforms for connected electric vehicles and energy storage ecosystems,” said founder Peeyush Asati.

Series A. Impact investors Aavishkaar Capital and Ecosystem Integrity Fund backed the company’s $18 million Series A equity round. British International Investment and Blume Ventures also participated in the round, which closed the first $10 million in November. The company, based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, is looking to expand beyond India. Separately, Bangalore-based EV charging provider Kazam secured $6 million in Series B equity from Vertex Ventures, the International Finance Corp., Avaana Capital and Chakra Growth Capital (see, “Investors in India chase EVs and other opportunities on the ground“).
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

Berkeley, Calif.-based Aircapture raised $50 million in Series A financing, led by the Larsen Lam Climate Change Foundation, to recycle carbon using direct air capture. (Carbon Herald)
Germany’s Co-Power scored €6.4 million ($7.3 million) in a funding round backed by Cherry Ventures, Abacon Capital and Aurum Impact to help European industrial companies lower electricity costs through on-site battery storage and solar. (Aurum Impact)
UK-based Impact Recycling secured £3.3 million ($4.5 million) from IW Capital to recycle both flexible and rigid plastic consumer waste. (EU-Startups)

Signals: Creative Economy

Investor engagement in creative enterprises ticks up as public grants recede. The trend toward investing in creative themes was gaining momentum among museum endowments, art collectors and wealth managers even before the US government yanked public funding for arts programs. Many art museums in the US, which hold $64 billion in their endowments, are looking to align their investment portfolios with creative sectors, which collectively make up about 10% of the US economy. Nearly one-third of art professionals and wealth managers seek more options to put their money in culture-related investment products, according to Upstart Co-Lab, the nonprofit creative economy investor and field builder. “The potential to unleash the power of art, design, culture, heritage and creativity through investment is greater than ever,” the Upstart team writes in a new report on its inclusive creative economy strategy. “We believe that mindful consumers will continue to ask for fashion labels, beauty brands, and new culinary experiences that are sustainable, ethically-produced and authentic,” the authors suggest.

Feeding funds. Upstart Co-Lab has mobilized $15 million from more than a dozen investors, including the Ford Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Souls Grown Deep Foundation and the Toledo Museum of Art, to invest in funds and enterprises supporting the creative industries. The nonprofit’s investments include four funds and capital providers. In April, Upstart Colab invested $750,000 in Honeycomb Credit, a crowdfunding platform for local businesses, 80% of which are food, fashion, beauty or other creative businesses (see, “Agent of Impact, George Cook”). Willow Growth Partners invests in consumer brands focusing on healthy and non-toxic ingredients. True Beauty Ventures finances skincare, haircare, make-up and fragrance companies inspired by heritage and culture. Upstart Co-Lab is looking to raise $100 million, about two-thirds of which will back other funds and financiers.
Global mobilization. More private capital is being mobilized for creatives globally as well. Nigeria’s Ministry of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy is building out a $200 million Creative Economy Development Fund. The Doen Foundation in the Netherlands is planning to launch a $50 million creative economy fund. BPI France is looking to deploy €3 billion annually to creative and cultural businesses through its La French Touch strategy. Other global creative economy funds include Figurative (formerly Nesta’s Arts and Culture Finance Fund) in the UK, HEVA Fund in Kenya, and Trê in Brazil.
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Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Heron Foundation appoints Felecia Lucky, former head of the Black Belt Community Foundation, as president and CEO, effective Oct. 1… Inspire Access welcomes Rashmi Shastry, an MBA candidate at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, as a summer venture fellow… Communities Foundation of Texas is recruiting a managing director of housing initiatives… JPMorgan Chase seeks an investment banking analyst for its Center for Carbon Transition in New York.

The Netherlands Advisory Board on Impact Investing is looking for a finance manager… CalPERS has an opening for an ESG analytics specialist and sustainable investment officer in Sacramento, Calif… Energy Impact Partners is hiring a New York-based impact and sustainability summer associate… Alcon Vision is on the hunt for a social impact manager for its US-based charitable initiatives…. The Baton Rouge Area Foundation is searching for a community solar program manager.

Mission Investors Exchange will host the first part of an ownership investing-lens webinar series with Smitha Das of World Education Services and Gary Community Ventures’ Santhosh Ramdoss, later today at 3:30pm ET (preview: “Building an ownership movement to close racial wealth gaps”)… Mastercard Foundation will host a webinar for its report on lessons learned from its Africa Growth Fund, tomorrow, June 12… Sorenson Impact Foundation issued a request for proposals responsible AI and economic empowerment projects. It will accept applications until Thursday, July 31.