The Brief

The Brief: Clean cookstoves face challenges in the markets for carbon credits

ImpactAlpha · April 13, 2026
Credit: Clean Cooking Alliance

Greetings Agents of Impact!

☎️ This week’s Call: How emerging impact managers turn community capital into functioning funds. You’ve got an investment thesis, a deal pipeline and some aligned investors. How do you get an impact fund off the ground? Join fund managers and operating partners who have successfully bridged that gap to discuss what it takes to move from an investment thesis to a fully functioning fund. Hear from Broadstreet’s Mariel Kennedy and Steve Petsos, along with Groundbreak Coalition’s Eric White and Fibers Fund’s Sarah Kelley on the next Agents of Impact Call, Wednesday, April 15, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today.

In today’s Brief:

  • Clean cookstoves face challenges in the markets for carbon credits  
  • Collide Capital’s community of founders 
  • Energy-efficient AI
  • M&A in impact investing field-building

Why has it been so hard to crack the code on clean cooking solutions? Two companies, two countries, two carbon deals. Two very different outcomes. Burn Manufacturing, a Nairobi-based maker of “clean cooking technologies,” last month landed a coveted deal with the government of Nigeria. The agreement calls for the company to generate more than five million carbon credits by helping low-income households cut smoke emissions and dependency on charcoal and other dirty fuel sources from household cooking activities. “The carbon markets have presented an opportunity for us to raise millions of dollars for upfront stove subsidies for low-income families,” Burn’s Molly Brown tells ImpactAlpha. “It’s a scalable way to invest in clean cooking.” In contrast, Koko Networks, another Nairobi-based clean cooking company that had sold its biofuel stoves to more than 1.3 million households in Kenya, was forced to shut down when a carbon deal with the Kenyan government fell apart. The households that purchased Koko’s stoves are arguably the biggest losers in the company’s collapse, as are the hundreds of shop owners who sold Koko fuel as an added income stream. 

  • Energy subsidy. The carbon markets in recent years appeared to offer clean cooking companies a new opportunity to finance expansion. Companies generate credits by estimating how much carbon is not emitted because of adoption of their products. “Effectively it’s a non-government energy subsidy,” Koko’s Greg Murray told ImpactAlpha in 2024, describing the mechanism as a pollution tax on foreign corporations, “and using that as a subsidy funding source to switch Africans to low-cost, clean energy.” Both Koko and Burn pursued the more rigorous Article 6 compliance markets, created under the framework of the Paris climate accord, to allow bilateral trading between companies in one country to another. Securing approval is an arduous, lengthy process that requires rigorous carbon accounting and monitoring, as well as third-party certification, such as by Gold Standard or Verra. It’s also more lucrative than the mainstream voluntary markets: price per credit ranges from $15 to $25 compared to less than $5 for credits in the voluntary carbon credits.
  • Boom and bust. Clean cooking has experienced numerous boom and bust cycles, and has repeatedly sought to reinvent itself. In 2024, Koko Networks signed an “investment framework agreement” with the Kenyan government to allow it to sell its credits to overseas buyers. The company last year secured a $180 million guarantee from the World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, or MIGA, as a risk hedge while it waited for an LOA from the Kenyan government. It never received the LOA, and in February this year, was forced to shut down. The Kenyan newspaper Business Daily reported that the government denied the license because the volume of credits Koko sought would exhaust the amount Kenya is permitted to claim. Government officials also reportedly challenged the company’s accounting practices. A representative for Koko declined to comment for this article. Anticipating backlash in the face of another clean cooking failure, numerous players in the market have jumped to the defense of their work. “Carbon is a really useful vehicle for us if we want to grow and scale and continue generating as much impact as we can for women and the planet,” says Burn’s Brown.
  • Keep reading, “Why has it been so hard to crack the code on clean cooking solutions?” by Jessica Pothering. 

Dealflow: Returns on Inclusion

Collide Capital raises $95 million for ‘most deserving’ founders in fintech, supply chains and the future of work. Collide’s Brian Hollins and Aaron Samuels are working to redirect capital toward founders overlooked by traditional venture capital – not for lack of merit. “We’re activating a network around our founders, partners and a community of operators and investors that continue to support one another,” said Samuels (disclosure: Samuels serves on ImpactAlpha’s board of directors). Samuels and Hollins started in 2019 with a $1.3 million proof-of-concept fund and raised a $66 million first fund on the idea that the communities, universities and institutions that shaped the two business partners’ careers could help identify and support the next generation of founders. With its $95 million successor fund, the firm is doubling down and bringing early investors along. 

  • Institutional impact. Several limited partners in Collide’s first fund, including the endowment of the University of California, re-upped in the new fund. New LPs include JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Fairview Capital and Accolade Partners. “Fund I confirmed our belief that backing diverse founders at the intersection of fintech, supply chains and the future of work drives both meaningful returns and measurable impact,” Samuels told ImpactAlpha. “Impact has always been embedded in the investment thesis rather than treated as a separate bucket.” The new fund will invest in the same sectors with the same lens, “only now with larger checks,” he said.
  • Early capital. Collide’s second fund writes pre-seed to Series A checks of $1 million to $3 million, up from average checks of about $750,000 for the first fund. Collide aims to invest in at least 30 companies. It has backed five to date, including New York-based Jelou, which helps small businesses in Latin America create AI agents that execute secure financial transactions and operation tasks. San Francisco-based Ocho aims to make car insurance policies more accessible, offering zero-interest financing to help policyholders cover upfront costs. Collide’s broader portfolio includes more than 75 companies, including five exits. “Those successes showed that when we combine early-stage operational support with underrepresented perspectives, we unlock solutions that scale commercially and socially,” said Samuels.
  • More.

VoLo Earth Ventures backs Refiant AI to curb AI energy usage. Refiant AI’s plan for curbing AI data centers’ surging energy demands isn’t more energy production, it’s shrinking AI models’ energy needs. The US and South Africa-based company is compressing large language models, radically cutting memory usage and allowing organizations to store data locally rather than on cloud-based service providers. The company claims it has proven its capability with one AI model, reducing energy usage by more than 80% while preserving “near-identical quality.” “AI adoption and sustainability commitments can co-exist, but only if the technology itself becomes more efficient,” said Refiant AI’s Mathew Haswell. The company raised $5 million in a seed round led by Colorado-based climate tech investor VoLo Earth Ventures. VoLo is investing via its $135 million second fund. 

  • Under pressure. Tech giants like Microsoft, Amazon and Google have come under pressure for their energy and water-guzzling data center infrastructure. This year Microsoft halted plans to develop US data centers that would have required two gigawatts of electricity (and is instead dialing up its AI infrastructure in India). Maine is set to become the first US state to implement a temporary ban, through 2027, on data center development.
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Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

  • Bain Capital closed its third Double Impact Fund at almost $1.5 billion, with backing from 150 investors, according to an SEC filing.
  • Generation Investment Management led a $100 million Series E round for Chapter, an advisory service that helps seniors navigate the US’s fragmented Medicare health system. The company is looking to expand into other senior services, including finances, cybersecurity and community engagement. (Generation Investment Management)
  • Calvert Impact invested $20 million in the Global Gender-Smart Fund, which invests in women’s financial inclusion through microfinance and small businesses. (Calvert Impact)
  • Ara Partners invested $500 million in Washington-based Sedron Technologies, which converts dairy farm and municipal waste into fertilizers, and reclaims and purifies water in the process (see, “Persian Gulf blockade stokes demand for local, bio-based fertilizers”). (Ara Partners)

Signals: Consolidation and Collaboration

Collaboration Fund sparks a conversation around M&A in impact investing field-building. Keen interest and early inquiries about a new fund to support collaboration and consolidation among impact investing field-building nonprofits suggest many organizations are at least considering a merger as a path to growth and financial stability (see, “Impact funders should bet on consolidation, not competition”). “We’ve had dozens of letters per day and tons of interest,” says Robert Munson of the Sorenson Impact Institute, which is managing the $1 million Collaboration Fund, backed by the Ford and MacArthur foundations. The institute is hosting an online information session to answer questions about the Collaboration Fund on Friday, April 24 at 8am PT / 11am ET. The vast majority of the questions so far, Munson says, are variations of, “Do I qualify?” The usual answer, he says, is, “probably. Make the case in the letter of intent.” Those initial letters are due by June 11. Within 30 days, the institute intends to invite those selected to submit full proposals by Aug. 22, with funding expected to be disbursed by the end of September.

  • Nonprofit M&A. Mergers are fairly rare in the nonprofit world, but there have been some notable examples. Last year, the Capitals Coalition merged with the International Foundation for Valuing Impacts to accelerate impact accounting efforts. In 2022, Oakland, Calif.-based Common Future absorbed the assets and employees of Uncharted, a social impact accelerator. Also in 2022, the Global Impact Investing Network took over the role of hosting the Operating Principles for Impact Management from the International Finance Corp. “I think it’s really healthy for nonprofits to be thinking about the best way to organize themselves and how they can collaborate, particularly as fields evolve,” the GIIN’s Amit Bouri tells ImpactAlpha. He says the current environment of funding cutbacks and political headwinds makes even more important “this conversation around how do we set ourselves up for outsized impact.”
  • No thank you. Some of the organizations that have helped build the field of impact investing are sitting out the current merger conversations. Backers of the Collaboration Fund said the request for proposals was intended to cast a wide net and was not targeted to any particular organizations. “We’re currently focused on our own evolution work with members and are excited about where it’s heading,” says Dara Parker of Toniic, a nonprofit community for high net-worth individuals, family offices and foundations. Confluence Philanthropy, a membership network of foundations, family offices and investment advisors, recently launched a subsidiary, Overview Effect, as the new home for Confluence’s advisors, outsourced chief investment officers, asset managers and consultants. Confluence’s Dana Lanza emphasized that Confluence has no plans, nor has it ever had plans, to merge with another network. She tells ImpactAlpha the new public benefit LLC was incorporated to adapt to the shifting funding environment, and the organization is looking forward to expanding its platform to deepen its benefits for Confluence members.
  • Keep reading, “Collaboration Fund sparks a conversation around M&A in impact investing field-building,” by David Bank and Amy Cortese. 

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Join ImpactAlpha at two special events to match climate-focused fund managers with prospective limited partners, at SF Climate Week in San Francisco on Monday, April 20, and at DC Climate Week in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, April 21. Also join us in Oakland, Calif., on Wednesday, April 22 for an Earth Day Happy Hour featuring Candide Group’s Morgan Simon and the Iya Lingua Quartet, a globally inspired ensemble blending American jazz, Latin Jazz, soul and bossa nova. 

And don’t miss these upcoming ImpactAlpha partner events:

Agents of Impact are hoping for the safe return of Greg Krupa, an impact entrepreneur and advisor who disappeared near his home in Quito, Ecuador, on Thursday. A search effort involving hundreds of rescue workers and volunteers is underway in the city park where he was last seen… Re-Envision Wealth is acquiring FreeCap Financial, a public markets ESG research company. FreeCap’s founder Tanay Tatum-Edwards will take on an advisory role with Re-Envision… Strada Education Foundation promotes Mike Hanagan to director of strategic investments… Jan-Willem Ruisbroek, the head of infrastructure at Dutch pension fund APG, is stepping down from his role in July.

👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.

Thank you for your impact!

– April 13, 2026