The Brief

The Brief: How impact capital can steer the tech-enabled future

ImpactAlpha · July 7, 2026
Credit: New York Public Library on Unsplash

Greetings Agents of Impact!

☎️ Agents of Impact Call: Crafting a positive agenda for faith-based impact investors. Can faith-aligned investors become known for what they are for, not just what they’re against? To help such investors move beyond negative screens to a positive agenda, Impact Evaluation Lab’s Terry Keeley and Sovereigns Capital’s John Coleman have developed metrics for “human flourishing” for both fund managers and portfolio companies. Sue Ernster of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and Jean Baptiste de Franssu, until recently president of Vatican Bank, will join Keeley and Coleman, in conversation with ImpactAlpha’s David Bank, on Wednesday, July 15, at 7am PT / 10am ET / 3pm London. RSVP today. 

🍻 Agents of Impact Happy Hour: New York. Last summer’s Agents of Impact happy hour at The Standard beer garden near the High Line was such a hit that we’re gathering there again. If you’re in New York Thursday, July 9, RSVP and join us for a drink with fellow Agents of Impact. Join ImpactAlpha’s Dennis Price, Amy Cortese, Joe Whitwell, Brian Walsh and Erik Stein. Come catch up with old friends, make some new ones, and raise a glass with the ImpactAlpha team. 

In today’s Brief:

  • Influencing the tech-enabled future 
  • Supporting healthy aging for India’s elders
  • Private credit for Indigenous ownership 
  • Why human agency still matters for workers in the AI age

Amid trillion-dollar IPOs, impact investors seek pathways to steer technology toward shared prosperity. When SpaceX completed its IPO last month, many investors celebrated one of the most successful technology investments in modern history. The company raised more than $75 billion in an offering that valued it at $1.77 trillion. OpenAI and Anthropic are expected to raise tens of billions of dollars on near trillion-dollar valuations (see, “SpaceX, Anthropic IPOs set to unlock billions in liquidity for impact LPs”). For impact investors, these milestones provoke a difficult question, writes Antony Bugg-Levine in his latest column: “How can we influence the trajectory of society-shaping technology when it is financed by capital flows so large?” AI-related infrastructure spending could reach $8 trillion over the next five years. Such a flood of capital can easily drown efforts to make technology more democratic, inclusive and responsive to social concerns. “We cannot exert influence by outspending conventional investors. But neither can we afford to walk away,” says Bugg-Levine. “Instead, we need to focus on the places where relatively small amounts of capital can still influence who benefits from technology and who gets to shape its future.”

  • Access and influence. The investors financing a better future are expanding access to, and influence over, technology, says Bugg-Levine. Connect Humanity, a nonprofit investment fund, works with local internet service providers and community partners to expand rural broadband access (see, “Community finance can close the digital divides federal programs keep leaving open”). Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein built Kapor Capital to broaden who gets venture capital. The firm has backed entrepreneurs building products and services designed to expand opportunity in education, healthcare, employment and financial services, while demonstrating that founders from historically overlooked backgrounds can build highly successful companies.
  • AI ownership. As tech companies become large enough to shape society itself, some impact investors are exploring what role ownership plays in influencing their direction. Omidyar Network, joined by the Ford Foundation and Nathan Cummings Foundation, purchased Anthropic shares that became available in 2024 through the FTX bankruptcy proceedings. The trio saw an opportunity to influence conversations around governance, safety, transparency and the broader public interest implications of AI. Open internet activist Frank McCourt’s People’s Bid for TikTok sought to give users greater control over their data and digital experience. The bid was not successful, but it spawned McCourt’s Project Liberty to “advance human agency” in an AI-powered world. These efforts, says Bugg-Levine, point toward a role for impact investors, from simply financing innovation to “helping shape the governance of technologies that increasingly shape all of us.”
  • Keep reading, “Amid trillion-dollar IPOs, impact investors seek pathways to steer technology towards shared prosperity,” by Antony Bugg-Levine. 

Human agency is the next frontier for impact investing. What enables young people to remain economically relevant in an age where AI is rapidly reshaping education, work and entrepreneurship? Florian Kemmerich of Swiss future of work startup Vocating.ai and Lancaster University’s Randall Zindler explored the topic in a recent study with students from Oxford Saïd Business School, Sciences Po in Paris, the Geneva Graduate Institute, and other academic institutions. The students, Kemmerich and Zindler found, were not most interested in career advice or technical skills. “They were seeking orientation. They wanted help understanding who they are, identifying where they create distinctive value, and navigating a world in which traditional career paths are rapidly disappearing,” the authors write in a guest post. “This is a fundamentally different challenge from reskilling. It is one of positioning.” The findings will be presented at the UN’s “AI for Good” conference, kicking off today in Geneva. 

  • Infrastructure for human agency. As access to knowledge becomes universal, workers who know how to translate it into economic relevance will have an edge, the authors argue. A human-centered AI future will require “systems that help people continually discover where they create unique value, experiment safely, learn rapidly, and convert purpose into meaningful economic participation.” They envision impact investors that finance educational models, workforce transition programs and community ecosystems that strengthen these capacities and “ensure that AI remains an instrument of human empowerment rather than human dependency.”
  • Keep reading, “Human agency is the next frontier for impact investing,” by Florian Kemmerich and Randall Zindler.

Dealflow: Valuing Aging

Age Care Labs secures 850 million rupees to support healthy aging for India’s seniors. The Gurgaon-based startup is trying to get ahead of a fast-growing social and health issue in a country of nearly 1.5 billion people. India’s over-60 population will top 230 million in the next decade “representing a fundamental restructuring of the country’s population composition,” its government says. Age Care Labs runs two elder care companies: Epoch Elder Care, a network of assisted living and dementia care facilities in Delhi and Pune; and Emoha, a remote care provider that helps patients age at home by monitoring health conditions and connecting to other services. The company’s growth funding round, which amounts to about $9 million, was led by strategic investor Shrem Group. The real estate, hospitality and infrastructure company invested in Age Care Labs to expand into senior living communities. The partners will launch a new company, Shremoa, that will manage senior residences, coordinate residents’ healthcare needs and offer wellness services. 

  • LP list. Also participating in the round: Rainmatter, an early-stage venture capital firm managed by online trading company Zerodha that invests in media, finance, health and climate tech companies. Rainmatter operates a 10 billion rupee perpetual fund with the goal of supporting Indian companies with Indian capital. It says it is able to offer patient capital to early startups because it doesn’t have any exit mandates. Mumbai-based Pegasus Finvest invests in seed and Series A-stage companies working in financial services, healthcare, education and clean tech via its $40 million India Evolving Opportunities Fund. Several family offices also backed Age Care Labs’ round. Age Care Labs’ prior investors include VC firm Lumis Partners and Belgium-based impact investor Kois Invest.
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Keewaywin Capital helps an Indigenous social services provider transition from building tenant to owner. The Gihekdagye Friendship Centre, an Indigenous social services organization, provides cultural and educational programming, health and wellness services, housing assistance and homelessness outreach from a building on Colborne Street in the city of Brantford, Ontario. Keewaywin Capital, an Indigenous-led private credit manager in Toronto, and Vancity Community Investment Bank provided an undisclosed amount of financing to help the organization, known as BRISC for short, purchase the building where its services are provided. The capital will give BRISC a permanent home and allow the organization to develop transitional housing at the site. “This investment allows us to put down permanent roots in the community we serve,” said BRISC’s Shelly Hill. 

  • Inclusive communities. Keewaywin was launched in 2022 by Tracee Smith, a member of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, to improve access to financing for Indigenous communities. Its first fund, which has a $20 million fundraising goal, is supporting Indigenous housing. Its investment in BRISC “is about creating stability – not just for an organization, but for the community it serves,” Smith said in a statement. “We are helping unlock solutions that provide safety, dignity and long-term opportunity – things that don’t translate on a traditional loan or mortgage application.” Keewaywin is backed by Realize Capital, a wholesaler for Canada’s Social Finance Fund, as well as Addenda Capital and the Tachane Foundation.
  • Ownership economy. A small number of investment firms are working to help small businesses, nonprofits and community services organizations buy commercial properties to reduce displacement or build assets and wealth. caNorth Carolina-based Partners in Equity helps small business owners in underserved communities buy the properties they’re based in. California-based Community Vision offers financing to community-based nonprofits and businesses to purchase land and develop real estate in low-income communities to combat gentrification. 

Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

  • Indian digital lender Fibe filed to go public with a goal of raising 7.5 billion rupees ($79 million) through a primary share sale. Backers TPG Rise, Norwest and Eight Roads will also sell a portion of their shares in the company. (Reuters) 
  • Laser-based fusion company Focused Energy raised a $240 million Series A round backed by Lowercarbon Capital, RWE, Germany’s innovation agency, the European Innovation Council Fund, Prime Movers Lab and other investors. (Focused Energy)
  • Aviva, a Mexican fintech company that provides small loans via AI- and video-enabled kiosks, raised $18 million from Valor Capital Group, IDB Lab, Caravela Capital and Alive Ventures. (Aviva)

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Don’t miss these ImpactAlpha partner events:

Taylor Sekhon steps down as managing director of employee ownership at BMO… Amy Bennett, formerly with ImpactAssets and the Stakeholder Impact Initiative, joins The Real Mental Health Foundation, where she will lead the creation of a mental health fund… International Finance Corp. is hiring a private equity funds investment analyst in Mumbai. 

The FAO Investment Centre has an opening for an agribusiness finance officer in Panama City… Wellington Management is recruiting an associate for its climate innovation fund in New York or Boston… The World Wildlife Fund seeks a private sector engagement specialist in Washington, DC… EQT is looking for a private capital sustainability intern in London… Credit Saison India is recruiting a senior impact and ESG officer in Bangalore. 

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

Thank you for your impact!

– July 7, 2026