Greetings Agents of Impact!
In today’s Brief:
- India as a hotbed of cool tech
- Global Innovation Fund reaches $50 million
- Reducing landfill methane emissions
- Assessing investment options in Trump accounts
Featured: Climate Adaptation
Cool tech fund looks to India for sustainable solutions to beat the heat. Fund manager JP Moscarella couldn’t have asked for a better way to make his investment case, unfortunately. A sweltering heat wave greeted the co-founder of CoolPact Capital, a new fund identifying emerging cooling technologies, when he landed in London for last month’s Climate Action Week. CoolPact is focused on India, where some cities regularly see temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and sometimes 50 degrees (122 degrees F). But London was the right place at the right time to pitch what may be the only dedicated fund for cooling tech as a climate adaptation opportunity (see, “Extreme heat at London Climate Action Week kicks off a scramble to adapt”). London announced its own heat action plan, Heat Ready London, during the heat wave, which led to at least 10,000 excess deaths across Europe. In the US this week, temperatures in some areas were 20-30 degrees F higher than normal, with extreme heat warnings declared from the Midwest to the Northeast. “What is the first thing anyone does when it’s hot?” Moscarella says. “It’s ‘Let’s find a cool place.’”
- Sustainable cooling. Moscarella launched CoolPact with partners Joyita Mukherjee and Alan Miller with the notion that there’s enough supply (tech innovation) and demand (cooling customers) to support cooling as a standalone investment strategy. Miller in 2020 had co-authored a paper for the World Bank, “The cold road to Paris,” about sustainable cooling in emerging markets. “The demand, the megawatts required, especially in frontier markets, outstrips installed renewable energy generation,” Moscarella says. That was the case before the AI demand surge, he adds. “There’s this huge opportunity set.” The partners, who incubated the fund idea through the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance in 2024, have identified more than 100 startups in India working on solutions for residential, commercial and industrial cooling, energy efficiency in refrigeration, agriculture and medical cold chains, “heat resilience” wearables, and more.
- Corporate acquirers. The partners are looking at corporate suppliers as potential strategic acquirers for portfolio companies that prove scalable solutions for the masses. Corporations, along with investors, have been pumping money into cooling technologies, but primarily as a means to manage the heat, water and energy consumption of buildings and data centers. With the exception of heat pumps, cooling solutions for home, building, logistics and urban applications haven’t generated the same investor enthusiasm. Prime Coalition has backed Rebound Technologies, which designs cooling units that don’t rely on vapor compression, an energy intensive method of cooling. Breakthrough Energy Ventures backed Blue Frontier, which developed a salt-based liquid desiccant to dehumidify air, greatly reducing the need for traditional refrigerants. Qurie this year spun out of a research institution in Germany with seed funding for its “electrocaloric refrigeration system” that doesn’t require refrigerants or noisy compressors.
- Adaptation challenge. CoolPact is looking to plug an early-growth capital gap, fitting in between India’s robust startup accelerator ecosystem and growth-stage private equity or strategic corporate buyers. Moscarella acknowledges that adaptation finance is challenging because of a lack of obvious pathways to profitability. CoolPact is focusing on the most obvious revenue stream: energy cost savings for cooling improvements and upgrades. The partners are aiming to raise $100 million and cut equity checks of $1 million to $10 million in companies with proven technologies. A layer of first-loss capital is meant to buffer risk for commercial investors unsure of such a niche strategy, says Moscarella. “The returns will be pretty commercial,” he adds. “This could be very attractive because the baseline is so low.”
- Keep reading, “Cool tech fund looks to India for sustainable solutions to beat the heat,” by Jessica Pothering.
Dealflow: Pathways to Growth
Global Innovation Fund secures $50 million to back growth-stage businesses in Africa and Asia. London-based nonprofit Global Innovation Fund launched its GIF Growth fund in Washington, DC, to much fanfare in November 2024. Then, the evergreen debt fund lost its $10 million commitment from the US International Development Finance Corp. after the election of President Donald Trump. Nearly two years later, the fund, which aims to mobilize $130 million for high-impact enterprises in emerging markets, has announced a first close of $50 million. The remaining anchor investors, UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Korea International Cooperation Agency, were joined by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, which provided a portfolio guarantee, and Global Affairs Canada, which added a layer of patient debt. UK-based foundation This Day and Banca Etica, a cooperative bank focused on sustainable finance, also participated. The fund aims to crowd in at least $400 million over a decade.
- Impact debt. The fund will leverage the investment capital and grants to provide 90 enterprises with $1 million to $10 million each over the next 10 years. The smaller ticket sizes are meant to fill a gap for growth financing and build a pipeline for development finance institutions and private investors able to write bigger checks. It has so far backed SwipeRx, a network of mostly female pharmacy professionals in Southeast Asia, and Nairobi-based microlender 4G Capital.
- Keep reading.
StratX nabs $1.2 million to tackle methane emissions from landfills. Landfills are a major contributor to global methane emissions, behind fossil fuels and agriculture. London-based StratX makes landfill covers that contain methane-consuming microbes as well as alkaline compounds that bind CO2 before it escapes into the air. The covers are free to municipalities; StratX makes money by selling carbon credits, which it shares with municipal customers and communities. “We are removing the financial barriers to entry, empowering local leaders to protect their communities and the climate simultaneously,” said StratX’s Kevin Wheeler. The startup raised $1.2 million in a round led by Neglected Climate Opportunities, the climate-focused venture fund of Boston-based Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Foundation. Amsterdam-based CarbonFix, which makes loans and grants to climate innovators, also participated. StratX is planning pilot projects in South America and Africa.
- Carbon credits. StratX, which was developed at UK-based venture studio Deep Science Ventures, says it can robustly quantify avoided emissions, which is key to generating high quality credits. New York-based Terraset has committed to pre-purchase the carbon credits generated by StratX projects, via a revolving fund anchored by a grant from the Schmidt Family Foundation (see, “Wealthy donors are buying tons of carbon just to lock it away”). The pre-purchases provide upfront capital for project development and other operational costs. The Grantham Foundation also backs Terraset.
- Gift this post.
Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:
- Norrsken raised €62 million ($71 million) for its Norrsken Evolve pre-seed fund (see, “Wanted: European AI solutions in climate, health, food, education and society”). The fund’s backers include the European Investment Fund and Skype co-founders Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi. (TFN)
- Calvert Impact Capital provided debt capital to Fairtrade Access Fund to finance agricultural cooperatives, producer groups and small enterprises in Latin America, Africa and Asia. (Incofin)
- San Francisco-based Piq Energy secured $5 million in seed funding from Active Impact Investments, New Climate Ventures and Cisco Foundation, to help utilities and developers connect projects to the grid. (Piq Energy)
- London-based Airhive and Netherlands-based Carbyon, two direct air capture tech developers, are merging to deploy low-cost direct air capture at greater scale. (Carbyon)
Signals: Policy Corner
Trump accounts have a values gap that could cost American children over the long run. Trump accounts – the tax-advantaged investment accounts seeded with $1,000 each from the US Treasury – made their official debut this month. The “530A accounts” are meant to give children a head start on building wealth and saving for retirement. More than six million such accounts have been requested or opened, according to the Treasury Department. Despite the heavy-handed branding, the accounts are similar to the baby bonds that asset-building advocates have pushed for years. If families max out annual contributions of $5,000 until the child turns 18, balances could exceed $200,000, the administration projects. But the investment options available within these accounts ignore the demand for values-aligned investments, and the risks and externalities associated with standard-issue index funds, writes ImpactAlpha’s Anita Foster Washington.
- Values-based. At launch, every contribution defaults to State Street’s SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF. Four similar low-cost index funds will be added in coming months. But cheap isn’t the same as costless. None of the eligible funds screen for environmental, social or governance factors. They do not exclude fossil fuel producers, weapons manufacturers, or private prison operators, nor do they favor companies with stronger labor, diversity or governance track records. That is a notable omission for accounts with an investment horizon that stretches decades into a future shaped by climate risk, demographic change and evolving corporate governance, Washington writes. Low-cost index funds carry hidden costs: concentration risk in a handful of mega-cap stocks; inherited proxy-voting decisions from asset managers whose priorities may not match a family’s values; and unscreened exposure to industries, such as fossil fuels.
- Alternatives for parents. Congress defined “low cost” so narrowly that it largely excludes an entire category of low-cost index funds that millions of Americans already use. Parents who want low fees and values-aligned investing can look at a custodial account, such as a Uniform Gifts to Minors Act or a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account. These do not have the same fee cap or investment restrictions as Trump Accounts and allow families to consider ESG-screened funds that track familiar benchmarks. Some 529 education savings plans also offer ESG or sustainable investing options. Fixed-income options like Calvert Impact Capital’s Community Investment Note or Cut Carbon Note allow investments starting at just $20. The tradeoff isn’t values versus fees; it’s simply a matter of looking past the default menu.
- Keep reading, “Trump accounts have a values gap that could cost American children over the long run,” by Anita Foster Washington.
Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent
Community Preservation Corp. welcomes Kristen Fontana as head of capital strategies, Rachel Grossman as head of permanent mortgage lending and capital solutions, Doug Stevinson as deputy general counsel, and Serge Suponitskiy as chief information officer… Norfund promotes Naana Winful Fynn as executive vice president of financial inclusion.
Boston Impact Initiative taps Brian Mbuya, previously with Samawati Capital Partners, as an impact investment associate… Timothy Cho is promoted to principal at Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation… Alex Kuprasov steps down as New Forests’ associate director of investments… UNICEF’s Impact for Children is looking for a senior associate… The Nature Conservancy is recruiting a carbon finance associate.
Neuberger Berman seeks an equity research analyst for its impact investing group… Liberty Mutual Investments has an opening for a credit strategist… Boston Impact Initiative is on the hunt for a director of development and investor relations… Blue Meridian Partners is hiring a strategic initiatives senior director.
👉 View (or post) impact investing jobs on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub.
Thank you for your impact!
– July 16, 2026
