The Brief: Sir Ronald Cohen on winning ‘the impact revolution’

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• Catch up quick. “Seeking real-world outcomes, these families, foundations and funds are investing for impact first.”

In today’s Brief:

• ImpactAlpha talks with Sir Ronald Cohen 
• Invest-NL makes global diversity ‘a strategic advantage’ 
• Shoreline projects offer lessons in resilient capital stacks

Featured: Impact Measurement

Sir Ronald Cohen on investing in defense, dealing with Trump and winning ‘the impact revolution’ (Q&A). When pension funds talk, private equity fund managers listen. Ronald Cohen, one of the UK’s most prominent private equity and venture capital investors, knows how that works. As institutional asset allocators make impact management and measurement a condition of investment mandates, “the private equity investor can’t say: ‘I’m not interested,'” Cohen tells ImpactAlpha in a wide-ranging interview from London. “He says, ‘Okay, we’ll measure.’”

• Reshaping capitalism. Cohen is credited for bringing venture capital investing to the UK in the 1970s. He is a co-founder of Apax Partners, one of the country’s first VC firms, as well as Better Society Capital and Bridges Fund Management. Cohen also helped invent social impact bonds and has served as an advisor on all things impact investing to British Prime Ministers, from Gordon Brown to David Cameron and now Keir Starmer. Born in Egypt to Syrian Jewish parents, Cohen fled with his family to England in 1957. “It creates a sense of wanting to give back,” he says. “You’ve been helped, and it’s fair that we should help others.” At 80, he has published an update to his book “Impact: Reshaping capitalism to drive real change,” strengthening his call for an impact revolution in government and finance.
  
• Pay for performance. Social-impact bonds proved cumbersome, but Cohen still makes the case for outcomes-based public spending models to help cash-strapped governments mobilize private capital to deliver public services. “If government doesn’t have the money to spend, bringing in investment is a way for it to continue to make progress,” Cohen says. The UK’s new Office of the Impact Economy could help governments spend money more effectively, he says, “and to access outside capital to achieve social improvement in the same way that venture capital funds tech entrepreneurs and funds social entrepreneurs.”
  
• Impact-weighted accounts. With advanced economies facing an economic and social crisis due to rising inequality, Cohen has helped develop an impact accounting system to enable companies and investors to report social and environmental performance in monetary terms, alongside profits and losses (for background see, “Weighting accounts for impact”). Cohen says he no longer screens out defense investments from the portfolio at Apax Partners. “To be a pacifist in today’s world is madness,” he tells ImpactAlpha. “Defense today is arguably a necessary investment area for democracies.”
  
• Keep reading, “Sir Ronald Cohen on investing in defense, dealing with Trump and winning ‘the impact revolution’ (Q&A),” by Danielle Rossingh. 

Dealflow: Returns on Inclusion

Netherlands’ investment fund backs diverse founders as a ‘strategic advantage’. State-sponsored impact investment firm Invest-NL is seeking to “future proof” the Dutch economy with investments in early and growth-stage Dutch companies with a social or environmental focus. The talent in such companies comes from all over the world. “Strong ecosystems are built on openness, diversity and ambition,” Invest-NL’s Rinke Zonneveld wrote, announcing the firm’s latest investments. Invest-NL invested €10 million ($11.7 million) in Qualinx, a Delft-based developer of chips used in satellites that was founded by entrepreneurs from the US and Iran. It also invested €1 million in ShanX Medtech, a woman-led startup based in Eindhoven that makes rapid diagnostic tests focused on antibiotic efficacy.

• Immigration advantage.  A quarter of Invest-NL’s 180 portfolio companies were founded or are led by foreign-born entrepreneurs. “Let’s cherish this,” said Zonneveld. “Especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty, it should be crystal clear that international talent brings immense added value to our economy, innovation capacity and global competitiveness.” Invest-NL was founded by the Dutch ministry of finance in 2019 to accelerate innovation and digitalization in key economic sectors. The Netherlands, like the US and many of its European neighbors, has seen far-right, anti-immigration factions gain political power. The center-left party that won last year’s Dutch election is expected to form a new coalition in coming months. “An open and welcoming approach is not a risk – it is a strategic advantage,” Zonneveld stressed. “Let’s truly value what these founders contribute to the Netherlands, regardless of where they originally come from.”
  
• Impact tech. Qualinx’s global navigation satellite system, or GNSS, chips increase the accuracy of satellite readings for navigation, farming, logistics, infrastructure and other uses. Invest-NL invested through its Deep Tech Fund as part of a €20 million funding round that also included InnovationQuarter, the regional development agency for the Rotterdam-The Hague area, and VC firms Forward.one and Waterman Ventures. ShanX addresses antibiotic resistance with tests that quickly identify which antibiotic is best suited for a patient’s condition. Invest-NL participated in the company’s €15 million seed round. Dutch regional development agency BOM, VC firms Borski Fund and NextGen Ventures, and Dutch health insurer CZ’s venture fund also participated. Invest-NL backed lab-grown meat startup Mosa Meat’s €15 million investment round in December.
  
• Keep reading. 

Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

• Raven Indigenous Capital Partners invested in Bim Bam Boo, which makes bamboo-based tissue paper products as a sustainable alternative to tree-based tissue. Bim Bam Boo’s female founder is from the Houma Nation of Southeastern Louisiana Territory. (Raven Indigenous Capital Partners)
  
• Standard Chartered issued a €1 billion green bond, its first, to finance renewable energy and green building projects in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. (Standard Chartered)
  
• Invest Chattanooga, a semi-public investment organization, inked a joint-investment partnership with American South Capital Partners to build mixed-income housing in the Tennessee city (see, “American South Capital raises $60 million for affordable housing in the US South”) . (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

Impact Voices: Deploy!

Two living shoreline projects demonstrate the value of resilient capital stacks. In the coastal town of Crisfield, Md., a $36 million flood mitigation project has been in limbo since the Trump Administration abruptly terminated its funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, last April. Across the Chesapeake Bay, a similar project that won the same FEMA grant is moving forward in south Baltimore. “The reasons why say a lot about financing local, resilient green projects,” writes HIP Investor’s Nick Gower in his latest post ImpactAlpha. Crisfield’s Southern Flood Mitigation Project had relied primarily on the federal grant. Baltimore’s Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative is blending multiple sources of capital, including local public dollars, regional and federal grants, philanthropic capital, and some form of revenue or cost-recovery. “Ultimately, the difference between the two projects is not just how they are funded,” says Gower, “but how well they are positioned to endure the volatility that defines the coastal future.” 

• Object lesson. Last month, a federal district court ordered the reinstatement of FEMA BRIC grants, including funding for the Crisfield site, though if and when the Trump administration will release the money remains to be seen. The Crisfield project has been significantly delayed. In Baltimore, the Middle Branch Resiliency Initiative was able to keep the project moving, albeit at a slower pace, by tapping other funding sources. Time-limited public grants leave projects exposed to shifting political priorities, Gower says. If funding falls through, “contractors may pause work, community trust can erode, and design compromises may be made to fit shrinking budgets.”

• Broad coalition. Projects that blend public, private and philanthropic capital – and those that plan for future revenue generation – are better prepared to continue developing after the ribbon-cutting. Good project design anticipates future needs, often by tying a portion of local savings or avoided damages back into the project. A stronger capital stack built around a broad coalition brings different resources and risk appetites. “This shared ownership spreads financial and political risk,” writes Gower. “More actors are invested in keeping the project funded, maintained and aligned with evolving community needs, making it easier to pivot when climate conditions, regulations or funding cycles change.”
  
• Keep reading, “Two living shoreline projects demonstrate the value of resilient capital stacks,” by HIP Investor’s Nick Gower. 

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Ownership Works welcomes Marion Stattler, previously with Ford Motor Co., as a principal on the nonprofit’s client advisory team… Bridge Investment Group promotes Lindsay Clark to sustainability and responsibility director… Bridge Housing Corp. appoints Erik Lund as chief financial officer… Bridget Michalowski, previously with Arctaris Impact Investors, joins Clean Energy Ventures as investor relations manager. 

New York State Insurance Fund is looking for a sustainable investing manager… Impact Capital Managers seeks a programs and operations associate… BlueMark has an opening for an impact investing senior analyst… Developing World Markets is recruiting a lead for South and Southeast Asia and an impact associate… Blue Forest is on the hunt for an investment associate and an events coordinator.

60 Decibels is accepting applications to conduct fully-funded impact studies on behalf of off-grid energy companies in Africa that the organization has not previously worked with… Nia Community Foundation is hosting the “He for She Awards” to celebrate male leaders supporting women in asset management, Wednesday, Jan. 28, in San Francisco.

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

Thank you for your impact!

– Jan. 12, 2026