The Brief

The Brief: Staking workers to a share in the AI economy

ImpactAlpha · January 13, 2026

Greetings Agents of Impact!

Agents of Impact Call: The real returns of impact-first fund managers. Deep impact can come from unlikely bets. Fund managers able to back early-stage, novel solutions in tough markets with fit-for-purpose capital and necessary support can deliver big wins. Impact-first managers may (or may not) generate market-rate returns – or even impact alpha – but their first priority is addressing the problem to be solved. On this month’s Agents of Impact Call, Open Road Impact’s Caroline Bressan, Rhia Ventures’ Erika Seth Davies and other impact-first fund managers will explore the true costs – and returns – of impact-first investing, Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm London. RSVP today. 

In today’s Brief:

  • Shared ownership of the AI economy
  • Expanding EV charging in Latin America
  • Monitoring supply chains for climate resilience
  • Save the Children’s venture fund

Joseph Blasi: Give workers a stake in AI’s upside through state and federal ‘permanent funds’. As artificial intelligence reshapes the economy, the benefits of its productivity gains are predominantly flowing to a small group of wealthy owners and investors. Workers, meanwhile, bear the costs of the AI disruption, with little share in the upside. How can the gains of AI productivity be more fairly distributed? Rutgers University’s Joseph Blasi, a leading researcher on employee ownership for more than half a century, proposes a version of a sovereign wealth fund or funds, akin to Alaska’s Permanent Fund – fueled by data and AI rather than oil. Blasi has revised “The citizen’s share: Reducing inequality in the 21st century,” the book he co-authored over a decade ago. He argues for broad-based profit sharing and employee ownership, including shared ownership of the new means of production. Blasi spoke with ImpactAlpha about what a “citizen’s share” of AI could look like. “Right now, the priority is to develop capital ownership ‘homestead stakes’ by as many citizens as possible,” says Blasi, referring to the Homestead Act of 1862, which, though it excluded many enslaved and Indigenous people, gave citizens an ownership stake in government land.   

  • Sovereign wealth. State-level funds could raise money through bonds, borrow money, and invest in AI’s software, data and hardware infrastructure. States could also ask AI companies to issue to the fund 1% of their equity in stock options owned each year, Blasi says. Such a “homestead stake” in the AI economy would not prevent the displacement of workers by artificial intelligence, but it could mitigate some economic harms by giving displaced workers a share of productivity gains and profits. The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. is often cited as a real-world model for universal basic income, with annual cash dividends that can reach $12,000 for a family of four. Blasi proposes that payouts from an AI permanent fund would go at first to individuals most affected by AI, but over time would become a broader endowment for the public good. New Mexico’s $67 billion State Investment Council, the second-largest sovereign wealth fund among US states, covers the costs for more than one-quarter of all K-12 education in the state and for more than three-quarters of early childhood education. Norway’s $2.1 trillion sovereign wealth fund, also seeded with oil revenues, contributes about one-fifth of the country’s annual budget. President Donald Trump has floated the idea of creating a US sovereign wealth fund.
  • Human capital. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona has proposed a federal trust fund, funded by “AI-based revenue windfalls,” as well as fees on large-scale use of water, power, land and other public resources. Proceeds would support training and certification for workers in AI-enhanced jobs. “A commitment from employers to find ways to allow humans to complement AI tools and educate and prepare employees for new opportunities is essential,” Kelly’s report says. Entrepreneur Martin Smith, a founder of the annual Ownership Economy conference, says reskilling is insufficient in an AI world. He calls for a “citizen equity wallet” through which citizens (or permanent residents) “receive a small, rules-based stream of returns from a diversified pool of large firms.” Smith proposed two variants to fund the wallet: a mandatory 1% to 3% stake in large AI firms or an incentive-based approach that gets the same results with procurement preferences, tax credits and R&D support. “Ownership is the most direct way to share gains when production becomes less labor-intensive,” Smith writes.
  • Keep reading, “Joseph Blasi: Give workers a stake in AI’s upside through state and federal ‘permanent funds’,” by Roodgally Senatus and Amy Cortese.

Sponsored: JPMorganChase

How impact credit can unlock growth for small businesses in the ‘missing middle.’ “What does it take to turn promising small businesses into engines of opportunity for communities?” ask JPMorganChase’s Diana Kolar Leach and Annie Spencer in a post on ImpactAlpha. Their answer: Impact-oriented private credit. Businesses in the “missing middle” – too big for early-stage support but not yet a fit for banks or venture capital – can use impact credit to accelerate their revenues, and in turn, create jobs, build wealth and strengthen local economies. “Impact credit offers flexible, patient capital tailored to the needs of these businesses,” write Leach and Spencer. For the fund managers who provide such impact credit, philanthropic capital can help strengthen and de-risk the impact credit ecosystem, “lowering costs, reducing risk and increasing the chances of success and capacity to support small businesses.” 

Dealflow: Electrify Everything

Kayyak Ventures and Dalus Capital back Enerlink to expand EV charging in Latin America. Santiago-based Enerlink provides charging infrastructure and management software for commercial electric vehicle fleets. It has set up 3,000 charging points in Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Its roster of more than 180 clients includes Walmart, energy company Colbún, and long-distance bus operator Turbus. The company has raised a $3.1 million funding round to support its expansion into Brazil. Chilean venture firm Kayyak Ventures and climate-focused Dalus Capital in Mexico led the round. Chilean family office Inder and VX Ventures also participated. “Electrification is crucial for climate and public health in polluted cities, and offers significant cost savings for fleets,” Dalus Capital’s Gabriel Estrada told ImpactAlpha. 

  • EV adoption. EV sales are surging around the world, even if the US market has softened in the face of tariffs and policy headwinds. Chinese EV brands such as BYD, Geely and Great Wall Motors have introduced affordable electric and hybrid cars to the market. EV adoption has more than doubled in Latin America nearly every year since 2020, reaching about 445,000 by the end of 2024. Needed: More charging infrastructure, which lags EV sales. More than 90% of installed charging stations are in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. “The charging infrastructure is catching up, with new operators entering the market and Enerlink boosting their efficiency.” Estrada said. “Electric is the only long-term viable option.”
     
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Lightsmith Group backs Tive to climate-proof global supply chains. Shippers, logistics providers, retailers and other global supply chain players are making climate resilience a strategic priority. The shift is creating business opportunities for Boston-based Tive, which uses software and sensors to provide real-time supply-chain visibility. “As disruptions from weather and climate events become more frequent and severe, the reliability of global supply chains is becoming increasingly critical and challenging,” said Jay Koh of New York-based climate adaptation and resilience investor Lightsmith, which led Tive’s latest $20 million financing round. “Tive delivers the ground-truthing data and insight needed to navigate the increasing complexity of the supply chain and support climate resilience.”

Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

  • Xepelin, which offers financial services for small and mid-sized enterprises in Chile, secured $20 million from Nazca Ventures and other backers as it looks to expand in Mexico. (FinteChile)
  • ResponsAbility provided a $15 million line of credit to Benin-based commercial bank NSIA Banque to expand green lending for local enterprises, green agriculture and clean energy projects. (responsAbility)
  • Equitable Earth in Paris snagged €12.6 million ($15 million) in a round led by an undisclosed US-based family office for its nature-based carbon credits certification program. (Equitable Earth)

Impact Voices: Child-Lens Investing

Save the Children pivots to impact investing amid aid cuts. Global development and foreign aid dollars were in decline even before the second Trump administration took a sledgehammer to USAID (see, “USAID crisis forces a reckoning – and remaking – of international development”). To try and fill the gaps, international humanitarian organizations have been dipping their toes into venture investing. What began as experimentation – from the International Rescue Committee’s Airbel Impact Lab to early and continuing efforts at Mercy Corps Ventures – has evolved into a more explicit embrace of venture capital, impact investing and market-building tools. “Traditional project-based grants can no longer be the sole tool in our toolbox when official development assistance is shrinking and humanitarian needs are rising,” Save the Children Global Ventures’ Paul Ronalds writes in a guest post. The organization’s venture fund, he says, “moves our organization beyond grant implementation to become a catalytic investor and market influencer.” 

  • Market shaping. Save the Children spun out the venture fund three years ago to finance businesses that deliver essential services to underserved families in low- and middle-income countries, with a focus on healthcare, nutrition and early childhood development. Its first fund received backing from Save the Children Australia, the QBE Insurance Foundation and other foundations and family offices. Like UNICEF, which launched its own venture fund, Save the Children uses a child-lens to assess its deal pipeline. Ronalds says that expanding the organization’s investments has redefined its definition of success. “Instead of counting outputs within a grant cycle, we assess whether an approach can reach breakeven, attract follow-on capital, and continue serving households at scale.” He calls on more investors to crowd in “to ensure that the gains of the past two decades are not reversed, but rather accelerated.”
  • Keep reading, “Save the Children pivots to impact investing amid aid cuts,” by Save the Children Global Venture’s Paul Ronalds.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Albuquerque Community Foundation welcomes Jenifer Garcia-Mendoza, formerly with El Puente de Encuentros, as community engagement and development manager… World Fund adds Hannah Hedberg as an executive assistant… Filsan Farah steps down as fund manager of Weave Community Capital Fund… SVX seeks an advisor for its impact index advisory group… ClimateWorks Foundation is looking for a senior project manager. 

The Rockefeller Foundation is looking for a vice president of catalytic finance in New York… Greentown Labs is hiring a chief of staff… Spring Impact Capital is on the hunt for an investment associate… AdventHealth is recruiting a senior environmental sustainability analyst… CareQuest Innovation Partners has an opening for an impact investing director… Capital Impact Partners is looking for a chief risk officer. 

Apis & Heritage Capital Partners seeks an associate director of private credit… The student-run Stanford GSB Impact Fund is accepting applications from early-stage impact founders looking for seed and Series A funding… Elevance Health Foundation launches a behavioral health request for proposals from community-based nonprofit organizations providing mental health and substance use care.

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

Thank you for your impact!

– Jan. 13, 2026