The Week in impact investing: Agentic

TGIF, Agents of Impact! 

• Roundup: The human agency of Agents of Impact
• Podcasts: Krisztina Tora’s Women Changing Finance podcast joins the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network
• Spotlight: Obvious Ventures finds impact alpha in “world positive” investing

🗣 Unorganized-organized. Machine-learning models intended to mimic human problem solving would do well to train on what journalist Robert Worth in The Atlantic called the “meticulous urban choreography of civic protest” that has played out in Minneapolis. The AI agents now flooding out of Silicon Valley startups have nothing on the all-too-human agents, more protectors than protesters, who are witnessing and documenting the militarized raids and their consequences. Without central direction, thousands of people have been trained, protocols established and Signal chats activated, Worth writes, describing “an undertow of hope that Minnesota can provide the rest of the country with a model of democratic resistance.” One street monitor with a blue whistle told him, “It’s kind of unorganized-organized.”

A similarly distributed yet collective response is emerging to help the new generation of impact fund managers weather the years-long fundraising drought. Some LPs are fulfilling their leadership potential by providing support “beyond the check,” Erik Stein reported, from working capital loans and warehousing facilities, to warm introductions and shared “social capital.” SustainVC’s Schuyler Lance explained that the Philadelphia-based fund manager hasn’t moved upmarket to ever-bigger funds because early-stage capital matters most. Contributor Danielle Rossingh reported on the pushback from some European impact investors against the inclusion of military and defense spending in the definition of impact investing. That prompted a clarification from Sir Ronald Cohen that, while investments in defense are critical, he doesn’t consider them impact investments (see his Q&A with Danielle).   

Markets themselves are a form of organized disorganization. Jessica Pothering wrote about issuers of “blue bonds,” who are seeking to build a market to finance ocean health. Lucy Ngige profiled Energea, which lets US retail investors with as little as $100 acquire slices of solar and storage projects for schools, health clinics, small businesses and residents in South Africa, Brazil, Kenya and Colombia. The market’s mispricing of environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities, wrote Clearwater’s Joanna Daley and Anuj Shah of Grant Thornton Stax, present an opportunity to “communicate performance in investor-grade terms.” The city of Philadelphia topped a new index from Keepingly for homeownership preservation because “it treats repair as infrastructure, not charity, and backs that approach with capital, programs and execution,” Keepingly’s Daniel Smith told Roodgally Senatus.

In AI terms, “agentic” refers to the ability of models to act independently and purposefully. Agents of Impact have far more agency. At this week’s He for She awards, Nia Impact Capital’s Kristin Hull called for a movement to budge the tiny share of total financial assets managed by women-owned firms. In Minneapolis, McKnight Foundation’s Tonya Allen urged foundations and impact investors to call out the excessive use of force, curtailment of civil liberties, and undermining of democracy. “Other parts of society don’t have the independence or flexibility to act quickly and forcefully, but we do,” Allen wrote, “and that means we have a special responsibility to lead.” – David Bank

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact. Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How some LPs are going “beyond the check” to help impact GPs navigate the tough fundraising landscape; opportunities for US retail investors to buy slices of solar projects in Africa and Latin America; and recognizing men who champion women in asset management. Plus, Kat Taylor’s new spin on a Bob Dylan classic.

• Listen to the new episode of This Week in Impact. Get the podcast in your feed by subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

👩‍🏫 Women Changing Finance. Women Changing Finance, hosted by GSG Impact’s Krisztina Tora, joins the ImpactAlpha Podcast Network with conversations with women driving social and environmental impact through financial innovation. In this episode, Krisztina speaks with Carolyne Kirabo of Uganda-based M-Kyala Ventures about transforming capital flows to women-led businesses in Africa. 

• Listen and subscribe on Spotify or Apple.

📯 Criterion Institute Podcast: How we learn to let go, listen and pivot. Host Joy Anderson reflects on the power of letting go of beliefs, assumptions and fixed identities that may no longer serve us, and offers an example of that clarity in practice: the decision to postpone Criterion’s next “Convergence” gathering.

• Tune in.

The Week’s Spotlight

Obvious Ventures finds an obvious edge in ‘world positive’ solutions. Call it impact. Call it sustainability. Call it “world positive”. Obvious Ventures, co-founded by Twitter and Medium co-founder Ev Williams, is among a handful of San Francisco-based venture and private equity firms, finding opportunities for financial outperformance, or alpha, in megatrends such as decarbonization, mobility and health, even if they don’t call themselves impact investors. Obvious this week closed its fifth fund at $360,360,360, defying the fundraising drought. With the new fund, Obvious will continue backing early-stage companies across the three pillars of planetary, human and economic health. “We love the metaphor of taking a 360-degree view in each of those areas,” Obvious Ventures’ James Joaquin told TechCrunch. “We made it to fund five, which is actually a big deal in the venture landscape,” 

• Ups and downs. Obvious’ most widely known exit is the plant-based meat company Beyond Meat, which reached a market capitalization of more than $14 billion following its 2019 IPO (BYND’s current market value: $352 million). The Obvious portfolio also includes payroll platform Gusto, valued at $9 billion, and satellite imagery provider Planet Labs, which went public via a special purpose acquisition company and is now valued at $8.5 billion. Another investee, electric schoolbus maker Proterra, also went public via a SPAC – and then went bankrupt in 2023. The firm’s current holdings include Zanskar, which uses data and AI to identify geothermal energy sources.
  
• Sustainability trends. Other San Francisco-based firms are finding similar success with tech-enabled solutions to the kinds of major challenges identified in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. San Francisco-based Fifty Years raised its third fund in 2023 to deploy in “deep tech” addressing the SDGs (see, “Big swings at big challenges”). Last month, 50 Years invested in AI-powered drug discovery startup OnePotAI. The $30 billion sustainable asset manager Generation Investment Management, officially based in London with its major US office in San Francisco, has ridden what it calls the “sustainability megatrend” (see, “Ten slides that chart the bumpy road to the sustainable future”). Its portfolio includes energy fintech M-KOPA and eco-friendly household goods company Seventh Generation.
  
• Keep reading and catch up on all of this week’s dealflow reporting.

The Week’s Talent and Jobs

💼 See and share more than a dozen new impact jobs posted this week on ImpactAlpha’s Career Hub and view hundreds of more jobs in impact investing and sustainable finance. Have a job listing to post? Submit it here.

Darren Walker, the former president of the Ford Foundation, was appointed president and chief executive of Anonymous Content, a media production company backed by Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective… Priyaka Dhingra, previously with the Principles for Responsible Investment, became head of impact and sustainable finance… Jackie VanderBrug stepped down as head of sustainability strategy of Putnam Investments, now part of Franklin Templeton… Fabienne Blanc is retiring after 15 years at SOCAP Global.

John Hoeppner was promoted to head of strategic relationships and active ownership at Builders Vision… Noveena Padala, former summer fellow at CapShift, joined New Leaf Climate Partners as an investment associate… Zenith Wealth Partners welcomed Nina Milligan, previously with Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, as an associate advisor… The Philips Foundation appointed Bert van Meurs of Image Guided Therapy to its board of directors… Betty Francisco, after nearly five years as CEO of Boston Impact Initiative, will begin a three-month sabbatical next month. Lubna Maria Elia will step up as interim CEO. 

Cambridge Associates appointed Alice Blackorby as associate investment director of sustainable and impact investing… Aurum Impact welcomed Birgit Handl, previously with the German Energy Agency, as an investment analyst… Adriana Gadala-Maria Ochi was promoted to principal at Halogen Ventures… Jessica Sun, formerly with Spring Point Partners, joined Maycomb Capital as an investment associate… Oui Capital tapped Pius Bankong, previously with Stead Money, as an investment associate… Carissa Sanchez was promoted to senior associate at Raven Indigenous Capital Partners… Sucharita Varanasi, previously with MassMutual, joined Nonprofit Finance Fund as general counsel. 

Walmart heir Lukas Walton stepped up to executive chairman of Builders Vision; Matt Knott, president and COO, will serve as interim CEO while a search is underway… Greentown Labs appointed Julia Travaglini as head of its Boston incubator… The Hive Fund for Climate and Gender Justice tapped Stuart Clarke, previously with the William Penn Foundation, as program director… Amelia Ahl, former fractional director of impact at The Builders Fund, joined Transform Finance as an impact measurement advisor… Gaby Wagener-Sobrero was promoted to environmental justice program director at the Chicago Department of Environment.

NY Green Bank welcomed Natalie Trojan, previously with the US DOE Loan Programs Office, as managing director of its business development innovation team… Social Finance added Olivia Grinker, former venture fellow with Zeal Capital Partners, as head of investor relations for the firm’s Impact First Fund… CapShift welcomed Benedikt Kramer, previously with BlueMark, as business development senior director… Nadia Scharen-Guivel, investment director at the US International Development Finance Corp., joined NESsT as an investment committee member. 

At Elemental Impact, Avra van der Zee stepped down as chief operating officer for a leadership role at a global climate and human health venture fund. Danya Hakee, currently vice president of portfolio and investments, will become COO, and Mitch Rubin, senior director of investments and innovation, will become managing director of portfolio and investments.

That’s a wrap. Have a wonderful weekend. 

– Jan. 30, 2026