Global Fund for Coral Reefs blends opportunity and urgency to finance ocean resilience (Q&A)
Reefs are investable. As the value of the world’s disappearing coral reefs becomes abundantly clear, so too does the value of techniques and …
Tagged with: 2030 Finance
Catalyzing local investment and liquidity models to meet Africa’s sustainable finance needs
This past month’s extreme flooding in Kenya, heatwave in West Africa and drought in Southern Africa reveal a continent on the frontlines of …
Blending Billions: Lessons from more than three dozen big blended finance transactions
In a world in which the UN SDG financing gap continues to grow, we face a double hurdle: blended finance is still struggling …
ABC Impact's team.
Temasek’s ABC Impact rakes in $550 million for its second private equity fund
ImpactAlpha, January 25 — ABC Impact, the independently managed private equity impact investment firm owned by Temasek was launched in 2019 to take …
India’s AquaExchange nets $6 million to meet growing demand for farmed seafood
ImpactAlpha, Jan. 25 – Global consumption of farmed fish is on the rise, and India is the second largest producer. AquaExchange’s app offers …
How investors are moving from “alignment” to “contribution” to the UN Global Goals
From the time that the UN Sustainable Development Goals were adopted in 2015, private finance was seen as a key component of financing …
Photo by Sitra / Minna Hemmila.
Sir Ronald Cohen’s Apax Partners closes $900 million global impact fund
ImpactAlpha, December 12 — Born in Egypt to a Jewish family that emigrated to the UK, Sir Ronald Cohen in 1972 launched Apax …
Photo by Congruent Ventures.
Congruent Ventures rakes in $275 million for its third climate tech fund
ImpactAlpha, December 7 — The San Francisco-based fund received bids of more than a half-billion dollars from endowments, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and …
Allianz’s SDG Loan Fund leverages a $25 million guarantee to catalyze $1.1 billion
A novel financing mechanism has stacked a small guarantee and a larger first-loss reserve to raise $1 billion from the German insurance giant …
Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash
Making impact real, or: How I learned to stop worrying and love values investing
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha contributing editor Imogen Rose-Smith, a longtime senior writer for Institutional Investor, contributes a bi-weekly column on the policies, practices and strategies of the …
Katni, INDIA
Investing in ‘meaningful connectivity’ to a better internet in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Heads of state from around the world gathered at the UN Headquarters in New York last week to review the implementation of the …
CH4 Global raises $29 million to reduce livestock methane emissions
ImpactAlpha, September 5 — The roughly 1.5 billion cows on the planet burp and fart more than 150 million tons of methane per …
Pro Mujer CEO Carmen Correa with a client | Photo credit: Pro Mujer
With gender bonds, Pro Mujer puts Argentina’s capital markets to work for female entrepreneurs
ImpactAlpha, Aug. 21 – The amounts are small, but the implications could be profound. When micro lender Pro Mujer earlier this year distributed …
Photo: Mark Blyth @MkBlyth
BlackRock’s latest move has climate advocates asking, ‘What’s up with Larry Fink?’
ImpactAlpha, July 19 – Larry Fink has jumped from the frying pan into the fire. Last month, the BlackRock CEO said he was …
Forget ESG. The greening of the global economy is a boon for institutional investors.
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha contributing editor Imogen Rose-Smith, a longtime senior writer for Institutional Investor, contributes a bi-weekly column on the policies, practices and strategies of …
Amy Novogratz and Mike Velings | Photo by Aqua-Spark.
Aqua-Spark secures €15 million from Silverstrand Capital for sustainable aquaculture
ImpactAlpha, December 5 — Utrecht-based impact fund Aqua-Spark has secured a €15 million ($15.8 million) investment from Singapore-based family office Silverstrand Capital. The …
SMEs in a learning workshop at Ashesi University in Ghana | Photo by C3.
C3 provides catalytic capital to accelerate the deployment of… catalytic capital
ImpactAlpha, November 23 — The Catalytic Capital Consortium, or C3, has awarded nearly $1.4 million in grants to Village Capital, Pacific Community Ventures, …
Photo by AdobeStock.
Ocean 14 Capital raises €100 million to advance the blue economy
ImpactAlpha, September 12 — Investing in sustainable and regenerative oceans is a multi-trillion-dollar global opportunity that could create 40 million jobs by 2030, …
Impact investors collaborate to amplify the impact of their catalytic capital
Editor’s note: This blog is part of ImpactAlpha’s series, “Seeding Impact,” authored by participants in the Catalytic Capital Consortium (C3) Seeding Learning Labs. …
Photo by ANDREAS PEIN/LAIF/REDUX.
Generation Investment Management raises $1.7 billion sustainable solutions fund
ImpactAlpha, May 19 — Generation Investment Management has raised $1.7 billion for its fourth Sustainable Solutions Fund. The private equity fund is Generation’s …
Photo credit: Opinio Juris.
WaterEquity secures $153 million for water and sanitation impact
ImpactAlpha, April 4 — A subsidiary of Matt Damon’s Water.org, WaterEquity backs microfinance institutions along with micro-utilities, toilet manufacturers and water kiosks to …
Photo credit: Summa Equity.
Summa Equity closes third SDG impact fund at $2.6 billion
ImpactAlpha, January 24 — Summa Equity launched in 2016 to invest in companies working to solve the global challenges identified in the U.N. …
Photo credit: Food52.
Impossible Foods raises $500 million for plant-based products and global expansion
ImpactAlpha, November 29 — Redwood City, Calif.-based Impossible Foods is leveraging “the power of the food system to satisfy consumers and fight climate …
Photo credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images.
Citi issues $1 billion social finance bond for emerging markets
ImpactAlpha, November 1 — Citi has issued a $1 billion bond to advance social impact in emerging markets. Proceeds from the bond will …
Photo credit: Ayana
CDC Group invests $70 million in BP-backed climate fund for India
ImpactAlpha, October 25 – Momentum behind green infrastructure is growing in India, even though the country has yet to update its ‘nationally determined …
Photo credit: JOLT.
BlackRock takes a stake in JOLT to accelerate electric vehicle adoption in Australia
ImpactAlpha, August 30 — Australia is way behind in the global electric vehicle race. Sydney-based JOLT believes it can accelerate EV adoption with …
Gresham House sustainable forest fund raises $175 million
ImpactAlpha, August 26 — Investors are starting to stockpile carbon as prices per ton curve upward (see, “Forget crypto: Here’s how to play …
Photo credit: NotCo.
Chilean plant-based food producer NotCo raises $235 million
ImpactAlpha, July 27 — The Santiago-based company created Giuseppe, which uses artificial intelligence to identify plant-based ingredients as substitutes for animal-based products. Its …
Photo credit: Rivian.
Rivian rakes in $2.5 billion to commercialize electric pickups and SUVs
ImpactAlpha, July 27 — The Irvine, Calif.-based company plans to deliver its electric pickup trucks and SUVs to customers this fall and is …
Photo credit: National Geographic Society.
Hartree Partners and Wildlife Works tap voluntary carbon markets to finance forest protection
ImpactAlpha, July 27 — The partnership is an example of how rising prices for carbon credits are making more conservation initiatives investable (see, …
Photo credit: NEEF.
World Bank catastrophe bond for Jamaica to cover up to $185 million in disaster relief
ImpactAlpha, July 26 — The bond will allow the government of Jamaica to quickly secure capital for recovery and to respond more rapidly …
Photo credit: Mazars.
Ecosystem Integrity Fund closes $250 million sustainability tech fund
ImpactAlpha, July 14 — The San Francisco-based firm raised $100 million for its third fund in 2019 to invest in early- and growth-stage …
What we know about Rockefeller Foundation’s grand ambitions for distributed energy
ImpactAlpha, June 24 – The Rockefeller and IKEA Foundations this week jointly announced a commitment of $1 billion for off-grid energy development in …
Santiago, Chile
E-buses are accelerating e-mobility in Latin America
ImpactAlpha, June 3 – Fleets of zero-emission electric buses operating in Latin America were once a distant dream, especially for city dwellers commuting to …
Conservation of mangrove forests could get a boost from carbon credits
ImpactAlpha, May 6 – Farmers in Iowa and Illinois are getting $20 a ton for sequestering soil carbon. Tropical forests can collect $10 a …
Paris-based Tikehau Capital launches private equity decarbonization fund for North America
ImpactAlpha, April 29 – Tikehau Capital has raised $300 million for its first North America-focused fund to invest in businesses supporting the transition to …
Photo credit: Universal Hydrogen
Universal Hydrogen scores $20.5 million to green commercial aircraft
ImpactAlpha, April 26 – Universal Hydrogen is developing hydrogen-based powertrains to retrofit commercial aircraft. “Hydrogen is today the only viable fuel for getting …
Overheard at Phenix Capital: Making the connections between social and environmental impact
ImpactAlpha, April 1 – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calls the the E.U.’s ambitious plan to become carbon neutral by 2050, “our …
OurCrowd secures $50 million to invest in water and agtech ventures
ImpactAlpha, March 23 — Waterfund, a global water investment firm, is backing Israel-based venture investing platform OurCrowd. The company launched its first impact …
Pure Harvest secures a $50 million sukuk for Middle East greenhouse expansion
ImpactAlpha, March 16 — Abu Dhabi-based Pure Harvest Smart Farms launched in 2016 to provide locally-grown, sustainable food in the United Arab Emirates, …
Joint SDG Fund allocates $41 million to catalyze strategic financing for the SDGs
ImpactAlpha, March 1 — The United Nations’ Joint SDG Fund is aiming to bring together Wall Street and the growing focus on ESG, …
Ikea-backed foundation invests in fossil fuel-free equities and green steel
ImpactAlpha, February 24 – The IMAS Foundation, launched by Ikea’s founder, is committing €250 million to a fossil fuel-free public equities fund developed by …
Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition launches sustainability ‘rolling funds.’
ImpactAlpha, February 2 — Sustainable investing is hot. Possibly hotter: Rolling funds. Rather than requiring a fund manager to raise a full fund …
Intersect power raises $600 million to expand utility-scale solar in the U.S.
ImpactAlpha, February 1 – Solar power is the fastest-growing energy sector in the U.S. San Francisco-based Intersect Power has developed 1.7 gigawatts of solar …
Photo credit: Source Water
Breakthrough Energy Ventures doubles down on cleantech
ImpactAlpha, January 20 – Breakthrough Energy Ventures has raised an additional $1 billion to invest in up to 50 startups with potentially game-changing climate …