Beats
Inclusive Economy | May 1, 2024
Changing how capital flows through communities to improve health
This series of guest posts is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Latin America | May 1, 2024
BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group secures $1.2 billion for timberland in Latin America
Timberland Investment Group, a division of Brazilian bank BTG Pactual, closed its inaugural Latin America timberland fund with $860 million in 2015. The …
Impact Voices | May 1, 2024
Investment manager diversity matters when investing for health equity
Editor’s note: This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in …
Agrifood Tech | May 1, 2024
Renew Capital invests in Farm to Feed to curb food waste in Kenya
“Imperfect produce” startups that salvage fresh foods destined for the landfill can be found throughout the US and Europe. Nairobi-based Farm to Feed …
Catalytic Capital | May 1, 2024
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 …
Latin America | April 30, 2024
In Puerto Rico, mobilizing billions for economic mobility with capital from across the spectrum
Puerto Rico has a window in which to turn disaster recovery into economic revival. “We didn’t choose it, but this is our time,” …
Catalytic Capital | April 30, 2024
Blended finance rebounds in 2023 with focus on climate and bigger deals
Blended finance is back. The use of catalytic capital to de-risk renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, small business lending and health and education in …
ImpactAlpha Latin America | April 30, 2024
ImpactAlpha Latin America: Turning disaster into revival in Puerto Rico
Saludos, Agents of Impact! 👋 Welcome to the latest edition of ImpactAlpha Latin America. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to join Eduardo Carrera (above) in …
Dealflow | April 30, 2024
RSF Social Finance adds trio of ‘high-impact social enterprises’ to its loan portfolio
San Francisco-based fund manager RSF Social Finance has drawn capital from a social investment fund to allocate a combined $5.5 million to three …
Latin America | April 30, 2024
Latin American family offices add investing tools to philanthropic toolkit
Latin America is witnessing a transformative trend in family office philanthropy: the shift towards impact investing. Traditionally, philanthropy in the region has been …
Latin America | April 30, 2024
These impact investors are finding opportunities and doing deals in Latin America (videos)
How will more investors increase their allocations of capital to Latin American impact funds and ventures scale up? One by one. “We think …
ImpactAlpha Latin America | April 30, 2024
How Fundación Bancolombia invests in Colombia’s small businesses for rural economic development
Rural economic development is a complex issue, including in Colombia. Rural regions are often culturally diverse areas, but have limited access to quality …
ImpactAlpha Latin America | April 30, 2024
IMPAQTO Capital backs Ecuadorian healthy snacks company Cusi (video)
Cusi sources quinoa, yucca, green plantains, cocoa and other local plants for its line of healthy snack foods from 60 smallholder farmers and …
Corporate Impact | April 29, 2024
Better Brew: Josh Gotbaum on what the Starbucks fight means for labor – and impact
Who’s center-stage in this pivotal year for US organized labor? Amtrak Joe Biden, the self-proclaimed labor-friendliest president in history? More like the baristas …
Climate Finance | April 29, 2024
Investors re-up in carbon creditor South Pole after a turbulent year
South Pole appears to be steadying the ship after the fallout of an expose on “faulty credits” last March. The episode was a …
Investing in Racial Equity | April 29, 2024
Common Future accelerates leaders for worker ownership, housing rights and ‘cannabis justice’
Common Future is keying in on good jobs and sustainable livelihoods for its 2024 accelerator cohort. Among the 10 Black and Latina-led organizations …
Agents of Impact | April 26, 2024
Trenton Allen, Sustainable Capital Advisors: Bringing green infrastructure to Black and Brown communities (Q&A)
The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund is seeding green projects in primarily low-income communities by sending $27 billion through a network of nonprofit lenders. …
Dealflow | April 26, 2024
The Week’s Dealflow: April 25, 2024
ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week: Agrifood investing. Netherlands-based B Corp. Mosa Meat inked €40 million to begin tastings for its lab-grown beef products… …
Deploy! | April 25, 2024
Lenders face a steep learning curve in deploying capital for green community infrastructure
Green project developers and project finance skills have always been in short supply. Now, with $27 billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awards …
Impact Voices | April 25, 2024
Lessons from the Kellogg Foundation’s $310 million in mission-driven investments
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
Inclusive Economy | April 25, 2024
Addressing the broken child care system with impact investments
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
Financial Inclusion | April 25, 2024
Indian home lender Altum Credo’s $40 million round gives investors a partial exit
Pune, India-based Altum Credo provides mortgages for first-time homebuyers underserved by other financial institutions. Its digital underwriting and loan disbursement process offers five …
Latin America | April 25, 2024
IDB Lab backs small businesses in Paraguay and health access in Ecuador
The Inter-American Development Bank’s experimental venture funding group IDB Lab provided a $3 million anchor investment for iThink VC, an investment firm that …
Climate Finance | April 24, 2024
The climate transition and investment opportunities for family offices
This article is part of a partnership between ImpactAlpha and Mission Investors Exchange (MIE) to present new ideas and perspectives in impact investing. …
Return on Inclusion | April 24, 2024
FreeCap’s ‘decarceration index’ highlights companies outcompeting with fair-chance hiring
The US economy is generating more jobs than there are workers to fill them. To address shortages and compete for talent, companies like …
Impact Tech | April 24, 2024
Next Billion raises capital to invest in digital infrastructure and services in Latin America, Asia and Africa
The investment firm Next Billion Capital Partners funds tech ventures supporting access to basic services in emerging markets. It reached a first close …
Inclusive Economy | April 24, 2024
Deal spotlight: Connect Humanity blends finance to bring broadband to remote communities
The lack of high-speed Internet service in rural and mountainous regions of the US exacts a socio-economic toll, limiting access to jobs, education, …
Podcasts | April 24, 2024
Franchising indoor farms to build a billion dollars in Black wealth (podcast)
When one door closes, another one opens. For Zarû Systems’ Loren Taylor, that second door may open onto a self-contained modular vertical farm …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
With stakes in Anthropic, impact investors seek a seat at the AI table
Not long after last fall’s boardroom drama at OpenAI thrust issues of governance, stakeholders and mission into the debates over artificial intelligence, Omidyar …
Blockchain/AI/IoT | April 23, 2024
How impact investments in Anthropic can strengthen responsible innovation in tech
In the realm of AI discourse, much attention is directed towards fostering responsible development of the technology itself (e.g. Is it free from …
Dealflow | April 23, 2024
Upstart Co-Lab raises $15 million to invest in an inclusive creative economy
Upstart Co-Lab raised $15 million in a mix of mission and program-related investments and recoverable grants from 14 investors. Investors include the Andy …
Inclusive Economy | April 23, 2024
Tangent secures early funding to democratize referrals for UK tech workers
Less than 10% of the UK’s tech talent comes from lower-income backgrounds compared to nearly 30% in finance and 23% in law. An …
Deploy! | April 22, 2024
Greening down payment assistance to create better homes and better mortgages
Editor’s Note: Community Finance Brief is a newsletter from Matt Posner of Court Street Group, occasionally syndicated on ImpactAlpha. An enduring and perhaps …
Low-carbon transition | April 22, 2024
Science Based Targets Initiative meets realpolitik on the path to Net Zero
An apparent reversal by one of the main arbiters of corporate climate action plans has roiled climate activists and advocates and highlighted tensions …
Deploy! | April 22, 2024
For this Earth Day, the White House delivers a $7 billion message: Solar for All
“Cheaper, faster, better” is not just for affluent households or wealthy neighborhoods. Hundreds of millions in annual cost-savings from ever-cheaper solar energy, not …
Africa | April 22, 2024
IFC writes a $300 million check to Standard Bank for low-income housing and renewable energy in South Africa
South Africa is in the midst of a critical, years-long power crisis. The country also needs nearly four million new units of low-income …
Muni Impact | April 22, 2024
Michigan raises $53 million to green its healthcare services
Editor’s note: ImpactAlpha has partnered with HIP Investor to highlight upcoming bond issues with social and/or environmental significance. Disclaimer: Nothing in this post or on …
Dealflow | April 19, 2024
The Week’s Dealflow: April 19, 2024
ImpactAlpha’s deal news coverage for the week: Agrifood investing. Astarte Capital and Silvipar raised $325 million for sustainable forestry in Paraguay… Brazil’s goFlux …
Emerging and Growth Markets | April 19, 2024
Deal spotlight: African banks help Acre Impact Capital bridge gaps in infrastructure finance
It’s taken three years for Mauritius-based Acre Impact Capital to reach a first close for its first infrastructure finance fund. The firm is …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
A ‘dual debt-climate challenge’ for the world’s poorest nations
The Atlantic hurricane season looms large this year, following 2023’s record number of billion-dollar disasters in over four decades of data collection. For …
Catalytic Capital | April 18, 2024
Prime Coalition launches Trellis Climate to plug gaps for first-of-a-kind climate tech projects
Boston-based Prime Coalition has spent more than a decade identifying funding gaps for early stage climate tech and marshaling risk-tolerant capital to fill …
Climate Finance | April 18, 2024
Spring Meetings yield green shoots of development finance reform at the World Bank
It’s been less than a year since Ajay Banga took over as president of the World Bank; he immediately faced intense pressure to …
Dealflow | April 18, 2024
Medulance scores $3 million to bring medical emergency response services to India’s smaller cities
Indian healthtech investor Alkemi Growth Capital led a $3 million Series A investment in Medulance, a company founded in 2017 to make emergency …
Creative Economy | April 17, 2024
Shutdown of Participant challenges other investors to drive impact through film
When Ava DuVernay made her 2019 series, “When They See Us,” about the five Black teens convicted of a rape they didn’t commit, …
Ownership Economy | April 17, 2024
Colorado is demonstrating how states can accelerate conversions to employee ownership (video)
When Jared Polis became Colorado’s governor in 2019, he created an employee ownership office to incentivize and provide support for retiring owners to …