Latin America: Latimpacto and partners launch initiative to support Amazon bioeconomy
Ukraine: $250m fund to back tech startups in Ukraine and Moldova launches
UK: Social investments in UK reach £8bn in 2021 but uncertainty looms, warns Big Society Capital
Global: Circular economy fund investments rocket in 2021 – new report
Global: Direct 1% of world’s wealth to Global South to create inclusive economy, G20 leaders urged
Global: GIIN partners with Paypal and Visa to boost corporate impact investing
Eastern Europe: NESsT and partners commit $3m to deploy ‘power of social entrepreneurship’ for refugees in Poland and Romania
More impact finance news in brief
Latin America: Latimpacto and partners launch initiative to support Amazon rainforest bioeconomy
Latimpacto, IMPAQTO and the Amazon Investor Coalition have launched a partnership to mobilise capital to support the Amazon rainforest’s bioeconomy.
The Pan-Amazon Impact Ecosystem Program intends to use philanthropy, investment and corporate procurement to support decarbonisation, ecosystem regeneration and conservation in the region.
The partners, which together represent thousands of investors in Latin America and around the world, will bring together key organisations in finance and impact, publish reports to highlight new blended finance mechanisms and finance opportunities, and support entrepreneurship and innovation.
The initiative will also produce a “toolkit” to help philanthropists allocate patient capital towards climate action and economic development that drives ecological regeneration.
“The most viable path to outcompete the deforestation economy is to increase the economic competitiveness of forests with community wellbeing at the centre,” said Jonah Wittkamper, CEO and co-founder of the Amazon Investor Coalition.
He added: “Developing a forest-positive Amazon bioeconomy is the highest-leverage climate stabilisation investment opportunity in the world at this time. Together we can ensure that the rainforest is worth more standing and alive, than cut and burned.”
Maria Carolina Suárez, CEO of Latimpacto, said: “This strategic partnership reflects our ongoing commitment to creating new innovative mechanisms that facilitate the strategic flow of capital for impact”
Ukraine: $250m fund to back tech startups in Ukraine and Moldova launches
A new $250m fund has been launched to invest in tech startups in Ukraine and Moldova, the first of its kind since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to its managing firm.
Backed by The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the Zero Gap Fund – an impact investing collaboration between the Rockefeller Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation – among others, the fund has raised $125m on first close.
The fund was launched by Horizon Capital, a Kyiv-based private equity firm that has been investing in growth companies in Eastern Europe since 2006.
Horizon Capital claims this is the first fund of its kind for Ukrainian and Moldovan startups since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February.
Moldova is estimated to have hosted more Ukrainian refugees per capita than any other country.
Lenna Koszarny, Horizon Capital’s Founding Partner and CEO, said: “Ukraine needs partners who believe in the country, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its people, who are leading the way, and who leave no stone unturned to ensure that investment capital is available right now, not when hostilities end.
“Ukrainians must have access to sufficient resources to lead the economic rebound, renewal and revitalization of their country.”
Dr Rajiv J Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, said: “At a moment when Ukraine is fighting for its freedom, the Rockefeller Foundation is proud to support, through our Zero Gap Fund, the Ukrainian businesses that have proven critical to the nation’s resilience and will prove critical to its future.”
“Given the war’s continued ramifications on global markets, as well as the billions whose access to food has been upended by the crisis, keeping Ukraine running and getting it back up to speed are essential to our institution’s century-long commitment to lifting up humanity.”
UK: Social investments in UK reach £8bn in 2021 but uncertainty looms, warns Big Society Capital
Social investments in the UK have grown by 22% to a total of nearly £8bn in 2021, “on track” to reach Big Society Capital’s target of scaling the market to between £10bn and £15bn by 2025. However, the UK’s “wholesale social investor” acknowledged that economic uncertainty made it hard to predict future growth.
The latest social investment market sizing report produced by Big Society Capital shows the market has grown nearly tenfold in ten years, from £830m in 2011 to £7.9bn in 2021. In 2021 alone, approximately 1,300 social investment deals were agreed, for a total of about £1.6bn.
Stephen Muers, CEO of Big Society Capital, told Pioneers Post he was “pretty pleased” by the figures that showed the social investment market was “on track” to reach the target set last year.
But the cost of living crisis, added to the economic volatility in the UK following the government’s fiscal announcement on Friday, made it difficult to know how the market would behave in the next few years.
Read more on Pioneers Post.
Global: Circular economy fund investments rocket in 2021 – new report
Capital committed to circular economy impact funds worldwide launched in 2021 reached a record €12.7bn, nearly four times 2020 figures, according to a new report from impact investing consultancy firm Phenix Capital.
Meanwhile, the number of new circular economy funds launched each year has grown five-fold between 2018 and 2021, going from 8 to 40. Between 2015 and 2018, the number of such funds launched each year averaged nine.
The recent interest in circular economy funds – impact funds investing in companies promoting reuse and recycling, a sustainable use of resources and waste reduction – is likely to be linked to rising investor appetite for impact investing generally, and for environmentally-focused funds in particular, Phenix Capital investment consulting analyst Maria Gil told Pioneers Post.
Read more on Pioneers Post.
Global: Direct 1% of world’s wealth to Global South to create inclusive economy, G20 leaders urged
Professor Bambang Brodjonegoro – co-chair of T20
At least 1% of global wealth – more than $500tn – should be directed towards Global South countries to help them recover from the Covid-19 pandemic and meet the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s heads of state have been told.
Earlier this month, the Global South Impact Community, a network of leaders from public, private and philanthropic institutions, primarily from developing countries, published a statement ahead of the G20 annual summit in Bali, Indonesia, in November.
The statement called for the world’s leaders to create a new, more inclusive global economic model which removes the imbalance between developed and developing countries.
Read more on Pioneers Post.
Global: GIIN partners with Paypal and Visa to boost corporate impact investing
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) has partnered with PayPal, Visa Foundation and the TELUS Pollinator Fund for Good to get more companies involved in impact investing around the world.
The GIIN’s corporate impact investing initiative will help companies keen to meet environmental and social goals to use their financial assets to invest in impact. The “multi-year effort” will include working groups and research intended to inform and develop corporate impact investing. In particular, the initiative will produce “a landscape report on the use of impact investing vehicles and partnerships as a means to pursue corporate environmental and social objectives”.
Amit Bouri (pictured), CEO & co-founder at the GIIN, said the initiative was “dedicated to re-defining ‘business as usual’ when it comes to corporate investing and asset management.”
Read more on Pioneers Post.
Poland/Romania: NESsT and partners commit $3m to deploy ‘power of social entrepreneurship’ for refugees in Poland and Romania
Two corporate foundations are teaming up with impact investing specialist NESsT to help enterprises in Poland and Romania create more jobs for refugees.
Ikea Social Entrepreneurship and Cisco Foundation are joining NESsT, which has been active in central and eastern Europe for 25 years, to launch the NESsT Refugee Employment Initiative. This will provide finance and business support to 15 organisations, aiming to benefit more than 5,000 people.
The partners have made an initial commitment of US$3m. Eligible for the programme are social enterprises and small and medium-sized businesses that provide refugees with career training and job opportunities, and “wraparound” services such as mental health support, language classes and childcare.
Read more on Pioneers Post.
More impact finance news in brief:
- US: Lukas Walton, heir of retail giant Walmart, has committed 90% of the $1bn held in his family’s foundation, the Builders Initiative Foundation, to “mission-related investments”.
- England: Big Issue Invest is offering loans of up to £150,000 for social enterprises and charities in England. Funding ranging from £20,000 to £150,000 can be used to finance measures such as insulation or heat pumps to keep costs down, as well as to install renewable energy equipment.
- US: Ford Foundation, Bank of America and PayPal are among investors in the $126m Kapor Fund III, which will invest in impact-led tech startups that support low-income communities and communities of colour.
- Global: London-based impact fund Ocean 14 has raised €10m from the Constitutional Reserve Fund of Monaco to invest in eight growth-stage companies operating in the Blue Economy, TechFundingNews reported.
- Scotland: Social Investment Scotland has launched a £1m fund to support social enterprises and communities in the north-east of Scotland that support the region’s net zero objectives.
- Nordics: More than a quarter of all venture capital investment in the Nordics go to impact startups, according to Dealroom data. That puts them among the most impact-focussed markets in the world.
- Global: Mirova, the impact investing arm of Natixis, has raised €1.6bn for Mirova Energy Transition 5, its fifth energy transition infrastructure equity fund.
- Kenya: Impact fund Spark+ Africa has provided a $2m loan to Kenya-based microfinance bank Suma to finance the purchase of clean cooking solutions, such as biogas, for an estimated 15,500 households.
- Global: The National Hemophilia Foundation, a global organisation funding inheritable blood disorders research, education and advocacy, has launched Pathway to Cures, a venture philanthropy fund to finance research on all blood disorders, including rare ones often overlooked. The fund starts with $3.5m in commitments, and targets $20m.
- Global: Impact investment manager BlueOrchard has launched the InsuResilience Investment Fund Private Equity II, a blended finance fund backed by KfW which will fund tech companies that make climate insurance more affordable and accessible.
- UK: Social investor SASC has invested £2.75m in Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid to buy homes to support women escaping domestic violence, and £380,000 in charity One Small Thing, to provide accommodation for women involved in the criminal justice system.
- US: The Tipping Point Fund on Impact Investing has awarded $450,000 to three organisations working to advance public policies related to the asset manager fiduciary duty to improve impact transparency and accountability. They include Americans for Financial Reform, the Shareholder Commons and the UN Principles for Responsible Investments.
- UK: Upturn, a social enterprise based in Oldham that aims to drive social mobility, has been awarded £195,000 in funding from the National Lottery Community Fund.
- Scotland: Grassmarket Community Project in Edinburgh, which supports people with multiple issues, has received investment of £375,000 from Foundation Scotland to extend its existing facilities and create a new café and activity space.
Top picture: the Amazon forest in Ecuador, credit: Jay via Wikimedia Commons
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Source: pioneerspost.com
