impact-investing
(99)
IDB Lab funds the missing middle of innovation
A promising idea is only the beginning. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, IDB Lab finances the awkward, expensive work of turning experiments into markets.
Illumen Capital bets on what bias misses
A fund manager can have the right numbers and still get the wrong reception. Illumen Capital invests in that gap, pairing capital with the work of changing how investors decide.
RH Capital bets on the patient everyone missed
A women’s health fund built a $43.5 million platform around overlooked needs. Its harder question: can the innovation reach the people who need it most?
Tamar Capital: Put the help on paper.
A family office discovered that helping founders one request at a time had limits. Its answer became a curriculum connecting design, impact, and finance.
The Future Found wants profit to pay for protection
Jax Harrison’s company connects technology investing with humanitarian response. Its most revealing detail is a plan to send up to 20% of company profits to the work of moving people to safety.
Coyote Ventures bets on the gaps in care
A former Impossible Foods scientist is backing the businesses that make healthcare easier to reach. The interesting part is how far beyond the exam room she looks.
Just Business puts purpose on the balance sheet
A drinks brand, a trucking technology and an anti-trafficking nonprofit share an investor. Just Business is betting that the connections between them matter as much as the companies themselves.
The climate bet needs a buyer.
Vectors Capital backs the machinery behind a cleaner economy. Its wager: a climate startup gets further when the investor, the engineer and the first customer are in the same room.
Make the invisible worker count.
Working Capital Fund backs the technology that helps businesses see who makes their products - and gives them a reason to improve the job.
Flourish Ventures is buying time
The fintech investor has $850 million and an unusually patient backer. Its bigger bet is that better financial services require a different kind of venture capital.
Rhia Ventures wants money to meet the patient
Women’s health has attracted more investors. Rhia Ventures is asking a harder question: what kind of money reaches the people still being left out?
Fifty Years bets on the scientist before the startup
A discovery can spend years waiting for a company. Fifty Years is trying to shorten that wait, with early checks, free founder training, and a practical education in getting science out of the lab.
Kapor Capital bets on the gaps
The Oakland venture firm looks for businesses that make money by widening access. Its most useful idea may be what happens after the check clears.
The People's Group: Who Gets to Own the Future?
Christine De La Rosa built a cannabis fund around the founders other investors overlooked. The proposition was practical: pair capital with the knowledge it takes to keep a business alive.
J-Impact Fund bets on the bottlenecks
A water pipe. A concrete pour. A battery that could earn more. J-Impact Fund looks for businesses that make essential systems work better - and make money doing it.
TRANSFORM VC starts at zero.
A venture firm betting on overlooked founders has a deceptively simple demand: pick one impact metric, and count from day one. Even when the answer is zero.
AiiM bets on the hard part
A working invention is only the beginning. AiiM Partners backs the awkward, expensive journey from proven technology to a business that customers can actually use.
Chasing Rainbows bets on the founders others miss
A venture fund built around LGBTQ+ founders makes a practical wager: knowing who gets overlooked can help you see a business before everybody else does.
Women’s World Banking: Make the account count
A bank account can sit idle for years. Women’s World Banking works on the harder problem: making financial services useful enough for women to use them.
VertueLab funds the awkward middle.
A climate prototype can attract a waiting list before it attracts the money to work at scale. VertueLab helps Pacific Northwest founders cross that gap - with patient capital, practical advice, and a place to meet.
Acasia learned to build the room
Cairo Angels began by putting founders in front of investors. As Acasia, it now builds the programs around them - from construction technology to businesses that protect the Red Sea.
IFC makes the next investor say yes.
The World Bank Group’s private-sector arm builds deals that other investors can join. Zambia’s solar auctions show the promise. A coal plant in India shows the price of getting the risks wrong.
Nex Cubed bets on the founders venture capital keeps missing
A free HBCU startup program exposed an expensive omission: promising founders still needed money. Nex Cubed answered with a venture fund, $120,000 initial investments and advisors paid to get their hands dirty.
BFA Global’s big idea: let the shopkeeper sell first
A minibus ride, a rejected delivery, a freezer paid for by the day. BFA Global finds the small frictions that keep businesses small - then helps build a way around them.
Cycle Capital bets on the parts that save power
A chip, a membrane, a better molecule: Cycle Capital backs the machinery behind a less wasteful economy. Its wager is that climate technology wins customers when it improves the bill as well as the planet.
yeswetrust wants your pitch to earn its introduction
A Swiss network has turned personal growth into an investor-readiness business. Its wager: the useful introduction begins before anyone enters the room.
Pomona Impact bets on the businesses banks overlook
Between a microloan and a venture-capital pitch lies a business that simply needs room to grow. Pomona Impact has built its investment practice around that awkward, productive middle.
Founders First Capital Partners: Grow the business. Keep the business.
A lender for overlooked service businesses has a simple proposition: borrow against revenue, keep your equity, and get help making the next dollar. The interesting part is what happens between the cheque and the repayment.
RevHub makes doing good a business proposition
Free incubation, small checks and a rather large network: RevHub is building an Orange County route from social ambition to a business that can pay its own way.
Quest Ventures bets on the space between markets
From a shared workspace in Singapore to $50,000 startup cheques in Kazakhstan, Quest Ventures has made a business of connecting founders to their next market. Its wager is that introductions, local knowledge and patient capital belong in the same package.