Returns On Investment

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: In the lead up to the COP30 climate summit, the state of climate blended finance is a mixed bag; the private credit jitters that are putting even impact investors on edge (10:55); and, a preview of next week's Agents of Impact call on mobilizing growth funds for growth firms in Africa and Asia (16:10).RSVP for next week's Call!Story links:“Institutional investors warm to blended climate finance even as foreign aid and catalytic capital declines,” by Erik Stein“⁠With Tropical Forests Forever fund, Brazil tries a new approach to slowing deforestation⁠,” by Erik Stein“⁠Debt bubble? Private credit jitters put even impact investors on edge⁠,” by Amy Cortese“With philanthropic capital, Growth Firms Alliance is mobilizing local pension funds around small-business financing,” by Lucy Ngige

As a former hedge fund investor, Eva Yazhari is comfortable making the contrarian bet. While other VC investors are swinging for grand slams with AI startups, Yazhari’s Beyond Capital Ventures is knocking down singles and doubles around the west Indian Ocean, one of the world’s fastest-growing regions. “The gap is where the alpha lives,” Yazhari told ImpactAlpha on the latest Agents of Impact podcast.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with CEO Dennis Price. Up this week: What was top of mind among innovators and investors at SOCAP; How community lenders are building rare bipartisan support to salvage gains for low income communities (09:35); And, a dual lens for due diligence and impact: investing with AI vs. investing in AI (15:55).Story links:“⁠⁠Community lenders muster bipartisan support to salvage gains for low-income communities⁠⁠,” by Amy Cortese with Roodgally Senatus. “⁠⁠Investing with AI, investing in AI: A dual lens for due diligence and impact⁠⁠,” by Paul Fehlinger.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The surprising resurgence of impact-first investing; How lawyers, yes lawyers, are working to simplify impact transactions: And, in Newark, new ideas surface for how to build a nation of owners.Story links:Impact-first call recap“Building a nation of owners with new financial products and fresh ideas,” by David Bank“Lawyers, yes lawyers, are trying to simplify impact transactions,” by Erik Stein

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank and reporter Lucy Ngige. Up this week: Trimtab's unapologetic impact-first pitch to wealthy families: outperformance on impact rather than financials; How the new Sendero Verde affordable housing development is bringing to life a vision for a community of opportunity in East Harlem (10:30); And, a vibe check from this year's GIIN Impact Forum (14:55).Story links:“Trimtab’s unapologetic pitch to wealthy families seeking outperformance – on impact,” by David Bank.‘Community of opportunity’: With Sendero Verde, Jonathan Rose’s affordable housing vision comes to life in East Harlem,” by Roodgally Senatus“At GIIN Impact Forum, institutional investors seek to chart a path forward,” by Dennis Price and Lucy Ngige.“ImpactAlpha’s Fall Tour: Equity, ownership and the path to shared prosperity,” by David Bank.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Ambitious plans for the US International Development Finance Corp., or DFC, are on hold pending congressional authorization; how debt and equity “growth funds” in Africa are tapping homegrown pension funds and family offices (11:20); and why youth  co-creators are the key to effectiveness in the new crop of AI-driven approaches to youth mental health challenges (18:05).Story links:“Bipartisan plans for a bigger, bolder US International Development Finance Corp. on hold as agency’s authorization lapses,” by Kristin Kelly Jangraw.“‘Growth funds’ in Africa are tapping local pension funds to reshape development finance,” by Lucy Ngige and David Bank.“Youth ‘co-creators’ are busting (adult) myths about AI and mental health,” by David Bank

Impact(ed) co-hosts Lucas Turner-Owens and Eric Horvath join David Bank to reflect on the evolving landscape of impact investing. They discuss the pendulum between values and business case for impact, the push for broader accessibility, and the diverse voices shaping season two of their show.Check out season two of Impact(ed) wherever you listen and on impactalpha.com

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editors David Bank and Amy Cortese. Up this week: At Neighborhood Economics in Chicago, entrepreneurship through acquisition and other promising ideas are filling out the playbook for shared prosperity; How ExxonMobil's new voting program for retail investors aims to change the balance of power in corporate governance. And, how reinsurer GreenieRE is bringing the concept of surety bonds to help scale climate tech investments.Story links:“Expanding ‘entrepreneurship through acquisition’ for inclusive wealth creation in the US and Canada,”“Investors who refuse to take a loyalty oath to ExxonMobil should decline to join its ‘retail voting program,’” by As You Sow’s Andrew Behar“GreenieRe sees ‘impact insurance’ surety bonds as the key to scaling climate tech,” by Amy Cortese

British International Investment CEO Leslie Maasdorp joins David Bank to share how the UK’s development finance institution is charting it's next five years, with a focus on climate finance, de-risking investments in emerging markets and innovative approaches that can crowd in private capital at scale.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with Amy Cortese and Dennis Price. Up this week: How investors at Climate Week NYC shook off the Trump doldrums (. And how, from Singapore to London, even fund managers that shun the label are driving alpha with impact (12:45).Story links:“At Climate Week NYC, investors look to shake off the doldrums and start deploying capital again,” by Amy Cortese.“Even for GPs that shun the label, ‘impact’ drives portfolio performance,” by Dennis Price.

As climate action shifts east and south, some would-be Climate Week attendees are staying away due to visa hassles, fears of invasive immigration procedures and risk of detention. The rollback of US climate policy likewise has global effects as the Trump administration strongarms nations into buying US gas and weakening climate policies and upends global trade with mercurial tariffs. “The Europeans are not buying it,” Carbon Tracker’s Mark Campanale told Amy Cortese on the latest Agents of Impact podcast. 

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Foundation leaders “unite in advance” of expected attacks in the supercharged political environment; how the carbon credit platform Rubicon Carbon is using diversification and ratings to strengthen the market for voluntary carbon credits (07:20); and the bumpy road to the sustainable future as charted by Generation Investment Management’s annual Sustainability Trends Report (15:05). Bonus: a preview of next week’s Agents of Impact interview with Carbon Tracker’s Mark Companele.Story links:“⁠Foundation leaders ‘unite in advance’ of expected attacks on spending and speaking⁠,” by David Bank.“Rubicon’s ‘all of the above’ plan to diversify and rate the market for carbon credits,” by Erik Stein.“Ten slides that chart the bumpy road to the sustainable future,” by Amy Cortese.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: The All Aboard Coalition's effort to mobilize $300 million for venture capital co-investments in first of a kind climate-tech projects; the role of fashion brands in supporting regenerative cotton in Peru (06:55); and why decentralized physical infrastructure networks, or DePINs, are a promising model for sustainable community services (11:00).Story links:“All Aboard Coalition mobilizes co-investments in climate tech as federal funding falters,” by Amy Cortese“Fashion brands step into the aid gap to back regenerative cotton in Peru’s Amazon,” by Erik Stein“A new model for digital infrastructure: Decentralized and community owned,” by Crypto Council for Innovation's Renee Pinto da Silva BartonMusic by Isaac Silk and DELOSound

Jacqueline Novogratz joins David Bank to discuss Acumen's evolution over 24 years, focusing on three key areas: patient capital, scale, and systemic change.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: ​​ How green lenders are scrambling to salvage investable deals as a federal appeals court maintains a Trump freeze on billions of dollars from the greenhouse gas reduction fund. Employee ownership takes a big leap forward as a company with 100,000 employees sells a 30% equity stake to an employee ownership trust (07:15). And, a look at fusion nuclear energy, a sector receiving the attention and billions of dollars of investments from family offices among other very patient investors (14:15).Story links:“⁠In-home caregivers get a stake in Consumer Direct Care Network as bigger companies discover employee ownership trusts⁠,” by Roodgally Senatus“Green lenders scramble to salvage deals as appeals court OKs freeze on accounts,” by David Bank and Amy Cortese“As fusion energy advances, so does its capital stack,” by Amy Cortese.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editors and journalists from our team. Up this week: Jessica Pothering discusses a new financing tool from Roots of Impact, Simple Agreement for Future Impact. Eric Stein joins from Medellín to talk about impact investing trends he's been seeing during recent travels across Latin America (8:30). And, Jessica shares how a medical oxygen company in East Africa managed to secure financing after the DFC reneged (16:40)."Forget SAFEs. Impact investors are incentivizing growth and impact with SAFIs," by Jessica Pothering and Erik Stein. “Peruvian impact investors are mobilizing capital for inclusive growth in the Amazon,” by Erik Stein"Kenya's Hewatele lands $10.5 million to produce medical oxygen locally, " by Lucy Ngige

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with ImpactAlpha editors and journalists. Up this week: Amy Cortese discusses the “billionaire buyers club” of wealthy donors buying up tons of carbon just to lock it away. Roodgally Senatus dishes on the big changes underway at Turner MIINT (7:45). And, dealflow editor Jessica Pothering runs down the impact deals and fundraises catching her eye this week (12:38).Story links:“⁠Billionaire Buyers Club: Wealthy donors are buying tons of carbon just to lock it away⁠,” by Amy Cortese“⁠Impact Capital Managers takes the helm of Turner MIINT to advance the next generation of impact investors⁠,” by Roodgally Senatus."⁠Grupo Gaia is bringing a Big Ag financing tool to Brazil’s smallholder farmers⁠," by Gilberto Lima.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: Can open deal data and standardized reporting might help fix blended finance? How the Singapore-based Tsao family office deploys its capital towards impact (10:00). And, goodbye accelerators, hello venture studios – how emerging market investors are helping startups survive the valley of death in reaching impact at scale (15:07).Story links:“Can AI collapse transaction costs and make high-impact investments viable at scale?” by Human Planet’s Florian Kemmerich.“Fix for blended finance: Open deal data and standardized reporting,” by Erik Stein“From Singapore, Tsao Family Office expands the LP pool for impact strategies in Africa,” by Jessica Pothering"These DIY investors are notching impact and exits with venture studios to build startups from scratch," by Lucy Ngige.

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David Bank. Up this week: How air capture aims to capture the market for carbon my cost effectively removing it from the air. How Boldline Capital seeks to meet the short term liquidity of impact and emerging fund managers (10:34). And, who actually lands a job in impact investing? Harvard Business School’s Project on Impact Investments crunches the numbers (17:55).Story links:“⁠Capturing the market for carbon by removing it from the air more and more cheaply⁠,” by David Bank.“⁠Impact and emerging GPs to get a ‘bold line’ of credit to streamline capital calls and accelerate dealflow⁠,” by David Bank and Roodgally Senatus.“⁠Who lands the jobs in impact investing? Successful candidates take nontraditional paths⁠,” by Shawn Cole, Jonah Zahnd and Marcus Sander.

In this Agents of Impact podcast David Bank speaks with CapShift CEO and co-founder Adam Rein ] about the growing demand for impact investing among high net worth individuals and how Capshift is addressing this need through its technology-enabled platform. ImpactAlpha and CapShift are launching Advisors' Corner, a new hub of practical resources to help financial advisors dive into impact investing.