GIIRS Pioneer Funds are leading private equity and venture capital funds that make impact investments in companies in both developed economies like the U.S. and Europe, as well as throughout the global emerging markets. GIIRS Pioneer Funds will participate in a private beta of version 3.0 of the B Impact Ratings System and will be the first funds to receive a GIIRS Impact Rating.
North American Pioneer Funds
City Light Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in early stage companies which provide not only strong financial returns, but also positive contributions to our world. City Light invests in early stage, for-profit, sustainable businesses in the US that create solutions in Safety and Security, Education and Media, and Energy and the Environment. The companies in City Light Capital's portfolio aim to save lives, reduce crime, increase literacy and education, protect individual rights, and promote energy efficiency and conservation.
Fund name: Impact Ventures II
Core Innovation Capital invests in the most innovative companies serving underbanked consumers in America. They are passionate about financial services that meaningfully improve the lives of underserved people. They focus on early growth-stage for-profit companies whose management shares their vision that scalable, technology-driven solutions focused on delivering the highest value to underbanked people can create great businesses and strengthen the American middle class.
Fund name: Core Innovation Capital
Equilibrium Capital Group is an investment management firm that is building a portfolio of asset management companies, each charged with executing a unique investment strategy in one of our key sectors: green built environment; land and natural resource management; agriculture; energy; and water. Each of these asset managers have built innovative operating companies that we enable to become institutional grade asset managers. These managers offer superior financial returns due to their unique operating expertise, along with creating positive social/environmental impact at scale.
Fund name: Equilibrium Capital
Good Capital is an investment firm that accelerates the flow of capital to innovative ventures and initiatives that harness the power of the market to create sustainable solutions to some of society's most challenging problems. In addition to raising and deploying a venture capital fund for emerging social enterprises, Good Capital is committed to collaborating with peers, contributing thought leadership, sharing their experiences, and creating innovative products and processes that enables the market for socially minded capital to flourish.
Fund name: Good Capital I
Greenmont Capital Partners, is an investment firm founded by natural product industry insiders. With $60M under management, Greenmont focuses on growth-stage companies in the $500 billion Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (“LOHAS”) market. The fund is uniquely positioned in the market as its management team is comprised of ex-venture backed CEOs. This prior experience provides a deep understanding of the entrepreneurial process and the relationships between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Greenmont frequently leverages its network of industry veterans who provide proprietary access to deal flow and a unique perspectives on the industry.
Fund name: Greenmont Capital II
Investeco Sustainable Food Fund, L.P. is a unique private equity fund managed by Investeco that focuses on acquiring material interests in exceptional small to medium-sized private companies in the rapidly growing North American market for natural and healthy food and related products (the “Sustainable Food” sector). With the Sustainable Food Fund, Investeco aims to produce above market returns by investing in companies that produce environmentally superior food and agricultural products or services.
Fund name: Investeco
Mindful Investors is an investment partnership focused exclusively on opportunities in the rapidly growing natural and organic consumer products market. Mindful Investors' mission is to invest in sustainable companies which positively impact our health and the health of our planet. They target companies with an enterprise value of $10 million to $100 million and invest in management teams that are passionate about their core values and are committed to taking their company to the next level of success.
Fund name: Mindful I
Murex Investments invests venture capital in high-impact, early-stage software and technology companies. Their experience and interest is primarily in financial mobility, learning technology and energy efficiency, sectors that they believe to have unique transformational potential and integral broad benefits to society. Now raising their third fund, they seek talented and innovative management teams approaching an inflection point in growth.
Fund name: Murex I
Pacific Community Ventures, LLC provides capital and resources to high growth California businesses that bring significant economic gains to low-to-moderate income employees as well as deliver exceptional financial returns to business owners and to our investors. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pacific Community Ventures, LLC is a generalist fund investing across a wide range of industries, which manages over $60 million in capital. Pacific Community Ventures, LLC works in partnership with the non-profit www.pacificcommunityventures.org.
Fund name: PCV Growth Fund II
SustainVC invests in companies that apply for financing through Investors' Circle, an association of accredited investors who provide "Patient Capital for a Sustainable Future." SustainVC invest as the lead or participant in rounds of equity and equity-related securities as small as $500,000 and as large as $5,000,000. Capital for SustainVC's funds is provided by high net worth individuals, many of whom are successful business entrepreneurs and are leaders in the field of sustainability.
Fund name: PCC 09 and PCC 11
Renewal2 is a social venture fund dedicated to delivering financial returns by investing in some of North America's leading environmental and social mission businesses. Building upon 17 years experience in high-impact investing Renewal2 focuses on underfunded sectors that are critical to a sustainable economy, early stage companies that require patient capital, and scalable businesses that can generate meaningful shifts in consumer behavior. Renewal2's focus sectors include organic & natural foods, green consumer products and green building products. Having closed its fund in May 2010, Renewal2 is focused on identifying companies in its sectors and working with other high impact funders.
Fund name: Renewal2
RSF Mezzanine Fund is the only mezzanine fund designed specifically for companies with high social impact. Investments in this fund allow RSF to provide growth capital without the need for a company to sell equity, resulting in little to no dilution of ownership or loss of control – a key consideration for companies with deep social missions that might be compromised through traditional financing. The RSF Mezzanine Fund provides capital to help an enterprise achieve growth through a mix of debt, warrants, royalty streams, fee notes, and/or convertible notes.
Fund name: RSF Mezzanine Fund
Satori Capital is a preferred capital partner for companies that are building significant long-term value through a sustainable approach. The firm makes majority investments in companies with $3m to $15m of EBITDA, across six sectors: Consumer, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Business Services, Mature Tech, and Retail (e-commerce). Their team has a long and successful track record as private equity investors and founders and CEOs of both private and public companies. They partner with talented management teams to accelerate the growth of companies that are "built to last" and meet a set of criteria they describe as sustainability. These businesses deliver strong returns by operating with a long-term perspective, committing to their mission or purpose, and focusing on creating value for all stakeholders.
Fund name: Satori Capital
SJF Ventures is a venture capital fund focused on delivering superior financial returns through investments in high growth, positive impact companies. The fund provides strong expertise and networks in the cleantech, sustainability and technology-enhanced services sectors. SJF’s two funds have invested in 33 companies that now have aggregate revenues of $500 million, 128 facilities, and 6,000 employees.
Fund name: SJF Ventures II and SJF Ventures III
TBL Capital has developed an intentional, patient capital venture fund focused on the needs of the entrepreneur while aligning our investments with triple-bottom-line companies. They provide growth capital to help companies succeed and support entrepreneurs as they manage the many opportunities and demands of a growing business. TBL has targeted a range of socially beneficial sectors in which to invest: consumer products, service providers, software, clean technology, green building, health and wellness, and retail.
Fund name: TBL I
Emerging Markets Pioneer Funds
Acumen Fund is a non-profit global venture fund that uses entrepreneurial approaches to solve the problems of global poverty. We seek to prove that small amounts of philanthropic capital, combined with large doses of business acumen, can build thriving enterprises that serve vast numbers of the poor. Our investments focus on delivering affordable, critical goods and services - like health, water, housing and energy - through innovative, market-oriented approaches. The Acumen Fund makes investments in India, Pakistan, and East and South Africa.
Fund name: Acumen Capital Markets I
Adobe Capital is an impact investment fund focused on supporting the early growth of social and environmental small and growing businesses (SGBs) with a specific emphasis on companies operating in underprivileged base-of-the-pyramid communities in Mexico. Adobe Capital invests in innovative companies that have significant potential to scale and be financially profitable, while delivering products and services which significantly impact the quality of life of a critical mass of people. Adobe Capital works to fill this financing void or "missing middle" by providing flexible financing solutions, from working capital loans to support day-to-day operations, to equity-like investments to finance the purchase of long-term assets, company expansions and/or acquisitions.
Fund name: Adobe Social Mezzanine Fund
Agora Partnerships works to unleash the potential of small business impact entrepreneurs to create economic, social, and environmental value for their communities and the world. Through the Agora Venture Fund, Agora invests growth capital into early stage businesses in Nicaragua to generate social and economic returns and help inspire a new generation of impact entrepreneurs.
Fund name: Agora Venture Fund (Nicaragua I)
Agri-Vie is a private equity investment fund focused on food and agribusiness in Sub-Saharan Africa. The mission of the fund is to generate an above average investment return while concurrently facilitating socio-economic development impacts through its equity investment programme. As such, Agri-Vie is positioned as an 'impact investment fund', harnessing investment disciplines to address development challenges such as rural livelihoods, food security and building competitive agri-value chains.
Fund name: Agri-Vie Fund I
AlphaMundi is an impact investment manager dedicated to poverty reduction and environmental preservation, focusing on developing countries. The company invests in social businesses that generate sustainable impact and attractive financial returns. AlphaMundi launched its pilot impact fund, SocialAlpha-Bastion, in July 2009. The USD6m fund is registered in Luxembourg and provides debt financing to high impact businesses in Latin America, with investments to date in microfinance, sustainable agriculture and affordable education. Prometheus, the second AlphaMundi fund to participate in GIIRS, focuses on renewable energy companies and infrastructure projects. The fund will focus in particular on developing regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. AlphaMundi is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Fund name: SocialAlpha-Bastion and Prometheus
Bamboo Finance is a commercial private equity asset manager specializing in impact investments with offices in Luxembourg, Geneva, San Francisco, Singapore and Bogotá. Through its private equity funds Bamboo Finance invests in innovative, scalable and commercially viable enterprises which serve low-income communities and generate attractive financial returns combined with significant social and environmental impact. Its multi-sector Oasis Fund with USD 53 million AUM has invested in a global portfolio of companies in sectors like energy, healthcare, housing, financial inclusion and education. Bamboo Finance manages USD 250 million in private equity funds raised from institutional and private investors in Europe, Asia, USA and the Middle East.
Fund name: Oasis Fund
Business Partners Limited is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing, specialist sectoral knowledge and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses.
Fund name: BPI Kenya and BPI Rwanda
Caspian Advisors is an investment management and advisory services company based in Hyderabad, India that has been focused on managing investment funds in the microfinance space since 2005.
Fund name: Bellwether Microfinance Fund and India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF)
Bellwether Microfinance Fund is an Indian on-shore equity and debt fund that invests in start-up and mid-sized Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs). The objectives of Bellwether include to accelerate capital flow to the microfinance sector, help financially viable MFIs to scale up operations and transform into responsible, regulated entities, contribute to increase access to financial services of underserved populations across India regardless of creed, caste, or gender, and ensure a competitive financial return along with a significant social return to its investors. India Financial Inclusion Fund (IFIF) is an equity fund dedicated to India whose primary focus is on making equity investments in companies that directly provide financial services to the poor and/or disenfranchised, e.g. microfinance institutions (MFIs), as well as those that enable financial inclusion. The Fund shall promote a wide range of financial services, including credit, savings, insurance or remittance facilities, to the un-served/under-served segments for their business and personal needs. Through its investments, the Fund shall aim to accelerate the growth of small, medium and large sized MFIs by providing them growth capital as well as strategic inputs, enable diversification of product offerings and to deliver a competitive financial return while working towards larger social objectives of equitable access to financial services and promotion of transparent and ethical business practices.
Catalyst Microfinance Investors (CMI) is a private equity fund that invests in emerging, high potential microfinance institutions in Asia and Africa in order to support the provision of financial services to the por. These MFIs are selected and managed by a team of globally renowned microfinance practitioners of ASA and corporate finance specialists. CMI has teamed with ASA and its investees to benefit from having access to the best-practice ASA model to scale up and reach many more of the poor in the developing world in a financially sustainable manner. Currently CMI invests the majority of its funds in ASA international (www.asa-international.com).
Fund name: CMI
Conservation International (CI) empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, for the well-being of humanity. Verde Ventures is an investment fund managed by CI to provide support for small- and medium-sized businesses that contribute to healthy ecosystems and human well-being.
Fund name: Verde Ventures
Developing World Markets (DWM) is a dedicated emerging markets asset manager with a mission to improve lives at the base of the world's economic pyramid by harnessing the power of capital markets. As a leading fund manager for microfinance and other inclusive finance assets, we aim to achieve sustainable development through market-level, financial returns for our investors and social returns in the developing world. DWM is one of the top three microfinance investment managers globally by assets under management and has structured and advised on approximately USD 1 billion in creative microfinance transactions over the past 10 years, including through its affiliate DWM Finance LLC. DWM has invested in more than 140 financial institutions in over 40 emerging markets.
Fund name: Fund to be determined
E+Co makes clean energy investments in developing countries. With 15 years of experience and offices in 8 locations, E+Co's innovative business model provides lasting solutions to climate change and poverty.
Fund name: CAREC
Fanisi Venture Capital Fund is a venture capital fund established in Luxembourg to work with competitive and sustainable East African businesses, whose ambitions are to grow and run their operations to global best practice standards. Fanisi expects to invest $50 million in high growth businesses in Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda thus catalysing the growth of East African entrepreneurs, transforming them into key actors in their industries, regionally and globally.
Fund name: Fanisi
The "Fondo de Inversión Social" ("Social Investment Fund") is a is the first private investment fund in Chile focusing on social entrepreneurs and institutions generating sustainable social impact with a significant potential to scale. FIS identifies those businesses and institutions, invest in them in order to expand the social impact while seeking a moderate financial return, and leverages its investment activity with management and technical assistance.Through private investment in key areas like microfinance, education, healthcare, social housing and environmental businesses, FIS gives Chilean investors the opportunity to finance solutions to social challenges that are usually considered public responsibility.
Fund name: Fondo de Inversión Social - FIS
GRM Capital invests capital in microfinance institutions around the world. Our aim is to deliver "double bottom-line" returns to our fund partners through a combination of current returns and medium and long-term capital appreciation, as well as credible and measurable social impact.
Fund name: Próspero Microfinanzas Fund
Próspero Microfinanzas Fund was formed by Grassroots Capital and BIM (Bolivian Investment Management) for the purpose of making equity and equity-like investments in early and intermediate stage microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. The fund has dual goals of providing a competitive financial return to its investors and contributing to positive social impact to microfinance clients through its portfolio investments. The fund plans to achieve its objectives by focusing on MFIs dedicated to serving the less penetrated microfinance markets and unbanked or under-served populations, and working with investee MFIs to enhance their social performance management and improve their ability to measure and report on social performance.
Gray Ghost Ventures - Gray Ghost Ventures seeks to contribute to the well-being of low-income communities in emerging markets by enhancing their access to capital and community services such as affordable housing, quality education, and technology.
Fund name: Gray Ghost DOEN Coöperatief Fund and Gray Matters Capital Fund
IGNIA Partners's key objectives are to identify promising entrepreneurs with scalable businesses that deliver high value propositions to the Base of the Pyramid, invest in them under terms and conditions that are mutually beneficial, and guide and support their rapid growth into enterprises capable of generating financial returns and social value. IGNIA will prioritize sectors that have a disproportionate impact on improving the welfare of the poor, such as healthcare, nutrition, housing, basic utilities and education.
Fund name: IGNIA Fund I
InReturn Capital invests in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the potential for sustainable growth. InReturn's team is on the ground to manages the investments in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Target sectors include agro and food processing, transportation, manufacturing, construction, energy, logistics and healthcare. InReturn supports portfolio companies with tailored investments including equity investments up to USD 2.5 million. In addition InReturn takes an active mentoring role with company management, providing advice and entrepreneurial expertise. At the core of InReturn's strategy is market related returns and social impact. Social impact is measured and managed by job creation, employee training and working conditions, strengthened governance and compliance. The InReturn East Africa Fund is open to new investors until final closing in March 2012.
Fund name: InReturn I
Mergence Investment Managers has been in operation since 2004. As a solutions driven service provider to institutional clients, it takes a pragmatic approach to managing financial assets on behalf of its clients. Mergence Investment Managers is 100% African owned and operated. Mergence continually seeks to heighten the sensitivity of the African people, stakeholders and clients around broad-based black economic empowerment , and to find innovative means to broaden their base of beneficiaries and their scope of impact investments.
Fund name: Mergence I
Pearl Capital is a specialist agriculture investment firm that has been investing in small and medium sized East African agribusinesses since 2006. Our investments generate strong financial returns for our investors while creating significant social impact. Our success is derived from working with ambitious management teams, providing supportive investment structures and specialist expertise that create high-growth agribusinesses. Our investments strengthen agricultural sub-sectors and use smallholder farmer networks to generate significant income for millions of families across East Africa. The byproduct of this growth is that it creates strong financial returns for us and our investors.
Fund name: Africa Agricultural Capital (AAC) I and AAC II
AAC invests in agricultural projects in East Africa. By June 2011, through its investees AAC intends to reach at least 150,000 smallholder households in East Africa with an income benefit per household of at least $100 per annum.
Root Capital is a nonprofit social investment fund that is pioneering finance for grassroots businesses in rural areas of developing countries in Central America, Latin America, and East and West Africa. Root Capital provides capital, financial education, and market connections to small and growing businesses that build sustainable livelihoods and transform rural communities in poor, environmentally vulnerable places.
Fund name: Root I
SEAF: Small Enterprise Assistance Funds ("SEAF") is a global investment firm focused on providing growth capital and operational support to businesses in emerging markets and those underserved by traditional sources of capital. SEAF selectively makes structured debt and equity investments in locally owned enterprises with high growth potential.
Fund name: Georgia Regional Development Fund (GRDF), SEAF Blue Waters Growth Fund and PCV
Vox Capital is a venture capital fund that invests in innovative, high-potential businesses that serve low-income clients, and whose activities to reducing poverty. They inject capital and provide strategic advice and management support to leverage the financial results and social impacts of these businesses. Through its portfolio, Vox Capital aims to contribute to the creation of a Brazilian cluster of profitable, large-scale businesses with social impact, capable of attracting talent, innovation and domestic and international investment. As a player in this cluster, Vox Capital intends to help improve the lives of millions of low-income individuals in Brazil. They are Brazil’s first impact investing venture capital fund.
Fund name: Vox Impact Investing Fund I and Paradox
Willow Impact funds invest growth capital in for-profit, early-stage companies and SMEs that are committed to generating sustainable and demonstrable social and environmental impact in Africa and the Middle East. Investment focus is on the high impact sectors of health, education, food and agriculture, community development, poverty alleviation and the environment. Through its network spanning Dubai, Nairobi, New York and Geneva, Willow Impact is ideally positioned to drive investment and capacity building support towards the most exciting socially entrepreneurial businesses in emerging economies.
Fund name: Willow Tree Fund
New Ventures at the World Resources Institute promotes sustainable growth in emerging markets by accelerating the transfer of capital to businesses that deliver social and environmental benefits at the base of the economic pyramid. New Ventures works with entrepreneurs in Central America, Latin America, South Asia, and East Asia.