Better Money Better World

HCAP invests in service-oriented companies with large numbers of staff then pay that workforce a living wage and show them respect, trademarking the term “Gainful Jobs Approach”, which was created in conjunction with MIT’s Good Jobs Institute, to ensure that every employee has a “quality job”. Could HCAP be creating the actual “future of work” where sustainability for employees drives success on the bottom line? Hope Mago, Board Chair of Impact Capital Managers, continues to innovate at one of the first impact investment firms.

Energy is changing and our electricity grid technology is over 100 years old. Every day, new solar panels, windmills and cogeneration plants are transforming America’s electricity production – but our grid that carries electricity to those who use it is unable to keep up. Last year, there were over 700 gigawatts of power that were not hooked up to the grid. Lime Rock New Energy is on a mission to change how our energy is created and consumed by filling a hole in the market: growth equity. Listen to how Mark Lewis and Mark McCall – two veteran climate change investors – are innovating in a forgotten part of the environmental capital stack.

Arjan Schutte is democratizing prosperity by investing in technologies that dramatically reduce the cost of financial services. 17% of low income Americans' spending goes to things that are generally “free” for the middle class and wealthy – like having a bank account. Arjan has backed unicorns like blockchain-based international digital payments company Ripple, and out of left field concepts like Yotta that encourage savings through lottery-like winnings. Listen to how over the last decade Core’s portfolio companies have created $45 Billion of savings for 25 million Americans, 80% of whom are low and moderate income. That means Arjan has helped save poor Americans about $100 per household per month while driving substantial value in the Core portfolio.

Josh Cohen created CityLight Capital after 9/11 and was an early backer of transformative companies like 2U (NASD: TWOU) and Shotspotter (NASD: SSTI). Today, CityLight is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to identify investments before innovative companies hit the radar screen of other investors. Leveraging the Machine allows CityLight to make about a seed stage investment almost every week with staggering results – of the 19 seed stage investments in their prior fund, 17 had further funding rounds and two have already exited. Listen to how the Machine is AI for good – identifying diverse entrepreneurs innovating outside of the New York/San Francisco bubble.

Jonathan Rose is an early ESG focused real estate investor who uses concepts like Green Building and livable communities to drive 15+% returns over his 15+ years buying 100+ apartment complexes, primarily for the working poor. His track record is rooted in making high ROI investments that improve energy efficiency and expand community facilities and resources to ensure low turnover of residents. Listen to Jonathan Rose challenge Milton Freedman’s maxim that we must separate economic and social goals by arguing that real asset owners should actively pursue profitable ways to drive social returns while creating superior economic outcomes.

Reach Capital is a venture capital firm where more than half of the team has advanced degrees in education. Reach has doubled down on its winners by making big bets on winners like Nearpod ($600+M exit), Outschool (recent $1.4Bn valuation), and Mystery Science ($140M exit). These exits and track records make Jennifer Carolan and Shauntel Garvey some of the most successful female venture capitalists.

Matt Greenfield is a reformed Yale PhD in English who wrote the business plan for the first company he invested in that later sold for over $100M. Today leading Rethink education, Matt has backed 9 African American CEOs, four of whom are woman, from disparate backgrounds, two of whom were named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list. Has to constantly remind himself that having gone to the University of Phoenix (rather than Yale) is indicative of grit and persistence inverting the prestige bias. Trust me, Matt does not sound like a venture capitalist and still achieves Alpha.

Learn more at www.impactcapitalmanagers.com

Learn more at www.impactcapitalmanagers.com

Stephen DeBerry has one of the top watched Ted Talks that describes how disadvantaged communities tend to follow the geographic destiny of living downwind. The poverty of Eastside communities manifests itself in ways investors don’t usually consider – like how many restaurants in a city like East Palo Alto have metal cutlery. Stephen invests in entrepreneurs changing Eastside communities for the better.

Watch Stephen's Ted Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_deberry_why_the_wrong_side_of_the_tracks_is_usually_the_east_side_of_cities

Learn more at www.impactcapitalmanagers.com

Women-led startups received just 2.3% of VC funding in 2020, and fewer than 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women. Heidi Patel and Jenny Abramson, Managing Partners of Rethink Impact, discuss how data shows "gender lens investing" can drive superior returns by funding otherwise overlooked entrepreneurs who happen to be female. Rethink Impact is building a network of female entrepreneurs solving the problems of tomorrow today with backing from prominent individual and institutional investors.

Learn more at www.impactcapitalmanagers.com

Jason Palmer and Mark Grovic, partners at New Markets Venture Partners, discuss with host Daniel Pianko seeking alpha by finding education and training investments in rise of the rest cities. Each of New Markets last three funds has achieved top quartile performance by driving education gains that will bridge the economic divide of the haves and have nots in America.