Salutations, Agents of Impact! Welcome to the latest ImpactAlpha Open newsletter, our free weekly publication with the most recent news and opportunities on impact investing and sustainable financing.

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This week’s Open includes.

• Impact at Jay-Z Marcy Venture Partners
• Ownership by acquisition
• D-SAFES Climate Tech
• Colluding… against climate change risks

Ok, let’s dig in. – Dennis Price

Must-reads about ImpactAlpha

• Increased representation of people of colour in venture capital. Around two-thirds (or a little more) of the portfolio companies at Marcy Venture Partners founded by hip-hop icons Jay Z, Jay Brown, and Larry Marcus are led by entrepreneurs and women of color. Marcy and Kellogg Foundation both have a similar percentage of their mission-driven portfolio managed by women or managers of color. In a video interview with Brown, La June Montgomery Tabron of Kellogg Foundation told David Bank that people have been leaving money on the table. Watch this interview.
  
• Ownership through acquisition. Roody Senatus reports that New Majority Capital has raised $50 million to create pathways for diverse entrepreneurs to own small businesses. Dig into.
  
• Impact of women-led funds. In a guest blog, Visa Foundation’s Najada kumbuli explains that women-led funds are a great way to invest in businesses that improve the well-being for women and girls. Bootstrap Europe Stephanie Heller also explains this. Go deeper.
  
• DSAFEs for Climate Tech. Elemental Excelerator, a Silicon Valley-based company that provides financing for climate tech startups looking to make the leap to commercial deployment has given a new twist to the “simple agreements for equity” terms. Amy Cortese explains how a “D-SAFE”, or Directed Agreement for Equity, is specifically designed for climate projects. Have a look at.
  
• Linking Impact to Finance. Jessica pothering reports on Roots of Impact’s lessons for scaling impact-linked financing. Get smart fast.
  
• Colluding… against climate change risks. In his latest Fiduciary Future article, As You Sow Andy Behar dissects the case made by the Republican majority on the US House Judiciary Committee to the “climate cartel”, a group of investors and advocates who are urging corporations towards decarbonization. Behar writes, “apparently, the entire free-market is colluding in order to protect itself against the risks of climate changes.” Read more.

Agents of Impact

On The Move

• James Gifford has stepped down from his position as head of sustainable and Impact Advisory at UBS.
  
• Tameo Impact Fund Solutions has appointed Safeya Timeoun CEO and promoted Ramkumar Narayanan, and Vincent Dufresne as executive managers.
  
• Noorjit Singh, formerly with Plug and Play Ventures , joined Social Finance in San Francisco as an impact investing associate director.

The Week’s podcast

This Week in Impact

Imogen Rose Smith, a contributing editor at ImpactAlpha, joins Brian Walsh and ImpactAlpha’s editor David Bank in a roundtable on the growing pushback to the ESG backlash.

• Listen the new episode from This Week In Impact. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple and Spotify. Please leave a review if you enjoy the podcast.

Short Signals: We Read What We See

Taming Tesla. Kristin Hull, Nia Impact Capital, presented Nia’s antiharassment resolution to Tesla’s (largely male-dominated) shareholders at their meeting last week. “When we look under the ‘frunk’, we find failures in work place management,” she told them. Hull said that the proposal received 30% of the vote. She added, “I expect the board to act.” ( Nia Impact Capital).

Outcomes-based agriculture. Farmers in Vermont get paid to prevent phosphorus-based fertiliser from leaching. Midwest farmers can earn income by controlling nitrogen runoff. Texan ranchers receive compensation for restoring native grasses and saving water. The $32 million in performance based payments paid since 2018 by the Department of Agriculture’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program “could signal a transformational shift in USDA’s approach to conservation financing.” ( Environmental Policy Innovation Center

SCOTUS, wealth taxes. The Supreme Court has upheld a tax imposed by Trump on US shareholders who keep certain foreign profits overseas. The justices indicated that they may not support the wealth tax on wealthy Americans, which is supported by groups to fund the green transition, drive the social change and reduce inequality. The 7-2 ruling left the taxing of wealth to “another day.” ( US Supreme Court).

Women’s climate insurance. India is suffering from its longest heatwave ever. In May, ICICI Lombard, an insurance company, paid a total of $340,000 in basic living wages to 46,000 women with low incomes as part of a parametric insurance pilot program with the Self-Employed Women’s Association. The free policies were designed to gauge interest in livelihood insurance as climate impacts increase. (Bloomberg)

Impact’s demographic sweet-spot. Some wealthy American millennials, and Gen Zers in their adult years, are interested in alternative investments such as impact companies. More than one-fifth of individuals aged 21-43 who have at least $3 million invested in their portfolios are interested in companies that promote positive social and environmental change. This is the highest interest among all age groups. ( Bank of America )

Get in the Game

Step it up

• The Nature Conservancy is looking for an investment analyst with a focus on environmental conservation and sustainable finance.
  
• VentureESG is searching for research fellows in London.
  
• Mission Driven Financing is seeking as a director of fund management, impact investment and fund administration.

Visit ImpactAlpha Career Hub to find hundreds more impact investing jobs.

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