Of the estimated 1.3M individuals requiring access to dialysis services in India, only ~20% are receiving those services at the recommended frequency.
NephroPlus is Asia’s largest chain of dialysis clinics with ~450 centers across 250+ towns in India, Uzbekistan, and The Philippines. Our latest investment enables individuals suffering from kidney diseases to resume normal functioning of life through high-quality, cost effective dialysis treatments and services. Read more about why we invested in NephroPlus...
This month, Impact Engine team members attended several conferences about impact investing from London to Los Angeles and in between. Here are our key takeaways...
Senior Associate Maggie Stohler's dispatch from the Total Impact Summit in Philadelphia:
I had the pleasure of hearing Mackenzie Turner, Director of Policy and Impact at The Vistria Group (a fund in our portfolio), speak on a panel called "The Journey to Finding the Impact in Impact Investing." It was encouraging to hear panelists address the rigor of (and frustration with!) the ever-evolving landscape of impact measurement frameworks and how data can "be our own worst enemy," while still approaching their processes with humility and pragmatism around what is measurable. A common theme of the conference was "patient capital" – how can we meet asset stewards where they are, build foundations of trust, and push them to new realizations around fiduciary duty broader than just financial returns? We still have a lot of work ahead for the sector, particularly in a moment of political backlash, but I was motivated by the closing message of the conference, that "there is boldness in incremental change."
CEO Jessica Droste Yagan's dispatch from the Mission Investors Exchange in Los Angeles:
I attended the MIE National Conference this month, my first time since it was in Chicago in 2018. It was amazing to see in person how much has changed in the field in 6 years, from the number of attendees (largest ever this year at 740 and a waitlist) to the breadth and depth of action taking place. In terms of breadth, I was so happy to see an entire plenary session on the main stage about the opportunity for foundations of all sizes to use 100% of their assets, including their endowments, to serve society. On the depth side, there was a new level of sophistication and innovation, such as through shared ownership models or creative capital stacking to unlock more resources. I left feeling energized by the potential of charitable foundations to be much more impactful than they are today.
IE Partner Tasha Seitz was featured on the Funding Blueprint: Unlocking Startup Success podcast by StartHub. She discussed the importance of balancing financial returns with social contributions, the intricacies of impact measurement in startup funding, and the three dimensions of impact assessment. "When you're taking about business, there's a very clear scorecard, which is dollars, right?" Tasha said. "That's a lot harder in the impact space. Because you can imagine, it's very, very difficult to come up with a standard set of things to measure across every company."
Blume Equity, an environmentally-focused fund investment of ours, has received a $15 million Euro investment from the government of Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, managed by the government of Ireland. "With our partnership with ISIF, an investor with a clear commitment to this space, we are excited to work with Irish climate related companies – a country where we see significant innovation in climate-tech," Blume co-founding partner Clare Murray says.
Brightcore Energy, the clean power provider, announced it has been awarded contracts for 100% of the solar projects it proposed as part of a program by the state of New Jersey. In total, 29 projects have been approved, forecasted to eliminate the equivalent of 15 million pounds of coal burned, while powering over 2,600 homes in low and moderate income communities throughout the state.
Carbon Direct, the climate-change-fighter, recently studied the future if sustainable aviation fuel with JetBlue, which is currently in year 4 of a planned 20 year transition to net zero carbon emissions. “Carbon Direct helped provide the data and analysis to be thoughtful on our approach to SAF,” says Sara Bogdan, Managing Director of Sustainability and ESG at JetBlue. “Their expert team gave us the confidence we need to identify and pursue the most promising SAF pathways, helping us bring the market to scale and achieve our climate goals.”