Wow, it’s been a great week for the world of social venture capital and impact investing! First we get the news that IGNIA has closed on its first fund, and today, we receive news that D.light Design has raised $5.5 million in Series B funding from Omidyar Network, plus all of its major Series A investors (Acumen Fund, Nexus Venture Partners, Gray Matters Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Garage Technology Ventures).
D.light has been a great company to follow, not just because it’s doing great work by providing consumer products and lighting solutions to those living off the electric grid, but also because it’s been a perfect example of a social enterprise that helps those from both non-profit and for-profit worlds to see where they can intersect.
In D.light, you can see investors that are associated more closely with or well-known by the non-profit world (Acumen Fund, which specializes in “venture philanthropy”) as well as giants in traditional VC (Draper Fisher Jurvetson, although I think the actual investor is DFJ Frontier, not DFJ).
As a leading example of the potential for social good and traditional investing to intersect, D.light Design’s success will be closely watched. I hope that this social enterprise will continue prospering and serve as a much-needed example of success for this burgeoning “hybrid” investment area. In any case, congratulations on the Series B! You can read the press release here.
In other socent news, if you are in the New York City area, please consider attending the SOCAP10 Coast to Coast event taking place tonight, which is sponsored by organizations such as the Acumen Fund, Presumed Abundance, and StartingBloc–all organizations close to my heart. Buy your ticket here!
