If you’ve followed this blog for awhile (or just thought about this blog’s URL) you probably know that one of my passions is the intersection of investing and social impact. I’ve written at length about what I learned about for-profit social entrepreneurship from Nathaniel Whittemore and StartingBloc, new incubation initiatives like the Unreasonable Institute, why the VC model has value for social entrepreneurship. In some of these posts, I’ve touched on the issue of a lack of both VC funds focused on social entrepreneurship, as well as social enterprises themselves, and the chicken-and-egg problem that comes about as a result.
That’s why I was very happy to see yesterday’s announcement from IGNIA, an “impact investing venture capital fund that invests in high growth businesses that serve the base of the pyramid in Mexico and other regions of Latin America.” They just announced the close of their first fund of $102 million, which includes investors such as J.P. Morgan, Omidyar Network, Soros Economic Development Fund, and the Rockefeller Foundation. You can read all the details about this newest development in the world of social VC / impact investing in the press release here.
I want to highlight one quote from the press release that I really like. It’s from Michael Chu, co-founder and managing director of IGNIA, and I think it really highlights the aspects of social VC that make me excited:
“While today J.P. Morgan is pioneering the entry of commercial investors into impact investing, we believe this is a growing trend. We are deeply appreciative of the trust that all 34 of our investors have placed on us to simultaneously address important social issues while generating financial returns, thereby making possible a scale that until now was impossible.”
Awesome! IGNIA, I wish you the best of luck.
