FEBRUARY 27, 2018 – For the seventh consecutive year, Root Capital has been selected for the ImpactAssets 50 (IA 50), a free online resource for investors and financial advisors. The annual guide features fund managers representing private debt and equity investments that deliver social and environmental impact as well as financial returns.
Fund managers included in the IA 50 2017-2018 manage an estimated $29.2B in assets devoted to creating positive social and environmental impact.
“As impact investing grows exponentially, the IA 50 has remained a leading and trusted resource for impact investors of all experience levels,” said Jed Emerson, ImpactAssets Senior Fellow, and IA 50 Review Committee Chair. “Our consistent and objective evaluation of impact fund managers is providing financial advisors and their clients with a starting place to make informed investment decisions. And we are helping to catalyze the growth of impact investing by creating a centralized information source in a fragmented field.”
The IA 50 is the only free, public, searchable database of outstanding impact investing fund managers. This year’s showcase, which includes funds based in the United States, Africa, Europe and Latin America, highlights the increasingly diverse opportunities for investors to help create social value across the globe. Fund managers represent a breadth of asset classes, ranging from real assets like forestry and farmland, private thematic debt and microfinance, to private early and growth stage equity in US and emerging markets.
The list demonstrates an increased thematic focus on affordable housing and community development, alternative energy, climate change, and small and medium business development. Fund managers continue to focus as well on microfinance, sustainable agriculture, and low-income financial services and water and sanitation.
The IA 50 Review Committee is chaired by Jed Emerson, Chief Impact Strategist of ImpactAssets. Jennifer Kenning, CEO and Co-Founder of Align Impact served as the Committee’s Senior Investment Advisor. MEMBERS INCLUDE: Karl “Charly” Kleissner, Co-Founder of Toniic and KL Felicitas Foundation; Kathy Leonard, Senior Vice President, Investments and Senior Portfolio Manager for UBS; Stephanie Cohn Rupp, Managing Director, and Partner, Tiedemann Wealth Management; Fran Seegull, Executive Director, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance, Ford Foundation; Liesel Pritzker Simmons and Ian Simmons, Co-Founders of Blue Haven Initiative and Matthew Weatherley-White, Co-Founder and Managing Director of The CAPROCK Grou
“The 2017-18 IA 50 highlights a strong field of managers across an increasingly rich marketplace of impact fund opportunities,” said Jennifer Kenning, CEO and Co-Founder of Align Impact, and IA 50 Senior Investment Advisor. “We are excited to see the growth of this space as evidenced by the increasing number of high-caliber fund managers, whose strong financial and impact track records position them to serve the growing investor.”
“The IA 50 has become the go-to database for insights and actionable data on innovative managers creating impact with investment capital, which is especially valuable for family offices and accredited investors getting started in the impact space,” said Stephanie Cohn Rupp, Managing Director, and Partner at Tiedemann Wealth Management. “We’re thrilled to be helping investors connect their portfolios with their passions and drive capital to impact.”
The IA 50 is not an index or investable platform and does not constitute an offering or recommend specific products. It is not a replacement for due diligence. In order to be considered for the IA 50 2017-18, fund managers needed to have at least $10M in assets under management, more than 3 years of experience as a firm with impact investing and documented social and/or environmental impact, as well as accept investment from U.S.-based investors. Additional details on the selection process are here.
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About Root Capital
Root Capital invests in the growth of agricultural enterprises so they can transform rural communities. These businesses purchase crops such as coffee, cocoa, or grains from smallholder farmers. With growth, they become engines of impact that can raise incomes, create jobs, empower women and young people, sustain peace and preserve vulnerable ecosystems. For specific client examples, click here.
About ImpactAssets
ImpactAssets is a nonprofit financial services firm that increases the flow of capital into investments that deliver financial, social, and environmental returns. ImpactAssets’ donor advised fund (The Giving Fund) and field building initiatives enable philanthropists, other asset owners, and their wealth advisors to advance social or environmental change through investment.
About the ImpactAssets 50
The IA 50 is the first publicly available database that provides a gateway into the world of impact investing for investors and their financial advisors, offering an easy way to identify experienced impact investment firms and explore the landscape of potential investment options. The IA 50 is intended to illustrate the breadth of impact investment fund managers operating today, though it is not a comprehensive list. These 50 firms have been selected to demonstrate a wide range of impact investing activities across geographies, sectors and asset classes.