While Silicon Valley?s new impact investors and philanthropists, including wealthy Millennials, are still in the early stages of their journeys, certain patterns to both the motives and the style of their giving are becoming evident. These donors seek to be ?bigger, better, and faster? in their giving than the philanthropists who came before ? and they are inherently skeptical of nonprofits. This brought new players in philanthropy industry ? Venture Philanthropy Organizations: Non-profits that invest using a VC strategy, and Impact Investors: Organizations investing in for-profit companies that have social impact potential.
As the Impact Investing industry grows, a number of Impact Investment Firms are popping up in Silicon Valley. Each company shares a deep rooted belief in the ability to make a large sustainable impact through market-based solutions. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.
Impact investing will play a transformative role in the future of our society, similar to the one venture capital has in the past.
Investors interested in making a difference in the world can focus on a variety of sectors, such as energy, natural resources, water, sustainable agriculture, clean technology, biomimicry, and financial services. You can meet some of them at the Silicon Valley Open Doors Conference, that aims to make an impact through high-tech entrepreneurship.
Khosla Impact: assists high-impact entrepreneurs who open up markets, increase productivity, and improve standards of living for the bottom half of the world economy. Some investments: Driptech (makes affordable drip irrigation for small-plot farmers), Embrace Innovations (develops affordable healthcare technologies for emerging markets), etc.
Khosla
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khoslaimpact.com
Kapor Capital: invests in tech-driven seed stage companies committed to closing gaps of access, opportunity or outcome for low income communities and/or communities of color in the United States.
Kapor Capital
Kapor Capital is an Oakland-based impact investment fund. We believe in the power of transformative ideas and diverse?
www.kaporcapital.com
Acumen Fund:
Acumen is a Bold New Way of Tackling Poverty
Acumen is a non-profit that raises charitable donations to invest in companies, leaders, and ideas that are changing?
acumen.org
TEC Ventures: invests at the very early stage in extraordinary people who think out-of-the-box, are committed to disrupt big markets and change the world. Investment: Gooddler (Goods donations platform to meet the basic needs of underserved populations around the world), SupportPay (The payment platform to share child expenses and manage child support), etc.
TEC Ventures
TEC Ventures is a boutique seed fund that connects global entrepreneurs with Silicon Valley resources. We invest at the?
www.tec.vc
Omidyar Network:
Home | Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network creates a world of positive returns by investing in entrepreneurs and their visionary ideas that create?
www.omidyar.com
Skoll Foundation: Venture Philanthropy Organization (non-profit that invest using a VC strategy)
Skoll | Social Entrepreneurs Driving Large-scale Change
Accelerating entrepreneurial approaches and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing problems.
skoll.org
Better Ventures:
Better Ventures home
Homepage of Better Ventures – a venture capital firm that provides funding and support to companies creating scalable?
www.better.vc
SU Ventures: Singularity University program dedicated to startups leveraging exponentially accelerating technologies to address humanity?s grand challenges.
http://su.org/entrepreneurs-startups/ventures/
Impact Engine: a venture fund that invests financial and human capital in early-stage, for-profit technology businesses improving education, health, economic empowerment, and resource efficiency.
CalCEF Angel Fund ? California Clean Energy Fund
Home
The CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund is an early stage venture capital fund dedicated to clean energy. The Fund deploys?
calcefangelfund.com
Clean Pacific Ventures
Clean Pacific Ventures, LLC | Clean Tech Investments
Founded in 2006, Clean Pacific Ventures invests in promising early-stage clean technology companies. We invest across a?
cleanpacific.com
Unitus Impact:
Home – Unitus Impact
Unitus Impact is a venture capital firm with offices in Bangalore, Ho Chi Minh City, Jakarta, and San Francisco. We?
www.unitusimpact.com
Draper Fisher Jurvetson:
Home | DFJ Venture Capital
DFJ, a venture capital firm founded in 1985, focuses on seed, venture and growth stage investments in enterprise?
www.dfj.com
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation: a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises. Non-profit that invests using a VC strategy. Some investments: Idea.org, Kiva, LavaMae.
DRK Foundation | Supporting passionate, high impact social enterprises
The Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation finds, funds and supports early stage, high impact social enterprises that are?
www.drkfoundation.org
GIIN ? Global Impact Investing Network: investing into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. The GIIN builds critical infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research that help accelerate the development of a coherent impact investing industry. (Registered as a 501(c)3 organization)
The GIIN
The GIIN drives thought leadership on a variety of key topics and themes within the impact investing industry. Recent?
thegiin.org
SV2 ? Silicon Valley Venture Fund: Non-profit that invests using a VC strategy. SV2?s model has four components: grants and impact investing, learning programs, capacity building, and family engagement. Investments: Destination:Home, FoodShift, etc
Homepage – Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund
SV2’s model of engaged, collaborative giving has four components: grants and impact investing, learning programs?
www.sv2.org
Investors? Circle:
Impact Investing Happens Here – Investors’ Circle
Investors’ Circle is the largest and most active early-stage impact investing network. Together with hundreds of angels?
investorscircle.net
Lightspeed Venture Partners:
Home – Lightspeed Venture Partners
Think Big. Move Fast.
lsvp.com
Mindful Investors:
Mindfull Investors
Venture Capital Changing The World
mindfullinvestors.com
Navitas Capital:
Homepage – Navitas Capital Venture Capital for Real Estate Technologies
Venture Capital Firm investing in premier companies within the Real Estate & Construction sectors.
navitascap.com
RSF Social Finance:
RSF Social Finance | Social Investments
RSF is a nonprofit financial services organization dedicated to transforming the way the world works with money. RSF?
rsfsocialfinance.org
SJF Ventures:
SJF Ventures – High Growth. Positive Impact.
High Growth. Positive Impact.
High Growth. Positive Impact.sjfventures.com
Toniic:
Toniic
the global action community for impact investors
www.toniic.com
DBL Partners:
DBL Partners
We invest in companies that can deliver top-tier venture capital returns and enable social, environmental and economic?
www.dblpartners.vc
Sonen Capital: Social and Environmental Impact Investing
Impact Investment Firm – Sonen
Delivering exceptional investment solutions with meaningful impact combined with exceptional client service.
www.sonencapital.com
Arabella Advisors: help families, corporations and foundations improve the world through philanthropy and impact investing.
