Hello ImpactAlpha readers!

#Featured: ImpactAlpha Original

Impact investors gather in New York and Mexico. In New York, David Bank has been at the Economist magazine’s impact investing conference and posting updates at @impactalpha. Dennis Price is in Mérida, Mexico for the Latin American Impact Investing Forum and is reporting at @dennisaprice.

In Mérida, neither the threat of tariffs from Trump nor instability in the region dampened spirits. Susana Garcia-Robles of the IDB’s Multilateral Investment Fund, said “Yes, these are tough times, but when has it not been tough in Latin America? We're resilient.” Vox Capital’s Daniel Izzo said crisis can equal opportunity. “Talented people laid off by big companies are joining startups,” he said. “We're finding stronger startup teams.”

In New York, Leapfrog’s Andrew Kuper said ‘no tradeoff’ or ‘market rate’ is not a compelling investment pitch for investors looking for ‘alpha.’ Instead, he said, we need to compare impact investing returns with those of technology disruptors like Uber or AirBnB and show that “Profit with purpose generates outsize returns and outsize impact.” Amy Jadesimi, managing director of LADOL in Nigeria, said we don’t need more capital, just “a shift from low-growth, high-income countries to high-growth, low-income countries.”

#Dealflow: Follow the Money

Pescador Holdings’ first investment offers a blueprint for sustainable seafood. Encourage Capital, which spent the last few years developing blueprints for investments in sustainable seafood, has made its first such investment. Pescador Holdings, a new company, is backed by $10 million from Zoma Capital, the family office of Ben and Lucy Ana Walton, part of the next generation of the billionaire Walton family. Pescador has taken a stake in Geomar, based in Santiago, Chile, a vertically integrated seafood company that works with more than 700 small fishermen and transports and cans the fish for sale to retail distributors. The investment is modeled on an investment blueprints developed with backing from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Rockefeller Foundation to restore ocean ecosystems and livelihoods damaged by poor fisheries management. 

Singapore health startup mClinica raises $6.3 million to link pharmacies. Unitus Impact led the financing to help mClinica connect pharmacies in Southeast Asia and provide global health data to policymakers. Unitus’ Beau Seil said mClinica creates a “win-win scenario” for companies and public agencies delivering medicine and information to the hundreds of millions of people in mClinica’s target markets. For example, in Indonesia, mClinica’s data showed five percent of patients were prescribed drug combinations that could cause renal failure and liver conditions. Other investors include the Global Innovation Fund in London, MDI Ventures of Indonesia and Endeavor Catalyst in the U.S. Existing investors 500 Startups, IMJ Investment Partners and Kickstart Ventures also joined the round.

Prime Coalition and Investors’ Circle back solar startup. ConnectDER helps home solar systems easily connect to the electric grid and helps utilities manage such distributed energy inputs. The $1.1 million investment includes nine individual investors from Investors’ Circle; Prime brought together a mix of program-related investments and grants from the Ellis Family Fund, the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation (yes, those Smiths), and the Autodesk Foundation. ConnectDER is the third investment for the nonprofit Prime, which mobilizes philanthropists to bridge the early-stage funding gap for climate-change solutions.

New impact funds showcased in 6th edition of ImpactAssets 50 directory. This year’s list of 50 impact investing fund managers includes regular repeaters including DBL Partners, Media Development Investment Fund and Living Cities. Newcomers include real estate investment firm Turner Impact Capital and Dutch sustainable aquaculture investor, Aqua-Spark. The publicly accessible database is searchable by asset class, geography, target sector and more. It is meant to showcase the diverse approaches to creating impact; it is not an index or investment platform, or even a recommendation.

Prudential’s Mark Grier to chair the Global Impact Investing Network. You want mainstream? Mark Grier, Vice Chairman at trillion-dollar financial services firm Prudential Financial, is the incoming chairman of the GIIN. Prudential itself has made a commitment to build a $1 billion impact investing portfolio by 2020. At Prudential, Grier oversees investment, finance, risk management, corporate actuarial and investor relations functions. Grier will work with the GIIN to, “mobilize the investment community to address the major challenges of our time,” he said in statement. The GIIN’s founding Chair, Antony Bugg-Levine, will remain on the board of directors.

#Signals: Ahead of the Curve

The economic contributions of international migrants. Young, connected, entrepreneurial and skilled: migrants from Africa, China, India and the Philippines are making a positive impact on the countries they’ve settled in. Research from Western Union and the Economist Intelligence Unit found that Nigerians Americans, for example, are overrepresented in sectors such as law, business and investment banking. China’s millennial migrants are helping countries in Europe and the U.S. build cultural and trade links with their homeland. A third of immigrant-founded startups in the U.S. have an Indian founder. And a third of Filipino workers in the U.K. work in healthcare services. ImpactAlpha has rounded up research on the contributions of migrants here and here.

A decade ago Warren Buffett pledged $30 billion to Bill and Melinda Gates. In December, he asked for a report. “I’m not the only one who’d like to read it,” Buffett wrote. The Gates’ response is chock full of data, not just about how the foundation is doing, but how the world is doing. Here are the numbers they watch:

• 122 million. That’s the number of children’s lives saved since 1990. Fewer children under the age of five are dying each year. That means fewer families – and countries – in poverty. “When a mother can choose how many children to have, her children are healthier, they’re better nourished, their mental capacities are higher—and parents have more time and money to spend on each child’s health and schooling,” Bill wrote. “Saving children’s lives is the best deal in philanthropy.”
• 86 percent. That’s the percentage of children worldwide who receive basic vaccines. Vaccines are “the best deal within the deal,” writes Melinda. Vaccines are the biggest reason for the drop in child mortality. For every dollar spent on immunizations, says Bill, reaps $44 in economic benefit. 

#2030: Long-Termism

Unlocking a $23 trillion investment opportunity in climate action. Government commitments to reduce carbon emissions represent a huge opportunity for public and private investors. The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation projects a $23 trillion investment opportunity between now and 2030 in just 21 emerging market economies if these countries deliver on their national climate commitments made as part of the global climate agreement.

For example, as China continues to urbanize, the IFC estimates investments of $2.1 trillion in green buildings by 2020. In Jordan, the 117 megawatt, $290 million Tafila Wind Farm, is being followed by a dozen solar projects totaling 190 megawatts. The IFC expects more opportunities like Panama’s Penonome wind farm, a 215-megawatt plant that will be Central America’s biggest. To increase the likelihood that private capital flows to such investments, countries must turn their climate commitments into policies and budgets, and be willing to use public funds to reduce the risk of private investments.

Onward! Please send any news and comments to editor@impactalpha.com.