Growing the tent for impact investing

In Conscious, Guest post, Investing
February 7, 2018
1 Min read
G

With all the buzz about impact investing (see BlackRock’s letter), it’s no surprise that Social Capital Markets’ new SOCAP 365 impact investing conference in Seattle was sold out.

Investors, venture capitalists, family foundations and more joined to network, learn and make commitments in furthering the growth of the impact investing field. The day was filled with the realities of the impact investing industry, and what it would take to make its big promise of global change a reality.

Read all nine insights from the event on ImpactAlpha.

ImpactAlpha

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18 hours ago

The Origins of Carried Interest

In Assumptions, Investing
18 hours ago
1 Min read
18April

The standard structure for private equity funds (and venture capital funds) is “2&20”, as in a 2% management fee (±1%) and 20% (±10%) of the profits, a.k.a. “carried interest“. Why 20% of the profits? Henry Kravis of KKR explains below, starting at 6:00. TL;DR: Necessity, as he and his partners had no capital to put at risk. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens...

3 months ago

Why Not?

In Africa, Investing
3 months ago
2 Min read
17January

Other people, see things and . . . say ‘Why?’ . . . But I dream things that never were– and I say: ‘Why not?’ – George Bernard Shaw This has shown in my 30+ year career repeatedly. Most recently a few months ago, when pondering the “Missing Middle” of capital for startups in general, and SMEs in Africa specifically. Why? Why is it taking so long for...

3 months ago

Venture Capital returns (in general) are less than 2x

In Infographics, Investing
3 months ago
2 Min read
10January

Venture capital funds often tout cash-on-cash returns of 2x-3x over 10 years. That is the supposed “norm” for successful funds. But despite the industry being tracked investment by investment in detail, the industry as a whole is notoriously opaque when it comes to the returns of the funds. Thank you to Dan Gray (@credistick) who tweeted the following table, with data from 1981...

3 months ago

When is an SME tiny, small, medium, or beyond?

In Investing
3 months ago
1 Min read
07January

Is every investee at Africa Eats and Africa Trees an SME? Are they all small. Are any big enough to be medium? Did the biggest grow beyond SME status last year? Where are the edges to these categories? There is no global authority to answer those questions, but the EU does have a definition that they’ve not only published, but have updated at least once. The boundaries between...

4 months ago

Birth of the NADSAQ in 1968

In Assumptions, Berkshire Hathaway, Investing
4 months ago
2 Min read
14December

Why did New York need another stock exchange in 1968? Why was the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, and Pacific Stock Exchange insufficient? An unprecedented bull market coupled with paper-based systems. I’m in my 50’s and don’t remember “Wall Street” not having both the NYSE and NASDAQ as the two main exchanges. I am old enough to remember the AMEX...

By "Luni" February 7, 2018

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