ESG and Sustainability
The rise of ESG factors in investment decision making will have a dramatic impact on returns and opportunities in the 21st century. A recent survey by LGT Capital Partners and Mercer showed that 57% of respondents believe that incorporating ESG standards into investment decisions will raise returns. Just 9% argued they reduce returns on investment.
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Revaia, Europe’s largest female-founded venture capital firm, has successfully raised €150 million ($160 million) for its second fund, Revaia Growth II. The funding was secured from sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and institutional investors across Europe, with support from existing partners like Bpifrance and new backers such as mutual insurer Carac and the European Investment Fund.
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More Stories on ESG and Sustainability
Artificial Intelligence: Olea Edge Lands $35M To Expand Its AI Platform For Water Utilities
Olea Edge Analytics, an Austin-based AI startup that seeks to enhance municipal water revenues at cities and helps them combat situations such as drought, has raised a $75 million Series C round led by Insight Partners, the New York-based global private equity and venture capital firm.
Alternative Investments/ESG: After Blockbuster KRBN, KraneShares Launches European and California Carbon ETFs
Asset management firm Krane Funds has launched two new ETFs that expand its range of carbon market offerings – the KraneShares European Carbon Allowance ETF (KEUA) and the KraneShares California Carbon Allowance ETF (KCCA).
Venture Capital: Nuveen Backs ‘Do Good Foods,’ A Food Waste Upcycler, With $169M
Do Good Foods has a mission to address the problem of the 48 billion pounds of food waste generated by grocery stores each year. Rather than throw food away, Do Good Foods is upcycling it. Surplus grocery food is first shared with local food pantries — what’s left over is then sent to its facility to be repurposed into feed for animals, such as chicken. The company received a $169 million investment from Nuveen.
Artificial Intelligence: Google’s DeepMind “Nowcasts” Rain
Google-owned (NASDAQ: GOOGL), London-based AI Lab DeepMind collaborated with the Met Office to develop a nowcasting system for predicting, accurately, the likelihood of rain over the next 90 minutes. In comparison, existing forecasting methods can do so for periods from six hours to two weeks.
Venture Capital: Sundrive Develops The World’s Most Efficient Solar Cell
Founded in a garage in 2015 by David Hu and Vince Allen, Sundrive, a solar energy startup, has successfully developed the world’s most efficient solar cell. Their cell generates solar-sourced power at an efficiency of 25.54%, breaking the previous world record of 25.26%. More importantly, the startup did it while replacing the silver in solar cells with copper.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Nuveen Launches ESG Dividend ETF
Nuveen has launched two new ETFs, the Nuveen Growth Opportunities ETF (NYSE: NUGO) and the Nuveen ESG Dividend ETF (CBOE: NUDV) in its drive to help investors build better financial futures.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New, Climate-Focused, Emerging Market ETFs From Northern Trust
The FlexShares ETF unit of Northern Trust Asset Management announced Monday the launch of two new emerging markets climate-focused exchange traded funds (ETFs) in Europe. The FlexShares Emerging Markets High Dividend Climate ESG UCITS ETF (QDFE) and the FlexShares Emerging Markets Low Volatility Climate ESG UCITS ETF (QVFE) are listed on the Euronext exchange and Deutsche Börse and are available in five countries across Europe: the UK, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Venture Capital: Breakthrough Energy Ventures Leads $53M Round In Robotic Agtech Iron Ox
Iron Ox, an agtech startup that advances the cause of producing food sustainably and autonomously using robotics and AI, has raised a $53 million C Series led by new investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Breakthrough Energy Ventures is backed by top business leaders including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. The round brings the startup’s aggregate funding to $98 million.
Venture Capital: Lithium Extraction Startup Lilac Solutions Announces $150M Series B
Lilac Solutions, a startup developing a lithium extraction technology, announced Wednesday the first close of its $150 million Series B round. Lilac’s ion exchange technology for extraction of lithium from brine is faster to deploy, more efficient, sustainable and financially superior compared to conventional technology.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Four New Climate-Focused ESG ETFs From FlexShares
FlexShares Exchange Traded Funds from Northern Trust Asset Management have launched a new suite of climate-focused ESG ETFs that help investors improve their portfolio’s overall ESG score and reduce carbon risk, while maintaining core equity and fixed-income exposure.
Alternative Investments/ESG: ETFMG Launches Maritime Decarbonization ETF
ETF Managers Group, which created the highly successful Breakwave Dry Bulk Shipping ETF (NYSE: BDRY), has launched a sister ETF – the ETFMG Breakwave Sea Decarbonization Tech ETF (BSEA). The new ETF will give investors exposure to global companies active in fields related to marine or ocean decarbonization.
Venture Capital: Gates-Founded Breakthrough Energy Raises Over $1B From Top US Companies
Breakthrough Energy, the non-profit founded in 2015 by Bill Gates to advance the cause of net-zero emissions, has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S. firms for its Breakthrough Energy Catalyst project to support innovation in the field.
FinTech: Nigerian Fintech Startup Infibranches Raises $2M
Nigerian startup Infibranches Technologies has received funding of $2 million from All On, an impact investing organization backed by Shell (NYSE: RDS.A). Infibranches will use the funds for customer acquisition, improvement of its product lineup and for introduction of new products and services to address energy distribution issues.
Alternative Investments/Digital/ESG: Accelerate’s Carbon-Negative Bitcoin ETF
Accelerate Financial Technologies’ world-first Carbon Negative Bitcoin ETF (TSE: ABTC), now trading on the TSE, offsets more than 100% (“negative”) of the estimated carbon emissions from associated bitcoin mining and transaction activities.
Artificial Intelligence: AI To Predict Growth Of Harmful Algal Blooms in Oceans
Harmful algal blooms (HAB) occur when colonies of algae — simple plants that live in the sea and freshwater — grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. Humans are rarely affected, but illnesses triggered by HAB could be fatal. A project in the UK seeks to develop technology to predict the advent of deadly HAB.
Alternative Investments/ESG: The Global X Uranium ETF Powers To A 52-Week High
Investors on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum are said to have a hand in pushing up the ETF. Uranium, the raw material for nuclear power plants, is within the cross-hairs of the famous WallStreetBets forum on Reddit – which incited the meme-stock speculative frenzy in GameStop (NYSE: GME) earlier this year. The Redditors are said to have…
Alternative Investments/AI: WisdomTree To Boost Thematic Lineup With AI ETF
WisdomTree has filed to launch the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence and Innovation Fund as a part of its thematic ETFs offering. The fund will track the performance of the WisdomTree Artificial Intelligence Index.
Artificial Intelligence: Now AI Can Estimate A Company’s Emissions
Evaluation of companies’ carbon footprint is essential for countries to be able to meet their 2050 decarbonization targets for 2050 as per the Paris Agreement. For investors, the quantum of greenhouse gases emitted by a company could be an important factor to evaluate its suitability in a portfolio geared towards positive climate actions in the context of ESG. While most companies do not yet formally disclose their emission data, AI can now reasonably estimate this crucial metric.
Venture Capital: Crowberry Capital’s Trio Of Women Leaders Raises $90M Nordic Fund
Female-founded, Icelandic venture fund Crowberry Capital announced its raise of a €76 million (US$ 90 million) seed and early-stage fund for investing in startups located in the Nordic region. The fund, Crowberry II, has the distinction of being the largest VC raise ever for Iceland.
Alternative Investments/ESG: VanEck Launches Sustainable Muni ETF
VanEck announced September 10 the launch of its VanEck HIP Sustainable Muni ETF (CBOE: SMI). The ETF invests in investment grade municipal debt securities that have been issued to fund operations or projects that support or advance sustainable development, as well as promote positive social and environmental outcomes. Its objective is to generate current income generally exempt from federal income tax.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Janus Henderson Launches Five Sustainable ETFs
Janus Henderson Group (NYSE: JHG) announced Thursday its launch of Sustainable ETF Solutions comprising five actively managed sustainable exchange-traded funds (ETFs) targeted at US investors. The ETFs seek to deliver strong, risk-adjusted returns by identifying companies supportive of positive ESG change.
Venture Capital: Bill Gates And Bezos-Backed MIT Startup Edges Closer To Energy’s Holy Grail
CFS and MIT’s PSFC announced Wednesday their successful test of a powerful magnet constructed from high temperature superconductors (HTS); the magnet can later be used in a “tokamak,” a fusion machine that could be scientists’ Holy Grail because it produces more energy than it consumes.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Fidelity Launches Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund
The Fidelity Funds Sustainable Climate Solutions Fund will give investors exposure to companies engaged in the design, manufacture or sale of products such as electric vehicles, green hydrogen and renewable energy. To be managed by Velislava Dimitrova and Cornelia Furse, the new fund is classified Article 8 under the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
Venture Capital: OLIO, Which Enables Food To Be Shared, Raises $43M
OLIO, the food sharing app which encourages community sustainability, announced its Series B raise of $43 million led by Swedish investment firm VNV Global and New York-based hedge fund Lugard Road Capital. Existing investors Accel, Octopus Ventures, Rubio, tech entrepreneur Jason Stockwood, and politician and media businessman Lord Waheed Alli also participated.