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
Digital Assets: Oil Drillers And Bitcoin Miners Hold Hush-Hush Confab In Texas
Nearly 200 people from the oil and gas and bitcoin mining industries met in Houston, Texas, last week to join forces on the long-standing problem of natural gas flaring. Excess and wasted gas from drilling sites in Texas has to be flared if the site is not within reach of a gas pipeline – this is so-called ‘stranded gas.’ The process of flaring is a waste of energy and has climate activists in arms for the harm it does to the environment. Instead, capturing the gas and using it to mine bitcoin is climate friendlier, curbs energy waste, and earns dollars for both driller and miner.
Alternative Investments/ESG: New Sustainable Small Cap ETF From UBS
The new UBS ETF (IE) MSCI World Small Cap Socially Responsible UCITS ETF from UBS Asset Management offers investors exposure to companies having strong sustainability profiles and covered by the MSCI World Small Cap SRI Low Carbon Select 5% Issuer Capped universe.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment To Launch Transparency ETF
Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management has filed on Tuesday for launching a new transparency-focused ETF that will avoid investments in companies involved in vices such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. It will also eschew banking and oil companies.
Artificial Intelligence: Quadroin, A Next-Gen Bionic AUV For Monitoring Ocean Eddies
Scientists have long tussled with the problem of unlocking information from ocean eddies, small ocean currents that have an immense influence on the Earth’s climate and on animals and plants in the seas. They are also responsible for approximately half of all phytoplankton production. But its extremely difficult to study or measure them due to their short life and small, erratic sizes. Until now.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Here’s DTOX, An ETF For A Healthy Life And Clean Planet
The Cleaner Living ESG-S Ucits ETF (DTOX) will give investors exposure to themes emerging in cleaner food and dining, cleaner health and beauty, cleaner building and infrastructure, cleaner transportation, and cleaner energy. To be listed on London Stock Exchange in early September, the ETF is the second product from the HANEtf-Quikro combine.
Venture Capital: A New $620M Innovation Fund Wants Britain To Become The “Silicon Valley Of Energy”
In a move aimed to decarbonize the UK’s energy networks, Ofgem, the country’s energy system regulator, and Innovate UK are inviting applications for a £450 million (US$620 million) energy innovation fund in the areas of heating, transport, digitalization, and system integration.
Venture Capital: Form Energy Scores $240M For Its Revolutionary Iron-Air Battery
Secretive but high profile battery technology startup Form Energy has collected a $240 million Series D funding round that included Breakthrough Energy Ventures as an investor. Breakthrough is backed by investors such as Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Form Energy’s first commercial product is a rechargeable iron-air battery capable of storing electricity for 100 hours.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Gresham House Closes On $175M For Forestry Fund
Gresham House (AIM: GHE), a specialist alternative asset manager listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM), offers alternative investment solutions focusing on a sustainable future and ESG. The Gresham House Forest Growth & Sustainability Fund has raised this month an initial £127 million (US$175 million) and will generate returns from timber and carbon credits.
Alternative Investments/ESG: The Future Fund ETF For Exposure To World-Beating Innovation
SEC-registered investment advisor, The Future Fund LLC, launched this week The Future Fund Active ETF (FFND) under the stewardship of Gary Black, managing partner, and David Kalis, CFA, partner.
Artificial Intelligence: Margaret Mitchell, Former Head Of Google’s Ethical AI, To Join Hugging Face
Margaret Mitchell, the former head of Google’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Ethical AI research group, will join AI startup Hugging Face where she will develop tools to help companies eliminate bias from their AI algorithms. Initially suspended in January, Mitchell was fired by Google February ostensibly because of a paper she co-wrote that was critical of the company.
Venture Capital: 3D-Printed Homes Maker ICON Raises $207M Series B
Construction technology startup ICON has closed a $207 million Series B round of financing led by Norwest Venture Partners with investments by 8VC, BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, BOND, Citi, Crosstimbers, Ensemble, Fifth Wall, LENx, Moderne Ventures, and Oakhouse Partners.
Artificial Intelligence: Researchers Use AI To Warn Of Wildlife Health Concerns
Wildlife rehabilitation centers on the California coast often receive ailing marine birds suffering from domoic acid poisoning, which is caused by harmful algal blooms. The neurological disease afflicts California brown pelicans, red-throated loons, and other species, but the problem remains – how to warn other rehab centers on the coastline of the emergence of the disease? Researchers at UC Davis have now devised an AI system for real-time detection
Alternative Investments/ESG: Goldman Sachs To Acquire ESG-Focused NN Investment Partners
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has agreed to buy all of NN Investment Partners, a Netherlands-based asset manager with $355 billion in assets under management and about $70 billion in assets under advisement. NN Investment Partners is the money management arm of Dutch insurer NN Group NV (AEX: NN) and 75% of its assets under supervision are ESG integrated.
Venture Capital: Solar Provider Nexamp Raises $680M In Equity And Debt
Nexamp, which offers solar and energy storage solutions for a decarbonized future, has raised a $240 million equity investment led by Generate Capital. In March, closed on a $440 million senior secured credit facility for a 380-megawatt portfolio of solar and energy storage assets, the largest debt financing of its kind. The $680 million fundraising will enhance Nexamp’s ability to offer a range of decarbonization options.
Alternative Investments/ESG: UBS Launches Low Carbon Equity ETFs
UBS has launched four new ETFs that combine equity exposure with a focus on low carbon investing. The four UCITS funds track MSCI equity indices relating to the US, European, eurozone, and Japanese equity markets, and are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and Xetra.
Venture Capital: Apeel Sciences Raises $250M For Its Longer Lasting Produce
Apeel Sciences, which applies an edible, plant-based coating to fresh produce to extend its life, announced today its Series E raise of $250 million led by returning investor Temasek. “Since 2019, Apeel has prevented 42 million pieces of fruit from going to waste at retail, which has helped avoid 10,000 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions and conserve nearly 4.7 billion liters of water,” the company claimed in a statement.
Alternative Investments/ESG: RBC iShares Launches Sustainable Fixed Income ETFs
RBC iShares expanded its range of ETFs with the launch of four new fixed income ETFs of which two have a sustainability focus. These are the iShares ESG Advanced 1-5 Year Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF (XSHG) and iShares ESG Advanced Canadian Corporate Bond Index ETF (XCBG), both of which extend sustainable coverage to bonds.
FinTech: Divvy, Which Democratizes Home Ownership, Lands $200M
Property technology startup Divvy Homes, which helps people who don’t qualify for a mortgage to own homes, raised $200 million in a round co-led by existing investors Tiger Global Management and Caffeinated Capital. Andreessen Horowitz, Singapore’s GIC, GGV Capital, and Moore Specialty Credit also participated in the round.
Venture Capital: Venture Capitalist Chris Sacca Raises $800M For Climate Funds
Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital announced Thursday (August 12, 2021) that it raised $800 million “in fiat, to keep unf**king the planet.” “There has never been a better time to start a company focused on emissions reduction or actively removing carbon already in the atmosphere,” Sacca wrote in Cash Cools Everything Around Me, a blog announcing the raise. “The total addressable markets are literally the biggest in history and we have no doubt that multitrillion-dollar market caps are just up ahead.”
Venture Capital: Aussie Alternative Meat Startup Fable Food Scores $6.5M Funding
Fable Food Co offers meat substitute foods made from Shiitake mushrooms having dense, fleshy fibers and umami flavors that are naturally meat-like. The Sydney, Australia-based startup has raised $6.5 million in a round led by Blackbird Ventures with participation from AgFunder, Aera VC and Better Bite Ventures, Ban Choon Marketing Pte Ltd, and Warren Hogarth.
Artificial Intelligence: AI-Powered Home Surveillance Imposed On Call Center Employees Working For US Corporations
An NBC News investigation has revealed that Colombia-based call center employees of Teleperformance (EPA: TEP), which has companies such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), and Uber (NYSE: UBER) on its client roster, are being asked to sign contracts allowing for the installation of AI-powered cameras at home. NBC News reviewed such a contract, first issued by Teleperformance in March.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Hartford Funds Launches US Equities ESG ETF
Hartford Funds announced the launch of the Hartford Schroders ESG US Equity ETF (CBOE: HEET), which seeks seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in a diversified portfolio of US equities that are expected to meet environmental, social, and/or governance (ESG) criteria. In addition, it will weigh factors such as value, profitability, momentum, and low volatility.
Artificial Intelligence: AI Helps Researchers Understand Extreme Weather In The Midwest
Extreme precipitation days in the Midwest account for over half of all major US flood disasters. Researchers at Stanford University have developed a machine learning tool that helps them analyze the causes of long-term changes in weather and the mystery of why extreme precipitation days in the Midwest are becoming more frequent.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Global X Files For New Solar And Wind ETFs
New York-based fund management company Global X proposes to issue two new ETFs focused on renewable energy. It has filed with the SEC for the launch of the Global X Solar ETF (RAYS) and the Global X Wind Energy ETF (WNDY), the two ETFs adding to its existing range of 84 ETFs.