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.
Top Story
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.
Get Daily Updates
Subscribe to DailyAlts Today to get Alternative Investment news, insight, and commentary delivered straight to your inbox every day.
More Stories on ESG and Sustainability
FinTech: Millennials Driving Demand For Shariah (Islamic) Banking – Mambu
A survey by SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu found that over half (53%) of young Muslims said they would choose Islamic banking – if barriers to entry were removed, and it became more accessible.
Venture Capital: Boeing Hives Off Venture Arm Into JV With Private Equity Firm
Boeing (NYSE: BA) will spin off its HorizonX venture capital arm into a strategic partnership with private equity firm AE Industrial Partners, the aerospace major announced last week. Founded in 2017, HorizonX has invested in 40 tech companies and startups, and will function as AE’s ventures platform titled AEI HorizonX. AE will manage the fund, which will receive capital from Boeing, AE and others.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Invesco Launches Solar Energy Ucits ETF
Invesco’s new Solar Energy UCITS ETF invests in the solar industry including solar power equipment producers, solar energy storage companies, raw materials suppliers and solar power system installers. These companies are global leaders in their functional areas of solar energy technology.
Artificial Intelligence: HEGG, A New Vegan Egg Product From Singapore
Hoow Foods, a Singapore-based startup, has incorporated Hegg Foods, a plant-based subsidiary that will develop innovative and sustainable products using RE-GENESYS, Hoow Foods’ proprietary food & ingredient Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform.
Venture Capital: Refurbed, A Platform For Refurbished Electronics, Nabs $54M
Refurbed, a Vienna-based startup that sells refurbished electronics on its platform, has raised $54 million a Series B round led by Evli Growth Partners and Almaz Capital. Existing investors including Speedinvest, Bonsai Partners, and All Iron Ventures, all participated. New investors Hermes GPE, C4 Ventures, SevenVentures, Alpha Associates, Monkfish Equity, Kreos, Isomer Capital, and Creas Impact Fund also came on board.
Artificial Intelligence: Beewise Offers The Earth’s First Robotic Beehive
Agtech startup Beewise warns of an immediate and serious threat to the global food supply from the 35% global annual decline in bee colonies. Keeping bee colonies safe, well and preventing them from collapsing would allow for more pollination, as well as increased production of honey. Beewise has reinvented the traditional beehive, dating from 150 years back, and its Beehomes are solar-powered, AI-enabled, and armed with robotics to keep the bees safe, healthy, and productive.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Deff & Phelps Launch Active Clean Energy ETF
Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. and Virtus ETF Solutions launched Wednesday the Virtus Duff & Phelps Clean Energy ETF (NYSE: VCLN). The actively-managed ETF seeks returns by investing globally in a portfolio of clean, renewable, and sustainable companies and technologies that will power the energy needs of the future.
Alternative Investments/ESG: BlackRock Launches Two New Paris Aligned UCITS ETFs
BlackRock has launched the iShares MSCI EMU Paris-Aligned Climate UCITS ETF (EMPA) and the iShares MSCI Europe Paris Aligned UCITS ETF (EUPB) both of which are Paris-aligned climate ETFs. These ETFs are listed on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange effective July 29.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Direxion Launches 2X Leveraged Clean Energy ETF
Direxion announced Thursday (July 29, 2021) its launch of the Direxion Daily Global Clean Energy Bull 2x Shares (KLNE), a leveraged ETF that seeks to return 200% of its benchmark index, the S&P Global Clean Energy Index, in a single day.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Timothy Plan Launches Two ETFs For Biblical Investing
Faith-based investment company Timothy Plans announced Thursday the launch of two new ETFs, namely, the Timothy Plan High Dividend Stock ETF (TPHE) and the Timothy Plan US Large/Mid Cap Core Enhanced ETF (TPLE). In line with the principles of Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI), these ETFs would not invest in companies involved with alcohol, tobacco, gambling, or gambling equipment, or abortion, pornography, anti-family entertainment, or non-biblical lifestyles.
Digital Assets: Greenidge Gen. To Use Crypto Profits For New Solar Farm
Greenidge Generation Holdings, which runs a bitcoin mining operation alongside its power supply unit in Upstate New York, announced Thursday (July 29, 2021) that it will shutter a 40-year old coal ash landfill in the Finger Lakes region, and thereafter set up a 5MW solar farm at the 143-acre site.
Alternative Investments/ESG: A Shariah Compliant ETF Tracking China ‘A’ Shares Debuts In Malaysia
Value Partners Group Ltd listed today the VP-DJ Shariah China A-Shares 100 ETF, the world’s first Shariah-compliant A-share exchange traded fund (ETF), on Bursa Malaysia. The ETF provides investors exposure to Shariah-compliant stocks within the China A-Shares equity universe. The ETF tracks the performance of the Dow Jones Islamic Market China A-Shares 100 Index.
Artificial Intelligence: Metaspectral Gets Grant From British Columbia For AI-Enabled Plastic Sorting
The CleanBC Plastics Action Fund, which is funded by the BC Government and administered by Alacrity Cleantech, has awarded a grant of $300,000 to Metaspectral, a Canadian company that derive real-time insights from AI using ultra-high-resolution, visible-to-infrared (hyperspectral) images.
Venture Capital: Black Founders Raised Four Times More Capital In The First Half This Year
According to a Crunchbase report, Black startup founders raised a record $1.8 billion of capital in the first six months of this year. That’s more than 4X the amount of $400 million of funding they landed in the same period in 2020. Again, compare that to the full-year tally of $1 billion and $1.4 billion for 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Bridgewater Launches New Fund Aligned With UN Sustainable Goals
Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, has unveiled the Lyxor/Bridgewater All Weather Sustainability Fund, which will use a UCITS-compliant investing strategy seeking a range of assets compliant with the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) benchmarks.
Artificial Intelligence: Cambridge Spin-Off AAT Develops AI Platform For Sustainable Cultured Meats
Animal Alternative Technologies (AAT), a spin-off from the University of Cambridge, is focused on developing a scalable platform for cell-based meat services, including bioreactors, optimisation software, tissue engineering and analytics. AAT has come out of stealth and its Renaissance Farm platform enables large-scale cultured meat production commercially viable for food manufacturers, restaurant chains, retailers and governments. And its not just mince or bites – it is structured meat (read: steaks) synthesised directly from animal cells.
Alternative Investments/Digital: Viridi Launches The First Clean Energy Crypto Mining ETF In The US
Coinshares-backed Viridi Funds, a registered investment adviser and emerging fund manager, has launched the Viridi Cleaner Energy Crypto-Mining & Semiconductor ETF (RIGZ), a first-of-its-kind clean energy crypto mining product in the US.
Digital Assets: Sustainable Aussie Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy In Pre-Listing $200M Cash Chase
Iris Mining, a Sydney-based bitcoin mining company that uses renewable energy for its operations, is looking to raise $200 million before its seeks a direct listing on the Nasdaq, according to a Bloomberg report. The company has already appointed an adviser, commenced discussions with potential investors, and plans to use the funding to lay the base for the listing – perhaps this year.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Faith+Knights Of Columbus Launch ETF Designed For Catholic Investors
Faith Investor Services, LLC (FIS) and Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors (KoCAA) have together launched a new ETF that seeks to offer investors access to a global portfolio of financially attractive stocks whose business practices align with the investment criteria established by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The new fund, the FIS Knights of Columbus Global Belief ETF, will trade under the ticker symbol KOCG.
Digital Assets: The Pegasus Spyware From Israel’s NSO Group Hacked Phones Of Journalists And Activists
Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based journalism nonprofit, and Amnesty International shared a contact list with The Pegasus Project, a collaborative investigation between the Washington Post and 15 other news organizations to investigate smartphone hackings of reporters, human rights activists, business executives and the fiancee of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Artificial Intelligence: AI For Deeper Insight Into The Mysterious Narwhals
It has been a challenge to study narwhals, the elusive and mysterious whales in the Arctic seas that sport a long unicorn horn on their snouts. They are known to hunt for food up to a thousand meters below the surface of the sea. However, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources have deployed artificial intelligence (AI) to unravel the foraging secrets of the narwhals.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Goldman Sachs Launches Active, Climate-Focused ETF
Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) has launched its first actively managed, transparent ETF that extends its range of thematic funds. The Goldman Sachs Future Planet Equity ETF will invest in companies that seek to provide solutions to environmental problems aligned with five key themes: clean energy, resource efficiency, sustainable consumption, the circular economy and water sustainability.
Alternative Investments/ESG: Global X Launches ETFs For Blockchain, Agtech, And Hydrogen Exposure
Global X ETFs, of the Mirae Asset Financial Group, has launched the Global X Blockchain ETF (BKCH), the Global X AgTech & Food Innovation ETF (KROP), and the Global X Hydrogen ETF (HYDR). The three new ETFs bring up the number of Global X’s thematic funds to 30. They offer investors a focused exposure to “long-term, paradigm-shifting themes.”
Alternative Investments/ESG: Brazil’s Hashdex To Offset Mining Emissions In New Bitcoin ETF
Brazilian asset manager Hashdex said Tuesday it will launch a bitcoin ETF that will be carbon-neutral in respect of its holdings of the cryptocurrency. The fund manager will purchase carbon credits to offset the emission footprint of its bitcoin using a portion of its management fee. The ETF, titled the Hashdex Nasdaq Bitcoin Reference Price Index Fund (BITH11), will commence trading on the Brazilian B3 stock exchange effective August 4.