Impact jobs that came across our desk this week:
Affordable housing. MSquared secured a $20 million investment from BMO for its second Equitable Housing Solutions Fund to support the development of mixed-income housing in the US.
Agrifood investing. Tanzania’s NMB Bank secured $80 million in hard and local currency from Norfund and British International Investment for lending to small and agri-businesses… Wingreens acquired Safe Harvest to nurture sustainable food and women’s livelihoods in India.
Financial inclusion. France’s Proparco invested $2 million in Cauridor, an Ivorian fintech that routes cross-border payments to local cash and mobile money networks in West Africa.
Fund news. EQT selected to manage landmark €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund… Chancen International’s Future of Work Fund landed $29 million for student loan alternatives… Spain-based Plus Partners raised €45 million for its first fund, which invests in pre-seed and seed-stage startups tackling “the issues that shape society: health and nutrition, money and property, and the future of work and productivity.”
Green bonds. Togo-based Ecobank issued a sustainable agriculture and natural capital bond on the London Stock Exchange. The bond was oversubscribed by nearly four times its original target of $350 million.
Green infrastructure. Carbon Equity provides debt, too, with €15 million infrastructure fund of funds… Scalvy and Gridscape partnered to build mixed-battery systems in California.
Inclusive finance. African banking group Ecobank announced a $3 billion commitment to expand trade finance for agribusiness, manufacturing and commerce in 34 countries… Secha Capital secured $30 million for its operator-investor growth approach to South African businesses… The Africa Finance Corp. committed $40 million to Lightrock Africa and Future Africa. The funding is part of a $100 million vehicle AFC created to back Africa-focused tech fund managers.
Low-carbon transition. Crew Carbon, a Brooklyn-based startup that helps wastewater treatment facilities with carbon removal, raised $25 million from Burnt Island Ventures, AP Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, Builders Vision and other backers… UK-based Greenpixie scored £4.7 million ($6.3 million) to help companies measure and reduce carbon emissions from cloud computing and AI infrastructure.
Renewable energy. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and British International Investment each committed $150 million to launch North Star, a new investment vehicle for renewable energy projects in India. The partnership is BII’s first investment from its new British Climate Partners initiative. CIP’s commitment comes from its second Growth Markets Fund… Lightrock closed its Accelerate7 fund at $500 million to invest in growth-stage clean energy and mobility companies in Asia and Africa. Equinor, Shell, TotalEnergies and LGT backed the fund.
Return on inclusion. Araya Sie Fund, a joint venture fund by Araya Ventures and Sie Ventures, secured £7.5 million ($10 million) to invest in women-led healthcare, climate, fintech, deeptech and AI startups in Europe.
