Anthropic showdown highlights role for responsible AI investors + sharing the wealth

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☎ Tomorrow’s Call: Building an investment portfolio that makes aging an asset. 1843 Capital’s Tracy Chadwell, Next50’s Peter Kaldes and Preeti Bhattacharji, head of sustainable investing for J.P. Morgan’s US Private Bank, will share tips for building investment portfolios across asset classes that value and support aging, tomorrow, March 11 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. RSVP today.

In this week’s Open:

  • After Anthropic showdown, investors seek guardrails for responsible AI
  • Shared ownership as a wealth-creation strategy for workers
  • Podcasts: Hear from Tirtha Patel, John Morris and Susana Garcia-Robles
  • Spotlight: European climate tech

Let’s jump in. â€“ Dennis Price


Must-reads on ImpactAlpha

  • In a dangerous world, impact investors look for the alpha in responsible AI. The standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon highlighted the confoundingly complex challenges of crafting effective guardrails for AI. The episode also elevated the profile of investors in “responsible AI,” who argue that safety, guardrails and accountability make the technology better and more attractive to users, reports ImpactAlpha’s David Bank. Read more.
    • AI for global good. Investors and entrepreneurs are building AI for good in Europe, Danielle Rossingh documents in her profile of Norrsken VC. In India, Shefali Anand reports from Delhi that  last month’s India AI Impact Summit drew more than 70,000 people.
  • Sharing wealth with workers creates value for private equity buyout firms. So why not share more? Cutting workers in on the business value they create is such a powerful idea, Roodgally Senatus reports, that private equity buyout firms with such shared ownership plans are now confronting the question of how much value to share with workers. Check it out.
    • Perpetual trust. For business owners, selling out to a perpetual purpose trust can solidify affirmative obligations to employees, customers and communities, I reported from the first gathering of the Purpose Trust Ownership Network in Austin.
  • Six barriers keeping foundations from impact investing – and how to overcome them. “Given the promise and demonstrated results of impact investing, why has it not become standard practice for mission-driven institutions?” Stacey Faella of the $90 million Woodcock Foundation asks in a guest post on ImpactAlpha. Click the link to see how Faella bats down six perceived barriers raised by her peers: Hear her out.

Agents of Impact

  • Claire Mongeau, former investor at Founders Factory, joined LGBTQ+ founders-focused venture firm identity.vc as an investment manager. 
  • Christophe Defert and Mike D’Aurizio and their six-person team at Climate Growth Partners, a unit of HSBC Asset Management, decamped to Bridges Fund Management, in what Bridges calls a “spin in.” The new Bridges Climate Transition Partners will continue to manage the Climate Growth Partners fund and portfolio; HSBC will remain a limited partner.
  • Giorgi Jebashvili was promoted to debt investment officer at responsAbility Investments.

The Week’s Podcasts

🎧 This Week in Impact 

Host Brian Walsh takes up ImpactAlpha’s top stories with editor David BankUp this week: Anthropic’s standoff with the Pentagon puts impact investors’ AI thesis to the test. Plus, if private equity is sharing some wealth with employees, why not share some more? And, Stacey Faella’stakedown of six common excuses foundations use for not investing for impact.

🩾 Agents of ImpactTirtha Patel and John Morris

CaribGROW’s equity financing Caribbean food systems. Caribbean nations import roughly $6 billion in food each year. With CaribGROW, Intentional Asset Management’s Tirtha Patel and John Morris are looking for Caribbean-based food companies that reduce imports or boost exports, including through hydroponics, aquaponics and vertical farming.

đŸ‘©â€đŸ« Women Changing Finance: What it takes to invest in emerging markets

Capria Ventures’ Susana Garcia-Robles joins host Krisztina Tora to share lessons from nearly three decades of venture investing in Latin America, including the failure of early efforts to build “green funds,” the importance of strong financial returns, and what she has learned from backing 90 venture funds.


The Week’s Spotlight

đŸ‡ȘđŸ‡ș European climate investors embrace growth-stage deals

Dutch decarbonization startup RIFT last week raised €83 million in Series B financing from the Dutch pension fund PGGM and other European institutions. The scale-up deal was welcomed by Europe’s early-stage heavy funding scene as a signal of growing appetite among European investors for homegrown climate innovation ready for commercialization. The shift reflects a newly urgent desire for energy resilience and technological sovereignty as old alliances crumble and new geopolitical risks erupt, reports ImpactAlpha’s Danielle Rossingh.


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