NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

When it comes to investment themes, impact and technology have always been discrete buckets for investors.

Perhaps the belief that VC investing is primarily driven by financial objectives whereas impact investing is only about seeking people and planet outcomes has led to such misconception.

The Rise And Rise Of Impact & Tech Sectors

A decade ago, it was easy to dismiss the impact sector as a collection of not-for-profit organisations supported by foundations and philanthropies. We’ve come a long way since then, and the for-profit impact sector is now formally recognised around the world, and impact investing is a well-defined asset class.

The global impact AUM crossed $1 Tn across asset classes in 2022. This impact AUM is managed by 3,349 organisations, where fund managers account for the majority of them. Concurrently, the startup sector observed $134 Bn invested in 5,200 startups since 2014 in India and a non-trivial $2.5 Tn in over 100,000 startups worldwide.

Photo courtesy of Olumide Bamgbelu.