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

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

NEW YORK, Jun. 02 /CSRwire/ – Mission Markets, Inc., which operates a marketplace for impact investing, today announced the launch of its new technology platform. (See Twitter #InvestForImpact.) This platform provides institutional investors the opportunity to research and make investments focused upon favorable social and environmental outcomes. It also offers any member, from student to Wall Street executive, access to a broad repository of articles, research, data, blogs, forums and media that provide information about impact investing. Impact Investing is the term used to describe securities designed to achieve both a financial return and a positive social or environmental return.

”Impact investing’s time has come. Investors in all categories are seeking investments aligned with their personal values. They believe it is important to earn good financial returns, but it is also important investments support favorable social and environmental outcomes. These outcomes might include improvements in education, health, community development, or sustainability. Mission Markets provides access to information, technology and investment offerings to help investors make informed choices,” said Ken Marienau, Mission Markets CEO.

An exciting feature incorporated in this technology release is the inclusion of limited partnerships and impact fund products. These investment securities enable members to invest in professionally managed portfolios of companies focused upon targeted impact investing themes. The funds, and others to be offered soon, provide scalable investments for institutional investor portfolios, while also providing a more diversified investment for individual investors. Some of the impact funds (e.g., TriLinc Global Impact Fund and Greenbacker Renewable Energy Fund) are publicly registered securities, which allow qualified individual investors who may not meet the “accredited investor” tests to initially invest as little as $2000.

Mission Markets’ experience in impact investing is shared with a broad range of investors on this new platform. With the launch of Mission Markets new capabilities, individual, advised, and institutional investors have a marketplace to find companies that support their social or environmental investment objectives.