Impact Investment Practice
Gone are the simple days when investing with a conscience meant excluding alcohol, tobacco and firearms from a portfolio. Today’s responsible investors are demanding a more detailed screening of their portfolios. Our Impact Investment practice assists investors who take it a step further: they are looking to put funds into startup companies and impact projects that are in the business of impact – it is their single mission. However, this is not about charity, it is about a double (or triple) bottom line: balancing social or environmental impact with a financial return that is market rate or better.
Due Diligence
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For Family Offices and HNWIs perform due diligence on Impact Investment projects and Impact-focused startup companies to determine the viability and sustainability of proposed impact.
Activities:
- Provide a clear understanding of the proposed impact, the plan to achieve it, the applicable KPIs and measurement approach envisaged.
- Identify mismatch between implementation plan and reality, as well as unintended up- and downstream consequences.
- Recommend changes that could mitigate unintended negative consequences.
Outcomes:
- Audit report providing analysis of investment vs. impact, including potential greenwashing.
- Requirements package to accompany investment so impact can be measured.
- Updated KPIs (if needed).
Business Plan
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Developing a business plan is often not the core competency of a startup company or impact project owner. We can intervene at any stage, e.g. assisting with the transition from idea / concept to prototype, or from prototype to commercially viable product.
Activities:
- The goal of the plan could be to raise venture capital, to support a proposal in response to a government request, or to provide the background for a grant application. Depending on the intended audience we emphasize different elements of the plan (e.g. financial vs. impact, broadness of reach vs. mission oriented).
- We ask the hard questions, deconstruct the founder's ideas, and put everything back together to align with the expectations of the intended audience.
- Our strength is to understand the founder’s side, which his often technical or academic, as well as the language of investors; bridging this gap is a fundamental value we provide.
- The business plan is typically accompanied by other documents - a proposal structured according to an RFP, or a pitch deck targeted at raising funds.
Outcomes:
- Revised Business Plan.
- Optional: pitch deck, RFP response, etc.
- Optional: assistance representing the founders or project owners in meetings with investors or funding organizations.
Monitoring
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Impact Investors and funding organizations have specific impact requirements that determine the success of the investment along with the financial return. CSRspace will keep a startup company or impact project on track post-investment.
Activities:
- Key Performance Metrics are established pre-investment, including modalities to collect and update a single set of usable, reliable impact data.
- Review KPI alignment with investor's strategy and stakeholder expectations.
- Regular meetings with company management or project team to review progress and roadblocks.
Outcomes:
- Report to investor or funding organization how KPIs are met.
- Enable early intervention in case the project deviates from plan or conditions change.
- Input for product and operational adjustments if needed.
Deal Flow
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Enhance deal flow for Impact Investors and funding organizations.
Activities:
- CSRspace utilizes its vast network to scout for candidate startup companies and impact projects across the US and in East Africa.
- Investor's criteria are used to focus on the most relevant opportunities.
- Initial screening can be applied to investor's existing list of candidates.
Outcomes:
- Pre-qualified startup companies and impact projects for investment.
- Reduced effort for the investor to sort out unsuitable investment opportunities.