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

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

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

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

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.