Top Social Venture Capital Firms San Francisco Bay Area
While Silicon Valley’s new impact investors and philanthropists, including wealthy Millennials, are still in the early stages of their journeys, certain patterns to both the motives and the style of their giving are becoming evident. These donors seek to be “bigger, better, and faster” in their giving than the philanthropists who came before — and they are inherently skeptical of nonprofits. This brought new players in philanthropy industry — Venture Philanthropy Organizations: Non-profits that invest using a VC strategy, and Impact Investors: Organizations investing in for-profit companies that have social impact potential.
As the Impact Investing industry grows, a number of Impact Investment Firms are popping up in Silicon Valley. Each company shares a deep rooted belief in the ability to make a large sustainable impact through market-based solutions. Impact investments are investments made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return.
Impact investing will play a transformative role in the future of our society, similar to the one venture capital has in the past.
Investors interested in making a difference in the world can focus on a variety of sectors, such as energy, natural resources, water, sustainable agriculture, clean technology, biomimicry, and financial services. You can meet some of them at the Silicon Valley Open Doors Conference, that aims to make an impact through high-tech entrepreneurship.
Here is a list of the Social Impact & Mission driven investment firms:
Khosla Impact: assists high-impact entrepreneurs who open up markets, increase productivity, and improve standards of living for the bottom half of the world economy. Some investments: Driptech (makes affordable drip irrigation for small-plot farmers), Embrace Innovations (develops affordable healthcare technologies for emerging markets), etc.
Kapor Capital: invests in tech-driven seed stage companies committed to closing gaps of access, opportunity or outcome for low income communities and/or communities of color in the United States.
TEC Ventures: invests at the very early stage in extraordinary people who think out-of-the-box, are committed to disrupt big markets and change the world. Investment: Gooddler (Goods donations platform to meet the basic needs of underserved populations around the world), SupportPay (The payment platform to share child expenses and manage child support), etc.
Skoll Foundation: Venture Philanthropy Organization (non-profit that invest using a VC strategy)
SU Ventures: Singularity University program dedicated to startups leveraging exponentially accelerating technologies to address humanity’s grand challenges.
http://su.org/entrepreneurs-startups/ventures/
Impact Engine: a venture fund that invests financial and human capital in early-stage, for-profit technology businesses improving education, health, economic empowerment, and resource efficiency.
CalCEF Angel Fund — California Clean Energy Fund
Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation: a global venture philanthropy firm supporting early stage, high impact social enterprises. Non-profit that invests using a VC strategy. Some investments: Idea.org, Kiva, LavaMae.
GIIN — Global Impact Investing Network: investing into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate social and environmental impact alongside a financial return. The GIIN builds critical infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research that help accelerate the development of a coherent impact investing industry. (Registered as a 501(c)3 organization)
SV2 — Silicon Valley Venture Fund: Non-profit that invests using a VC strategy. SV2’s model has four components: grants and impact investing, learning programs, capacity building, and family engagement. Investments: Destination:Home, FoodShift, etc
Sonen Capital: Social and Environmental Impact Investing
Arabella Advisors: help families, corporations and foundations improve the world through philanthropy and impact investing.
