Proof of Impact Announces Close of Investment Round Led by Franklin Templeton
Gearing up for next generation impact investing
Amsterdam & San Francisco — Proof of Impact (“POI”) today announced it closed its first institutional investment round led by Franklin Templeton, a global fund manager managing around $700 billion in assets. Proof of Impact is building a global marketplace on the blockchain where one can donate or invest directly into measurable impact outcomes. In connection with the investment, a representative of Franklin Templeton will serve on the Proof of Impact B.V. board, offering their expertise in the application of blockchain technology and impact investing as well as scaling the POI offering globally. Proof of Impact’s co-founder Fleur Heyns will be pitching the company during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2020.
In addition to Franklin Templeton, the following leading venture capital firms have joined in this investment round: Ausum Ventures (San Francisco, USA) a fund dedicated to blockchain projects with social impact at their core, Crypto Valley Venture Capital “CV VC” (Zug, Switzerland) the leading early-stage blockchain start-up fund in Crypto Valley and Pangea Blockchain fund (Switzerland). The investment follows a growth trajectory that has seen Proof of Impact establish milestone projects addressing several Strategic Development Goals (SDGs) across the globe. The POI marketplace will launch in The Netherlands in Q1 2020.
Next Generation Impact Investing
“From the outset, we were adamant for Proof of Impact to attract commercial capital that can add long-term strategic value at the “technology — impact — finance” intersection we would like to dominate,” said Proof of Impact co-founder Fleur Heyns from The Netherlands. “We are extremely pleased that a global financial institution with extensive emerging market investment product experience and distribution capacity is committed to build the next generation impact investment market with us.”
This first investment round allows Proof of Impact to continue its fast growth and execute its ambitious goal of securitizing proven impact and bringing proven impact investment products to global capital markets.
“As a firm, Franklin Templeton has committed significant capital to blockchain technology as we believe it offers a very effective future infrastructure for fund management. Furthermore, our client base is increasingly demanding impact returns in addition to the financial returns conventional portfolios offer. It therefore made sense to invest in Proof of Impact for its ability to generate impact content in digital form. Proof of Impact has created an entirely new paradigm for social impact investment and management,” said Roger Bayston, Executive Vice President, Director of Quantitative & FinTech Strategies, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group.
About Proof of Impact
Proof of Impact, a start-up founded in 2017 and headquartered in Amsterdam, is creating a global marketplace where one can donate or invest directly into measurable impact outcomes. The marketplace allows impact implementers (NGOs, companies, initiatives etc.) to deliver verifiable impact events at an individual level, and sell them directly to donors and impact investors. All Proof of Impact verified impact events are labelled with the relevant SDG tags. The ultimate goal is to offer liquid impact investment products and investment portfolios supported by blockchain technology to mobilise greater quantities and more diversified capital for proven impact.
Learn more at proofofimpact.com or on Proof of Impact’s blog.
Twitter: @proofofimpact
About Franklin Templeton
Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN] is a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton. Franklin Templeton’s goal is to deliver better outcomes by providing global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes, including equity, fixed income, alternatives and custom multi-asset solutions. The company’s more than 600 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With employees in over 30 countries, the California-based company has more than 70 years of investment experience and over $693 billion in assets under management as of October 31, 2019.
For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com.
