Social Venture Matchmaking Service Launches in Ontario; Report Looks at Impact Investing

The Social Venture Connection (SVX), a new impact investing platform in Toronto, was launched to catalyze debt and equity investments in socially driven ventures that have demonstrable social and/or environmental impact and the potential for financial return. Developed by the MaRS Discovery District, SVX provides local, socially minded accredited investors (e.g., high net-worth individuals, foundations and financial institutions) a savvy web tool to make investments in vetted nonprofit or for-profit organizations.

Due to national securities regulations, SVX currently acts as a matchmaking service to facilitate offline investment transactions between local investors and social ventures within the Canadian province of Ontario. Via the platform, social ventures can raise up to $10 million via a network of accredited investors from Ontario. The SVX’s first cohort of 12 social ventures includes three socially driven, tech companies. The first-year objective of SVX is to mobilize $2.5 million or more in capital investments for at least 10 social ventures.

SVX is a public-private partnership between the MaRS Discovery District, the government of Ontario, Toronto Stock Exchange, private business and foundations. Read the release…

The World Economic Forum recently released a new report that provides an initial assessment of the impact investing sector and identifies the factors constraining the acceleration of capital into the field of impact investing. In From the Margins to the Mainstream, World Economic Forum researchers engaged with over 150 mainstream investors, business executives, philanthropic leaders and policymakers to gain their insight on impact investing. The report is divided into five sections including:

• A definition of impact investing — impact investing is an investment approach that intentionally seeks to create both financial return and positive social or environmental impact that is actively measured.
• An evaluation of the current state of the impact investment sector — the researchers found while the impact investment sector is still early stage and will need to grow aggressively in order to meet growth rate expectations, leading mainstream investors have begun to allocate capital to investments creating social and environmental value.
• The four areas of challenge for institutional investors — early stage ecosystem, small average deal size, fit within asset allocation framework and double bottom line.
• Recommendations to grow the impact investing sector — the authors highlight three key recommendations and the roles of several key actors including government and foundations.

Moving forward, the World Economic Forum intends to engage leading mainstream investors in an effort to analyze the competitive advantage that results from an impact investment offering. In addition, it also plans to identify the best practices and organizational structures that asset managers, private wealth managers and financial services institutions can implement in order to make impact investing an integral part of their strategy and operations. Read the report…