{"id":15115,"date":"2019-05-21T12:28:22","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T12:28:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/generation-closes-1b-growth-fund-targeting-sustainable-startups.html"},"modified":"2019-05-21T12:28:22","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T12:28:22","slug":"generation-closes-1b-growth-fund-targeting-sustainable-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/generation-closes-1b-growth-fund-targeting-sustainable-startups.html","title":{"rendered":"Generation closes $1B growth fund targeting sustainable startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Generation Investment Management<\/a>, the firm co-founded by environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore, was built on the premise of backing sustainable startups. Now, as the idea of sustainability starts to gain wider traction, the firm is doubling down on the concept.<\/p>\n

Today, Generation is announcing that it has closed a $1 billion Sustainable Solutions Fund for growth investments. As the name implies, it plans to put the $1 billion to work backing later-stage startups that work on sustainability in at least one of three areas \u2014 environmental solutions; healthcare; and financial inclusion, including the future of work \u2014 and are creating financially sustainable businesses out of that focus.<\/p>\n

Typical investments will range from $50 million to $150 million, and there have already been two made out of the fund before it closed, both indicative of the kinds of investments Generation plans to be making.<\/p>\n

Andela<\/a> \u2014 the startup that pairs companies needing engineering talent to work on projects with developers based out of Africa \u2014 in January announced a $100 million round<\/a>. Also that month, Sophia Genetics<\/a> \u2014 the company that applies AI to DNA sequencing to help formulate more accurate medical treatments \u2014 raised $77 million<\/a> led by the firm.<\/p>\n

Other companies that Generation has backed include Asana<\/a>, DocuSign, gogoro, CiBO, M-Kopa, Ocado, Optoro and Seventh Generation.<\/p>\n

This is Generation\u2019s third growth fund and the largest raised by the firm to date, which itself is a sign of the swing we\u2019ve seen in the tech world.<\/p>\n

In general, founders, workers and investors all\u00a0remain relentlessly focused on growing new ideas. But along with that there has been a rising conscientiousness of the massive role that tech plays in shaping the world, and so some are now trying to make more of an effort to use that for more meaningful outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are seeing how sustainability is attracting high performing entrepreneurs,\u201d said Lilly Wollman, partner and co-head of the Growth Equity platform, in an interview. \u201cThey care about the mission, and that is also driving financial performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that we are at the early stages of a technology-led sustainability revolution,\u201d said Al Gore, <\/a> Chairman and Co-Founder, in a statement, \u201cwhich has the scale of the industrial revolution, and the pace of the digital revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of Generation, it\u2019s also an indication that the firm \u2014 which has $22 billion under management today \u2014 is providing impressive enough returns on its mission to drive more interest from LPs to grow the commitment to back it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a recognition of this momentum,\u201d added Lila Preston, a Partner who is the growth platform\u2019s co-head, of the 15 years the firm has already spent on this concept and the work it\u2019s put into it. \u201cWe see this as a movement, but one with a roadmap based on research and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also notable to me that the two people leading the growth team are women. Wollman noted that 60 percent of the Generation team is female, with the employee base spanning eight nationalities. \u201cThe firm believes more diversity leads to better outcomes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Consumers are also playing a big role. Of all the good, bad and ugly that have been wrought by the rise of social media, one of the positives has been how social platforms have been used to raise awareness of issues such as climate change and inclusion. We may be getting into more online fights with our distant cousins (and closer friends and relatives), and sometimes issues like trying to curtail emissions gasses seems like an insurmountable challenge. But some will also use what they read about and watch online as inspiration to try to make a change.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that is so interesting in this moment is at we are at an inflection point,\u201d said Wollman. \u201cSustainability is winning on economics alone. You see\u00a0sustainable products and solutions that are both efficacious and cheap. People are buying electric vehicles not just because they are green, but because they are starting to become cheap enough, and provide better performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s bringing in a new wave of investors to the mix, and it\u2019s interesting to see how some more conventional investors are even starting to take a bigger step into making mission-driven investment decisions. (Just yesterday, in the UK, Balderton co-led a large round for Wagestream<\/a>, a startup aimed at helping promote financial inclusion by creating a way to easily and cheaply draw down money from monthly paychecks. Generation hinted that it too might be making an investment in a startup working in a similar area in the weeks to come.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps to have\u00a0a set of coinvestors to ask questions related not only to \u2018what are your growth metrics\u2019 but \u2018how does what you are doing affect the wider world,’\u201d said Preston. \u201cWe are finding an increase of sophistication, which we think is positive recognition. Given the context of our shift, whether it\u2019s a new economic model or climate change, we are going to need masses of capital to drive sustainable solutions and reframe what is successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Article source: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/05\/21\/generation-closes-1b-growth-fund-targeting-sustainable-startups\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Generation Investment Management, the firm co-founded by environmentalist and former Vice President Al Gore, was built on the premise of backing sustainable startups. Now, as the idea of sustainability starts <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-15115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-networking-and-communication","tag-network-and-communication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t