Impact Grid is a project to harness the potential offered by blockchain and other emerging technologies to design a transparent, secure and decentralized platform for Impact Investing.
Impact Grid - Designing a transparent,secure & decentralized platform for Impact Investing, powered by blockchain technology
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
TRANSPARENT
IMPACT INVESTING
DECENTRALISED
Impact Grid Designing a transparent, secure, decentralized platform
for Impact Investing, powered by blockchain technology
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
40
33
8
6
5
3 3 2
0.2
8
10.6 10.6
12.2
0
5
10
15
2012 2013 2014 2015E
Annual Impact Investments – Survey Based (US$ billion)
Source (Multiple): JP Morgan GIIN, 2012 – “Perspectives on Progress: The Impact Investor Survey”, 2013 & 2014 – “Spotlight on the Market: The Impact Investor Survey”: Eyes
on the Horizon: The Impact Investor Survey 2015 (Note: Number of respondents for each year were as follows: 2012: 88, 2013:125, 2014: 124, 2015: 146, The Cambridge
Associates Impact Investing Benchmark
Despite skepticism, Impact Investing continues to
grow as an asset class globally
While the market size has yet not been fully quantified, the aggregate assets indicate that the market is
substantial, with significant potential for growth
AUM
Private Equity
Private Debt
Equity-like Debt
Public Debt
Public Equity
Real Assets
Pay-for-performance instruments
Others Deposits & Cash Equivalents
Total AUM by
Instrument (%)
100% = US$ 60 billion
• Impact investors committed US$
10.6 billion to impact investments in
2014, and plan to invest 16% more,
US$ 12.2 billion,
in near future
• Investments directly into companies
represent a much larger proportion
of assets under management (74%)
than do indirect investments (20%)
• Private Debt and Private Equity are
the most prominent instruments,
accounting for 40% and 33% of
assets under management,
respectively. Eight percent is
allocated to Equity-like Debt while
less than 1% is allocated to Pay-for
performance instruments
Highlights
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
A diverse set of factors are contributing to the growth
and global recognition of the asset class
Source (Multiple): The Impact Investor Survey by GIIN, JP Morgan, 2015, http://www.axial.net/forum/impact-investing/
Early evidence of the
effectiveness and
profitability of past
impact investments
increases the
confidence of private
sector actors to enter
this sector in emerging
markets
Evidence of
scalable business
models that
create social and
environmental
value
Financial crisis of 2008
showed that there is a
need for more
transparency and
accountability
Broader
considerations of
risk in investment
decisions
Over the next 40
years, Generation X
and the Millennial
Generation are likely
to inherit an estimated
US$ 41 trillion from the
Baby Boomer
Generation. Since the
inheriting generations
have an inclination for
social good, and want
businesses to play a
more active role in
society, impact
investing is likely
to grow
Transfer of
wealth from baby
boomers to
children
Macro factors such as
population growth,
increasing demand for
natural resources,
environmental
pressure, people living
longer, chronic public
health challenges, etc.
will together lead to
higher demand for
impact investing
Recognition by
world leaders that
current trajectory is
not sustainable
There is a growing
commitment of asset-
owners and
corporations to deploy
capital in an
accountable,
responsible, and
transparent manner
Growing
commitment of
asset-owners and
corporations to
deploy capital
Finding that capital
deployed with positive
intention is both
effective and critical in
catalyzing solutions for
social challenges,
there is an increased
co-operation between
government and
private sector
Increasing
confidence by
governments and
philanthropists
Impact Investments Growth Drivers
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
However, key challenges continue to hamper
mainstream adoption and expected hyper growth
Source (Multiple): The Impact Investor Survey by GIIN, JP Morgan, 2015, Charting the Course – a report by WEF, 2014, SocialVentures.
Lack of appropriate capital
• Inadequate funding from the private sector
• Differentassetowners have differentpreferences,and
there is a clear lack of capitalacross the risk/return spectrum
Fund size is too small for investors
• Size of most funds is often too small for mainstream
investorsto handle (average impactinvesting fund is
around 20% of venture capital fund)
• Cost of fund managementtakes a biggershare
of returns to investors
Illiquid Products / Difficulty in exit strategies
• Investorconcernsover illiquidity arise due to the absence of an
established secondarymarket.
• This issue is compounded in the context of a fund.
• Especially when fund managers wish to rebalancetheir
investments or investors want to sell their units.
Shortage of quality investment opportunity
• Lack of investmentready social enterprises
• Limited channels for investors to leverage for deal flow and pipeline
• Nascentmarketmakesinvestors rely on word of mouth and
informalnetworks which acts as a barrier
Lack of uniform definition & understanding
• The “impact”side holds differentmeaningsto different
enterprises/funds – some are more socially inclined,while
others are more financially inclined
• This leads to confusionover the real set up of impactinvesting
Difficulty of measuring social outcomes
• The industry needs a set of robust social impactrating
standards and reportingtools.
• This is crucial given that impactinvesting is still evolving and
investorattitudes towards social returns vary dramatically.
Supplysidechallenges
Demandsidechallenges
Key Challenges
While impact investing has entered the mainstream mind-set, it is yet to become a part of the strategy,
operations and business culture of individuals and mainstream investment institutions
Under-developed intermediary market
• Too few intermediariesconnecting those interested in investing for socialimpactwith social
sector organizations that need capital to achieve positive social change
• Existing financial instruments are restricted to a selectcategoryof individuals and institutions
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Meanwhile, a set of emerging technologies / trends show
promise and have grown exponentially in the past few years
Developed: around 2009
(Bitcoin)
What it is: A permission-
less distributed database
that maintains a
continuously growing list
of transactional data
records hardened against
tampering
Key Notes: The
underlying technology
that powers digital
currencies, payment
systems and distributed
ledgers
Developed: around
2009-10
What it is: A mechanism
that enables broad
groups of investors to
fund startup companies
and small businesses in
return for private
securities. Can be equity-
based, debt-based or a
hybrid. Usually facilitated
via online platforms
Key Notes: Growing
exponentially. Approved
in a number of countries.
Expected to overtake VC.
Developed: around the
mid 2000’s
What it is: Also called
collaborative
consumption, it is peer-
to-peer-based sharing of
access to goods and
services coordinated
through community-
based online services
Key Notes: Popular
deployments include
online marketplaces such
as AirBnB, Uber,
TaskRabbit, DogVacay,
PoshMark, etc.
Developed: Before 2000
What it is: Generally,
refers to software whose
source code is published
and made available to
the public, enabling
anyone to copy, modify
and redistribute the
source code without
paying royalties or fees
Key Notes: Leading
open source software
include Ubuntu Linux,
WordPress, Hadoop,
Magento, Drupal,
Hyperledger,etc.
Blockchain
Technology
Crowd
Investing
Open
Source
Sharing
Economy
Together they can effectively address many of the teething challenges and help propel the
mainstream adoption and growth of impact investing
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Impact Grid is a project to harness the potential of key
emerging trends & technologies for Impact Investing
The goal is to design a transparent, secure and decentralized exchange to connect impact investors, social
enterprises and others in the ecosystem and rapidly scale socio-environmental impact
Initially conceived to address our need for smart and transparent impact fund management,
the plan swiftly evolved towards building a platform to transform impact investing
A platform for
intermediaries to offer
and administer impact
investing instruments
(funds, bonds, etc)
A modern approach to
design and structure
new financial
instruments for impact
investing
A consensus based
mechanism to
systematize impact
measurement and
reporting
A meaningful way to
track, measure,
evaluate and report
social impact
A crowd investing
marketplace directly
connecting impact
investors and social
enterprises
Democratizing impact
investing. Making it
available to all. With an
active secondary
market
An open Impact
marketplace (going
beyond financials)
Fostering open socio-
environmental
innovation via peer-to-
peer collaboration /
asset exchange
Impact Grid – A blockchain-powered next gen platform for Impact Investing
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Impact Grid will bring together the existing industry actors
in a whole new way …… and add a host of new ones
The decentralized exchange will facilitate the design and creation of a new breed of financial instruments for
impact investing while allowing existing structures to scale
A transparent, secure and decentralized system will allow for better trust and governance while
seamlessly connecting a host of next-gen social entrepreneurs, impact investors and intermediaries
Source: WEF, 2014
Retail Clients
(<$100k)
Pension /
Sovereign Funds
Mass Affluent
($100K-$1MM)
Endowments /
Foundations
HNWIs
($1MM-$50MM)
Insurance
Companies
UHNWIs
($50MM-$100MM)
Hedge Funds /
Mutual Funds
Family Office
($100MM-$1B) Development
Finance Institute
(DFIs)Billionaires
(>$1B)
Capital Providers
Wealth
Advisors
Fund Managers
Investment
Funds
Financial
Intermediaries
Other Intermediaries
(Consultants, Lawyers,
Service Providers)
Depository
Institutions
Investment
Targets
Financial
Services
Fees
Financial
Services
Fees
Investment
Net Return
Investment
Gross Return
Direct Investment
Investment Return
Fees
Technical Assistance
Principal
& Interest
Debt
Capital
Principal & Interest
Debt Capital
Key
Tracks flow of capital
Tracks Relationship
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
The project will have three phases, beginning with the
design for a smart platform to administer an impact fund
2016 2017
1. Smart Impact
Fund Platform
2. Crowd Investing /
Lending
One Simple Impact
Fund
Investors -> Fund ->
SocEnts. All records and
transactions and
transactions maintained
and managed on the
blockchain
#ImpInv
Marketplace
Democratizing Impact
investing: A primary
and secondary
marketplace for social
enterprises and impact
investors
2018
3. Open Impact
Exchange
Peer-2-Peer
Exchange
Fostering socio-
environmental open
innovation via peer-
to-peer collaboration
/ asset exchange
An open source project, Impact Grid will allow anyone to extend, integrate and
deploy an impact exchange
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
There exist some key dependencies including currently
evolving technology and access to necessary resources
Evolving
Technology
Its still early days for blockchain and related technology / protocol which
continues to evolve
• Uncoordinated - diverse group of developers
• Still broadly associated with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies
Regulation
The jury is still out with many governments and associated regulatory
bodies still trying to understand emerging trends and related technology.
• Blockchain , Crowd Investing, Peer-to-Peer lending
Capital and
Resources
Capital and resources to build a platform that will facilitate cross-border,
cross-functional ecosystem collaboration
• Regional expertise
• Patient Capital
Dependencies
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Investrata Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
We are eager to hear from you and welcome individuals &
organisations to join us on this journey to advance social change
We try to do our part, practice what we preach and maintain a minimal physical and carbon footprint
Reach us
Additional Resources
What is Impact Investing:
https://goo.gl/3APU8M
What is Blockchain Technology:
https://goo.gl/crv1Di
www.impactgrid.org
facebook.com/ImpactInvesting.in
@ImpactIN
info@investrata.org