Publication database

This report details the impact of the Bamboo Finance portfolio of 46 companies across 30 countries. Bamboo Finance is a commercial private equity firm specialising in investing in business models that benefit low-income communities in emerging markets.

This annual survey provides the latest insight into investor perceptions and a number of key market variables such as types of investors, the number and size of investments made, target returns, and impact measurement practices. This “State of the Market” analysis explores how investments continue to be made across different geographies, a range of sectors, and multiple asset classes, signalling continued market growth and an increasing interest in impact investing opportunities.

In 2014, Echoing Green, a non-profit irganisation, piloted an impact investing “inflection cohort” of ten alumni of their Fellowship programme, each leading for-profit and hybrid social enterprises. This white paper looks at the inflection cohort pilot’s performance in supporting emerging social entrepreneurs.

This article summarises Root Capital and Acumen's perspectives on programme and impact evaluation, and it's similarities to GPS which measures three dimensions of location (latitude, longitude, and elevation). It elaborates on how impact information also has three primary dimensions: type of impact—the nature of the impact(s) on each person or organisation; scale of impact—the number of people or organizations affected; and depth of impact—the amount or intensity of change experienced, per type of impact, per person affected.

The report plots the cost and value-add of non-financial support. It recommends the best ways of engaging investees and grantees with non-financial support in order to accelerate their progress towards producing solid societal outcomes. The guide is targeted specifically at venture philanthropy (VP) and social investment (SI) practitioners, and more broadly at other social sector funders such as foundations, grantmaking organisations and impact investors.

The study identified and reviewed 36 cases of inclusive business models in aquaculture value chains in low-income countries. The team analysed the economic and social upgrading objectives of each of the models and how they led to, or inhibited, developmental outcomes. 

This report is the first part of a three-year study on the performance of social and environmental micro enterprises, which looked at whether it is possible to determine whether and how such enterprises are making a contribution to social, environmental and economic progress within their communities; and what the enabling factors and barriers are to making that contribution. Part 1 presents the findings from the survey of 2011 SEED applicants and winners, noting any variations with previous cohorts.

Numerous enterprises are creating substantial positive impact yet their outcomes are often not fully compensated. By linking financial rewards to outcomes achieved, the nudge to create even more impact and the ability to crowdin investment are growing. This is the idea behind ImpactLinked Finance (ILF). ILF intersects with blended finance, impact investing and results-based finance and offers a compelling opportunity to directly support market-based enterprises with a broad scope of instruments.

The third major report from GALI examines the ability of accelerators to drive funds into participating ventures and explores which programmatic choices correspond with superior outcomes. The report shows that in a sample of 52 accelerators, the average flow of incremental funds into participating ventures is significantly greater than the average that flows into rejected ventures. In the majority (but not all) of these programs, this difference exceeds the reported cost of running the program. These superior funding outcomes are accomplished in different ways; many programs are most effective at stimulating revenue growth, while others are best at increasing the supply of outside equity investment. Given these differences in program efficacy and different paths to funding success, we then examine how specific program choices correspond with the ability to drive funds into participating ventures.

The Entrepreneurship Database Program collects information from entrepreneurs when they apply to accelerator programs. These entrepreneurs, both those selected and not selected, are then surveyed annually to gather valuable follow-up data. This report summarizes application data collected from ventures operating in Central America that applied to participating accelerator programs between 2013 and 2018.