Insights

Please keep in mind while touring the Insights that they are only reflective of the data within the Network Map – not the full Impact Investing landscape. You can learn more about our methodology to reflect this data through our Data Policy on the About Page.  

The Impact Investing Network Map provides a variety of ways to view information across the Impact Investing ecosystem. Our vision is to create a robust platform that displays information around investors, companies and investments that represent the full scope of impact investing activity. In analyzing the Network Map data, we identified common behaviors across companies, investors, funds and intermediaries around information-sharing. Below, you’ll find several early insights based on the Network Map dataset. These include the types of organizations that are active in Impact Investing, the impact objectives they are targeting, where they seek to have impact and some transaction details.

The Beta version of the Network Map creates a unique opportunity to build a coalition of Impact Investing data contributors. With the contribution of more data, we can fill the information gaps to create the robust and complete insights necessary to accurately reflect this burgeoning market.

• Investors & Companies

  Showing the connections between investors and the companies they fund is a key feature of the Network Map. As new investors consider Impact Investing, many are curious about who is already active. The map is designed to highlight the movers and shakers that, according to our current dataset, have made the greatest number of impact investments and are connected to the largest number of companies. As more data is added, the depth and scope of the connections will increase.

  • According to the data, the top 20 most connected investors have made a total of 1,306 impact investments.
  • 1,161 companies have received investments from the top 20 most connected investors.
  • 547 impact investments have been made by the top 3 most connected investors.
  • 460 companies have received investments from the top 3 most connected investors.

  The rise of B Corps and other innovative company structures provide helpful signals on how innovative companies can design for both their social and financial objectives. While we have some early insights, the addition of more data will allow us to understand which structures are most common, where they are and how they support entrepreneurs, founders and teams to maximize their social mission without sacrificing financial returns.

  • Within the data, only 57.3% of investors and 0.0% of companies have disclosed their organization’s legal structure.
  • According to disclosed information, the most frequent legal structure for investors is C Corporation and  for companies.

  Investor and company legal structures

  	Investors	Companies
  Undisclosed	1,513	6,774

  Note: Due to disclosure rates around legal structures, this data should not be used to draw conclusions about investor or company characteristics in this dataset.

• Impact Objectives

  A primary characteristic of “impact” is intentionality – the explicit pursuit of social impact. The IRIS taxonomy is used in the Network Map to categorize each investor’s and company’s intended impact objective. It’s possible for companies and investors to select multiple objectives to capture the diversity of their activity and intentions. Over time, we hope that the inclusion of more data allows us to explore the most common impact objectives, and better understand the types of investments directed toward those objectives.

  • 19.3% of investors and 23.5% of companies have disclosed at least one impact objective.
  • In the instance that impact objectives are disclosed, investors most frequently identify 1, similarly, for companies that number is 1.
  • According to the disclosed information, Sustainable Energy is the most frequently reported impact objective by investors.
  • And Natural Resources Conservation is the most frequently reported impact object for companies.

  Number of impact objectives

  Investors

  Companies

  Number of Impact Objectives

  • Undisclosed
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11

  Note: The Network Map data is currently under review for improved accuracy to ensure all companies and investors have selected at least one impact objective, inclusive of social, environmental and operational considerations.

  Social and environmental impact objectives

  • Investors
  • Companies

  Note: Investors and companies can currently select more than one objective, and may be represented across multiple objectives. The total number of investors and companies represented across objectives may exceed the total number of organizations within the dataset.

• Geography

  The Network Map also provides a snapshot of where investors and entrepreneurs are focusing their investments and activities. The current data only reveals some information about the countries where investors and companies are most active, but we hope that continued disclosure and reporting will unveil a more complete picture. There’s so much we can learn about where Impact Investing actors work, and we encourage you to join us in sharing more data around where you intend to have the most impact.

  • Impact geography has been disclosed for 30.2% of investors and 0.0% of companies within the dataset.
  • According to the disclosed information, United States and Singapore are the most frequently reported impact geographies for investors and companies respectively.

  Number of investors by continent

  • North America

    374
  • Europe

    262
  • Asia

    190
  • Africa

    172
  • South America

    60
  • Oceania

    14
  • Undisclosed

    2,502

  Number of companies by continent

  • Asia

    0
  • Europe

    0
  • South America

    0
  • Africa

    0
  • North America

    0
  • Antarctica

    0
  • Undisclosed

    6,774

  Investors and companies can select more than one impact geography; therefore, the total number of organizations represented across all geographies may exceed the total number of investors and companies in the data set.

• Investment

  A lack of information-sharing around investment and performance data is not a new phenomenon. Across many types of investing, we know that the culture of sharing is not as robust as we’d like it to be. In line with this, we have the least amount of information on transaction-level data for the individual deals tracked in this dataset. For the investment information that can be captured through the Network Map, we’re pleased to share certain specifics – like the investors who have participated in a fundraising round, the stage of the round and the overall amount raised. For more information on how transaction-level data should be viewed, please see our Data Policy on the About Page.

  • 37.8% of investments reported have disclosed the investment round.
  • 43.7% of investments shared have included the dollar amount invested.

  Number of investments by round

  Note: Number of Investments are counted by individual investor participation in a funding event. The number of investments does not suggest aggregate investments by round.

  Total investment amount by investment round

  Note: Total investment by round does not capture individual investment allocations.