The Dutch development bank FMO and Austrian DFI Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank have invested $20m into the Regional MSME Investment Fund for sub-Saharan Africa.
The equity and bond strategies will target both social and environmental impact across nine impact themes and are being made available to both retail and institutional investors.
State-owned commercial company COFIDES will manage the fund, which will finance and invest into businesses and projects addressing social challenges across Spain.
There are challenges and opportunities for Austria’s nascent but evolving impact investing ecosystem, according to Alexandra Bolena, one of the three co-founders of Bundesinitiative Impact Investing’s Austria Chapter.
The new fund is focused on emerging markets and made its first two investments into social enterprise One Acre Fund and into a blue bond issued by the International Bank of Ecuador.
Impact Expansion has raised €150m for Impact Expansion Fund I and announced the fund’s first investment in Belgium into sustainable energy solutions provider BeliVert.
According to a report by Planet Tracker the focus on recycling has allowed the plastic industry to continue the expansion of production, shifting the blame for global plastic pollution onto consumers.
Downforce Technologies, a global digital measurement, reporting and verification startup in soil organic carbon measurement and prediction, has closed a $4.2m funding round led by Equator VC.
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