Last month, we hosted our 2025 Annual General Meeting in Chicago. Our team shared updates about our firm, our funds, and reflected on the state of the impact investing industry. We were grateful to welcome our community of investors, board members and a few leaders from our portfolio. Thanks again to everyone who participated!
Noēma Magazine | The Danger Of Superhuman AI Is Not What You Think
IE CEO Jessica Droste Yagan writes: "Shannon Valor does a great job articulating why thinking of AI as "superhuman" is inappropriate, in that while it can or will be able to do a lot of things faster and better than humans, those are not necessarily the things that best define what it is to be human. They are only the things that the market values, unlike, say, my ability to give my son a hug that makes him feel loved. She asks: "Are you no more than the work you completed today? Are you any less human or less intelligent if you spent your waking hours doing things that do not have well-defined “solutions,” that are not tasks that can be checked off a list, and that have no market price?""
Tideline, BlueMark, & Builders Vision | Scaling Solutions: The Fixed Income Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight
IE Chief Investment Officer Priya Parrish writes: "The $140 trillion fixed income market is often overlooked by impact investors. While the asset class is commoditized in many respects, it offers the ability to target specific underserved markets and urgent global needs all while providing liquidity. This valuable primer from Builders Vision, Tideline, and BlueMark helps investors understand the vast fixed income impact opportunity set from municipal and supernational bonds to corporate bonds and asset-based securities."
Town Hall Ventures | AI x Care Delivery: Healthcare Services as Software
IE VP Sophia Friedman writes: "Town Hall’s piece on AI x Care Delivery does a great job of highlighting not only how generative AI is reshaping care delivery, but how doing so can improve patient satisfaction, access to care and margin. Impact Engine and Town Hall are aligned in focusing on companies that seek to transform care for underserved populations, and this piece focuses on the potential of AI to do just that. While there are many applications of generative AI, this article focuses on several specific applications that can drive impact, including automating clinical and administrative tasks, expanding access, and reducing costs. AI can enable deeper patient engagement and more equitable, scalable care delivery. This shift has the potential to finally bring meaningful, sustainable improvements to delivering care to those long overlooked by the U.S. healthcare system."
National Catholic Reporter | What role will Pope Leo XIV play in the future of Laudato Si' ecological action?
IE Senior Associate for Investor Relations Maggie Stohler writes: "2025 marks 10 years since the publication of "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home", the encyclical written by Pope Francis that calls for greater action around climate change and other ecological crises. Pope Francis was a very vocal environmental advocate within the church, and there is much anticipation around how Pope Leo XIV will lead on these issues. I enjoyed this piece in the National Catholic Reporter speculating on what the continuation of that work might look like under this new leadership, and I am optimistic that Pope Leo XIV will continue to build on the foundation that Pope Francis laid."
The Chicago SRI-ESG-Impact Breakfast group is hosting our 4th summer event for Chicago interns and young professionals interested in ESG/SRI/Sustainability/Impact on Wednesday, July 30th from 7:45am-9:30am. The goal of this event is to share with students, interns, and young professionals information about the various career opportunities in this space.
Please RSVP or share among your networks for any interns or young professionals interested in this space!
Carbon Direct, the scientific advisory and fund investment of ours, has partnered with Microsoft to study a series of clean energy opportunities as part of the computing company's goal to become carbon neutral by the year 2030. Their recent reports range from studying the potential for low-carbon concrete and steel building materials (which presently account for 13% of global CO2 emissions), to creating criteria for high-quality marine carbon dioxide removal. Their latest collaboration, published last week, studied Carbon Dioxide Removal through the lens of environmental justice using race, class, and environmental burden metrics to discover whether today's environmental projects present an uneven burden on frontline communities.
PadSplit, the coliving marketplace addressing the housing affordability crisis, surpassed 50,000 members housed. The company now has approximately 21,000 units under its digital roof, and operates in 27 states to connect people who need short term housing with property owners who have extra space.