The volume of global electronic waste has surged by 60% over the last decade. Yet the United States recycles only about 15% of its discarded tech.
E-waste contains a toxic cocktail of lead, mercury, and arsenic that poses significant risks when it reaches landfills. Beyond the toxicity, the environmental cost of replacing these materials through virgin mining is significant. For example, recycling gold generates 16 times fewer CO2 emissions than mining it. Enterprises need infrastructure that can manage electronic waste at scale, securely, and sustainably. With this demand, the U.S. e-waste market is projected to grow from $27 billion to $39 billion by 2030.
Read on to learn why we invested in Paladin EnviroTech.
The University of Utah's Sorenson Impact Institute recently featured IE Chief Investment Officer Priya Parrish in its 2026 Impact Investing Trends & Opportunities report. The publication, which includes insights from 18 top impact leaders, highlights various perspectives on the state of the industry.
In the report Priya notes that "The greatest opportunity for growth is in total portfolio activation. By integrating impact across all investments, we move from chasing narrow targets to achieving a diverse and powerful range of outcomes. The bottleneck for this shift is a lack of product depth and maturity." Read the full report for her insights on how this problem could be solved (PDF, page 17).
IE Analyst Demetrius Palmer will serve as a judge at the 2Flo Ventures Health Equity Pitch Competition on May 8 in Chicago. "More than just a pitch competition, we aim to support early-stage founders from non-traditional backgrounds and provide them with the resources they need to reach their next milestone," says event organizer Ibraheem Alinur, VP of health-focused investment firm 2Flow Ventures. "As part of the award, we have leaders (potentially you) donating their time to support the finalists, and we hope to rally the community to help these individuals on their journey to advance health equity." RSVP now to attend.
Afresh, the grocery store food waste fighter, announced the closure of a new round of financing led by High Sage Ventures and Just Climate/Generation Investment Management (Al Gore's investment firm). The $34 million raise is slated to accelerate their AI-powered perishable monitoring platform expansion in the $10 trillion dollar global grocery industry. The company, which was recently profiled in Fast Company, so far operates in 12,500 departments across 40 states.
Congruent, the sustainability-focused fund investment of ours, released their annual Impact Report, spotlighting the results of its 51 active portfolio companies in the US and Canada. The company divides its investments into four subthemes: energy transition, food & agriculture, sustainable production and consumption, and mobility and urbanization.
ReUp Education, the college re-enrollment solution for stopped out students, unveiled a report showing their partnership with the Michigan Association of State Universities has resulted in nearly 14,000 re-enrollments and over $57 million in recaptured tuition for participating educational institutions. In total, 1.2 million Michigan adults (or about 1 in 10) are estimated to have some college credit but no degree.