Apple Issues a New $1B Green Bond

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June 13, 2017

applegreen — The company was among those who pledged to continue supporting efforts to meet the Paris agreement. Source: Green ILC Project

Apple has issued a $1 billion green bond to help fund renewable energy initiatives, such as recycling and energy efficiency, through its supply chain, according to Bloomberg.

It is the company’s second green bond – it issued a $1.5 billion green bond in February 2016 last year to help it reduce its carbon footprint in its buildings, manufacturing and operations.

Fortuitous Timing

Timing

Apple’s new green bond issuance comes two weeks after President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, so the announcement’s timing is commendably prescient, as well as a loud signal to the U.S. administration that reducing emissions remains a top priority for U.S. firms.

The company was among those who pledged to continue supporting efforts to meet the Paris agreement.

Earlier in June, CEO Tim Cook shared an internal memo describing the Paris withdrawal as the wrong decision, saying “climate change is real and we all share a responsibility to fight it … we power nearly all of our operations with renewable energy, which we believe is an example of something that’s good for our planet and makes good business sense as well.”

Outside of green bonds, Apple has a track record of timing the issuance of its bonds – watching interest rates closely and knowing when to strike and get what amounts to “almost free money,” according to Marilyn Cohen of Envision Capital.

Token Gesture?

Comments in some user forums seem to describe Apple’s latest action as insufficient, noting that it continues to keep billions in revenues offshore to avoid taxes, or plans obsolescence in its products, or uses manufacturers that have not practiced sustainability in their operations.

Yet Apple has invested in green wind turbines in China, has been pushing its partners like Foxconn to commit to renewable energy sources and has even installed solar panels in buildings in its new campus in California.

Intended consequence or otherwise, some also see Apple’s actions as examples of where lack of government involvement in issues like climate change can urge individual or corporate responsibility and innovation.

“What Apple is doing here is what should be happening in the first place. No need for crazy agreements and accords that cost money to taxpayers,” says one commenter.

Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, MacRumors

Off-Grid Energy Toolkit to Identify Solutions

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 9, 2017

5749 — D-Lab has developed the Energy Assessment Toolkit to guide local organizations through the process of gathering the information needed to make informed decisions about what technologies and business models are best suited to meet the specific needs in their community. Source: MIT D-Lab

One tool that could be used to assess the energy needs of a rural off-grid area like Pakistan’s is MIT D-lab’s Energy Assessment Toolkit.

The toolkit, which is online and open-source, is designed to help local organizations gather the right inputs to make informed decisions on the level of technologies and business models needed to meet a rural community’s energy needs.

What The Toolkit Includes

Survey and Interview Guides

The toolkit includes guides to perform surveys and interviews to collect inputs from a range of stakeholders, such as community residents, business owners, government officials and others.

The guides do not presume expertise in the energy sector but they do presuppose a strong presence in a candidate community. The ability to take action based on the opportunities identified by the toolkit are essential to successful outcomes.

Among the topics the toolkit helps explore:

Current energy access and expenditures
Aspirational energy needs
Existing supply chains
Community institutions and stakeholders (private sector, government, NGO)

The toolkit also includes data entry and data visualization tools that can be used to analyze the data collected. A solution design guide helps identify the appropriate technologies and business models after analysis of the data. Watch a short video of the toolkit in use.

Download Info and Contact

D-Lab ()
Full D-Lab()

We have piloted this assessment process with organizations in Latin America, West Africa, and India. If you are interested in working with D-Lab to conduct an assessment of the energy needs and market opportunities in the off-grid community where you work or if you have feedback on the Energy Assessment Toolkit , please email Eric Verploegen.

Source: MIT D-Lab

Impact Investing Can Close Education Gaps, Report Says

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 8, 2017

educationinvesting — Impact investing opportunity spectrum to close education gaps in the U.S. Source: Avivar Capital.

Greater levels of impact investing are needed to address gaps in college graduation rates between low-income students and their more affluent peers in the U.S., a report by Avivar Capital says.

The report was commissioned and sponsored by the Kresge and Lumina Foundations.

Why This Report Matters

Multiple trends are converging that require bolder action and more out-of-the-box innovative financing solutions, outside of reliance on government or policy intervention.

Among them – decreasing college affordability, soaring student debt, demographic changes in the nation’s population, increasing college student diversity, more pervasive digital technologies.

What the Trends Say

Delivery of educational services will become cheaper and more democratic, however robotics and increased automation promise to impact the future of work.

Some numbers: (via Atlantic)

$62.6 billion is needed to cover tuition payments for all public university students
44 million Americans now owe around $1.4 trillion in student debt
U.S. spends 47% of GDP on higher education, the highest worldwide
Average annual tuition in the U.S., third highest internationally

Successful impact investing in the sector can be leveraged to promote opportunities in other areas.

The report identifies some examples including improving student transition from K-12 to postsecondary, real-world financial literacy, college readiness, coordination of support to students who are disadvantaged, undocumented, or low-income.

Additionally, anticipated policies by Trump and new Education secretary Betsy Devos to cut billions in student aid, research and education programs will drive the need for newer kinds of capital and “EdTech” innovation by nonprofit and philanthropic groups.

“America needs talent and the education system, from K12 to postsecondary, must change radically in order to provide it.”

“There are large, powerful and influential forces at work to make this happen; from the White House to entrepreneurs to philanthropy. This is not only a national imperative, it is a human and moral imperative,” the report urges.

Sources: Kresge Foundation, Atlantic

Impact Investing Deal Report – June 7, 2017

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 7, 2017

5700 — Yogome, based in Mexico, is a digital education provider of fun ways to teach children about various topics including recycling. Source: Yogome.

Digital education provider Yogome, tutoring platform Yuanfudao and EV-car sharing platform Yibuyongche were among the more notable deals this past week.

Nearly $25 million was raised among the three startups. Online tutoring Yuanfudao has raised nearly $120 million in total. All three are based overseas.

Long Vs Short

Bicycle Therapeutics – develops a proprietary platform for bicyclic peptides, compounds that help deliver cancer therapy through the membranes of cells. Raised £40 million in Series B funding. Based in Cambridge in the UK, with offices now in Boston, Massachusetts.

Lung Therapeutics – develops drug indications and therapy for lung injury and disease, like fibrosis. The four-year old startup is focused currently on pleural effusion, a painful, debilitating condition that causes severe breathing difficulties due to fluid buildup in the cavities around the lungs. Raised $14.3 million in Series B funding. Based in Austin, Texas.

Mera Gao Power – builds and operates village-based solar micro grids to provide electricity to rural, off-grid households in Uttar Pradesh, India, a remote area of about 200 million people. Raised $2.5 million to help it expand solar power to 5,000 more such villages.

Monteris Medical – develops laser systems for ablation, or electrical inactivation technology, to help treat brain lesions. Raised $26.6 million in Series C funding. Based in Plymouth, Minnesota.

Neuronetics – develops transcranial, non-invasive, magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapies to help treat psychiatric and neurological disorders, a market worth more than $18.5 billion by 2025, according to research the company has cited. Raised $15 million in Series G funding. Based in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

Yibuyongche – enables users to lease an electric vehicle (EV) via a mobile app and return it at any of its leasing locations (like Zipcar for EVs). The payment is made via WeChat Pay or Alipay. Raised $19 million in Series A funding. Based in China.

Yogome – this week’s spotlight, Yogome is a digital education provider of fun ways to teach children about various topics including recycling, climate change and the environment. Raised $6.6 million in Series A funding. Based in San Francisco and Mexico. See their other fun video below on recycling glass and metal trash.

Yuanfudao– an online live tutoring platform that claims to be the largest in China with a paying user base of over 1 million. Raised $120 million in equity funding. Based in Beijing China.

Other Relevant News of Interest

EU agrees to more support for venture capital and social enterprises. Timely, given news of a more optimistic environment for investing in Europe.

Two high school students launch a program to teach schools and teens about race.

National Geographic commits $50 million of its $1.2 billion endowment to impact investing. The program will be managed by Cambridge Associates.

An iPad in every hospital, as Apple prepares to release its latest tablet and crack a rather large $3 trillion market.

June 5 was world environment day.

Advanced solar cooker that cooks and heats five times faster than conventional.

Sources: Crunchbase, TechCrunch, Reuters

CO2 Extractor Opened Near Zurich, A First

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 6, 2017

carbonzurich — Zurich's Climeworks aims to "vacuum" CO2 out of the air and convert it to a usable resource for farming. Source: Climeworks

The world’s first commercial plant that aims to extract CO2 carbon dioxide from the planet’s air at industrial scale opened recently for business near Zurich in Switzerland.

Climeworks‘ so-called “Direct Air Capture (DAC)” plant sits in the farming village of Hinwil, about 29 kilometers from Zurich.

A machine sits on top of a waste heat recovery facility that powers the device. Fans push air through a filter system which isolates the CO2 at a temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius.

Why This Matters

A Giant CO2 Vacuum

This past March, global levels of CO2 passed 400 parts per million, a first since record-keeping began, say scientists who have been monitoring CO2 levels in the planet’s atmosphere.

High CO2 levels have been associated with the deadly effects of climate change in the form of rising seas, monster storms, wildfires and extreme weather like Pakistan’s heat in the previous post. Passing 400 ppm is an ominous sign of what might come next.

The ambitious project aims to pipe the collected gas to a nearby greenhouse to grow crops and also plans to sell it to willing buyers.

Climeworks last closed a Series B for $3.42 million with Zurcher National Bank in April 2014.

Climeworks Announcement

Founded by engineers, Christoph Gebald and Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks developed its technology to capture atmospheric carbon with a filter, using mainly low-grade heat as an energy source. In Hinwil the DAC plant has been installed on the roof of a waste recovery facility – operated by the municipal administration union KEZO – with its waste heat powering the Climeworks DAC plant.

“Highly scalable negative emission technologies are crucial if we are to stay below the two degree target of the international community,” says Christoph Gebald, co-founder and managing director of Climeworks. “The DAC-technology provides distinct advantages to achieve this aim and is perfectly suitable to be combined with underground storage. We’re working hard to reach the goal of filtering one per cent of global CO2 emissions by 2025. To achieve this, we estimate around 250,000 DAC-plants like the one in Hinwil are necessary.”

The CO2 captured by Climeworks can be used to carbonate beverages or produce climateneutral fuels and other materials. Capturing CO2 locally for industrial uses enables customers to reduce their emissions and lessen their dependence on fossil fuels, as currently most industrial CO2 is transported from fossil point sources via truck to industries on site. In comparison to other carbon capture technologies, a modular Climeworks plant can be employed almost anywhere.

In coming months Climeworks plans to launch additional commercial pilot projects in key target markets and wants to test its technology’s potential to deliver negative emissions by combining it with underground storage.

“With the energy and economic data from the plant we can make reliable calculations for other, larger projects and draw on the practical experience we have gained.” says Jan Wurzbacher, Climeworks co-founder and managing director.

Sources: Climeworks, 350.org, Crunchbase

Growing Pains for Impact Investing Ahead, says Bob Webster of SEAF

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 2, 2017

Bob Webster, who is a Managing Director of Impact Investing Strategy at SEAF sat down for a short talk with Christopher Skroupa who runs Skytop Strategies.

Mr. Webster is a 20-year veteran in impact investing and helps manage for SEAF how impact is baked into SEAF’s processes and inventory of funds. He also runs the SEAF Women’s Opportunity Fund, focusing investments on SMEs in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Webster's Background

Prior to SEAF, Bob was COO for the Grassroots Business Fund, a leading impact investment fund focused on emerging markets in Asia, Kenya and Peru. He is an active trainer in impact investing for the GIIN, ANDE and Harvard Business School’s Impact Club. He also serves as mentor for the social enterprise accelerator at Santa Clara University.

Bob holds both an MBA in Finance and a BA in Mathematics from Indiana University. He also completed Harvard University’s Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development Executive Program (FIPED) at the Kennedy School, and he has completed post-graduate work in agricultural economics at the University of London.

Interview Highlights

Skroupa: How do you see the impact investing field evolving over the next five years?

Webster: We all see more mainstream capital interested in social and environmental impact. Millennials are pushing family office portfolios in this direction and foundations are increasingly “putting their money where their mouth is,” using core endowment funds for impact investing. Perhaps surprisingly, given their high fiduciary responsibility, pension funds are increasingly looking at this space.

This obviously represents a great opportunity for impact investing fund managers, but it also raises some interesting questions as the space moves forward. It is critical in the private equity space that committed capital for impact does not overly exceed the demand in the market. Particularly in public securities, investors should be wary of offerings that are marketed as impact but in essence are not.

Another trend is the coalescing of impact capital around certain impact themes or sectors, such as quality job creation, environmental sustainability, agribusiness or even gender.

On gender, SEAF has seen a great deal of interest in this based on social media metrics, interest from co-investors, and hearing in the marketplace about potential fund-of-funds focusing on women entrepreneurs. Clean energy is of clear interest to mainstream investors as sustainable sources of energy such as wind and solar become increasingly economically competitive with oil and gas.

Finally, some interesting questions on impact investing will perhaps be answered over the next five years. Will impact investment fund managers go full bore on impact, establishing clear impact achievement thresholds, alongside financial return thresholds, for investment decision-making? Some managers do have minimum impact requirements for making investment decisions, while others have do not or have impact achievement guides. Some fund managers feel they do not yet have enough experience and data to establish firm impact decision-making thresholds.

Conversely, will there actually be a push back on impact metrics themselves, as occasionally there are informed voices that question if the insistence on full rigor on impact management can cause investors to lose sight of the real impact being achieved and hence be counterproductive?

Perhaps more importantly, what will another five years of data tell us about these questions, such as the possible tradeoff between financial returns and impact, the suitability of impact metrics and thresholds, and what impact themes, sectors and/or geographies and asset classes will be of most interest to investors?

***

Source: Forbes

Paris Accord Without the US – What’s Next

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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June 1, 2017

climatechangeheadline — To a certain degree, many business leaders did not find Thursday’s announcement a complete surprise. Investors claim they have baked those expectations into their climate projects and operations. Image Sources: Yahoo

Several prominent business leaders and investors in the global community came out voicing protests against U.S President Trump’s Thursday announcement to leave the Paris Climate Pact.

Who Said What

“Americans are not walking away from the Paris Climate Agreement – just the opposite, we are forging ahead. -Mike Bloomberg.

“Today’s decision is a setback for the environment and for the U.S.’s leadership position in the world.” – Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs CEO.

“Disappointed with today’s decision. Google will keep working hard for a cleaner, more prosperous future for all.” – Sundar Pichai, Google CEO.

More Who's Who

“If President Trump won’t lead, the American people will.” – former Vice President Al Gore.

“This Administration joins a small handful of nations that reject the future.” – former President Barack Obama.

“Disappointed with today’s decision on the Paris Agreement. Climate change is real. Industry must now lead and not depend on government.” – Jeff Immelt, CEO General Electric.

“Am departing presidential councils. Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.” – Elon Musk, CEO Tesla.

What Now

To a certain degree, many business leaders did not find Thursday’s announcement a complete surprise.

“Most of the folks working around energy and climate no longer seem to require policy support,” said Shaun Abrahamson, a managing partner at Urban Us, a venture fund focused on making investments to make cities smarter. “But more than that there seems to be enough businesses and consumers who are committed to climate action.”

While it may too early to tell how markets will react longer term to Trump’s Thursday decision, momentum is on renewable energy’s side.

The U.S. solar industry now employs nearly twice as many workers as oil, gas and coal combined. Tesla’s market capitalization has exceeded Ford’s, by over 20% as it is poised to release more products for the mass consumer. And renewable sources now power 18% of the world’s energy needs.

Xi Jinping made statements in Davos and Beijing this year emphasizing China’s renewed role in a green energy future. Trump’s exit from Paris could open the door for China who is remaining in the pact, but that may prove difficult.

Trump did say he’s open to renegotiating terms of the pact. A number of small businesses in the U.S. were said to have buoyed by Thursday’s decision. But renegotiation may prove difficult given the political capital the President may already spent, the controversies around Russia and the size of his remaining domestic agenda.

Al Gore’s new climate change movie appropriately titled, “An Inconvenient Sequel,” is certain to be more meaningful in context when it opens in July.

All this attention is certain to drive up activity in climate change investing, one silver lining, in a way.

“If we see Washington step back on an issue like climate change, that makes the actions of each of us, as investors, matter a great deal more,” said Andrei Cherny, CEO of Aspiration, which runs the environmentally themed Aspiration Redwood Fund.

Sources: TechCrunch, MarketWatch, Yale Climate Change Study

Impact Investing Deal Report – May 31, 2017

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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May 31, 2017

Female-owned impacting ventures FS Card, CrowdJustice, and Bulletin round out this past week’s notable investing deals. Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn also notably led a $30 million funding raise for Change.org.

99 – a provider of ride-hail transportation in Latin America, has raised $100 million in new venture capital funding from SoftBank (who also funded Uber). Based in Brazil.

AeroFarms has raised over $34 million towards a targeted $40 million Series D, according to a SEC Filing. AeroFarms grows leafy greens using aeroponics, in a misting environment without soil using a novel combination of LED lights, and growth algorithms. Based in Newark, New Jersey in the U.S.

Bulletin – female and Millenial owned “WeWork for on-demand physical retail space for digital first retail stores, has raised $2.2 million in seed funding. Its timing is ripe given the continued disruption of the the retail industry amidst Amazon’s expansion. Based in New York, New York.

Coins – blockchain fintech provider of financial services for the unbanked in the Philippines and Thailand, has raised $5 million in VC funding. Huge opportunity providing banking services to the 73% of the 600 million consumers who remain underserved in banking in the region. Based in the Philippines.

CrowdJustice – female-owned crowdfunding platform focused on public interest litigation, has raised $2 million in seed funding and plans to expand to the U.S., where incarceration rates are the highest in the world. Based in London in the U.K.

Epic – provides children unlimited access to more than 25,000 curated, high-quality books and videos. Started in 2014, Epic has reached over 5 million children. Raised $8 million in Series C. Based in Redwood City, California in the U.S.

FS Card – this week’s video spotlight, female and minority owned provider of financial credits to subprime borrowers, has raised $8 million in financing. Based in Washington, D.C. in the U.S.

Fazla Gida – technology platform that gives supermarkets a quick and easy way to offer unsold products online to food banks and humanitarian organizations. Fazla Gida is among the 5 foodtech startups that won accelerator funding from the Good Kitchen. Based in Turkey.

InventisBio, a Shanghai-based developer of cancer and gout therapeutics, has raised $19 million in Series B funding. Based in Shanghai, China.

Inthera Bioscience, developer of treatments for cancers associated with HPV, has raised €9.6 million in Series A funding. Based in Zurich, Switzerland.

Kaishuo Jianggushi, like Epic, a China-based online provider of children’s stories, has raised $13 million in new VC funding. The content platform, which includes a WeChat public account, a mobile app and audio shows, has six million users. Based in Shanghai.

Lemonaid Health – Imagine getting a doctor’s prescription for only $15 online. Its platform aims to provide medical services, prescriptions, tele-health over digital. Raised $11 million in Series A. Based in San Francisco, California in the U.S.

Outcome Health – an ad-based platform that plans to engage patients while they are thinking about their health, in their doctor’s waiting room or exam rooms. $500 million at a $5 billion pre-money valuation. Based in Chicago in the U.S.

Peloton – the maker of indoor cycling bikes and interactive live-streamed fitness content, has raised $325 million in Series E funding. Based in New York, New York in the U.S.

Prumentum – wealth management startup has raised $25 million in Series A funding. With its acquisition of an equity stake in Plancorp, a reputable wealth management firm, it plans to create a Hybrid-Robo solution, pairing Artificial Intelligence and other cutting-edge technology with human advisors to provide personalized financial planning and wealth management services direct to consumers at scale. Based in San Jose, California in the U.S.

Spin – wants to bring dockless bike-share to the U.S., programs that are already popular in China and in Europe. Plans to roll out 100,000 bikes across the country. Raised $8 million in funding. Based in San Francisco, California in the U.S.

Tuandaiwang enables users to lend their savings at higher returns than traditional savings rates. The peer-to-peer lending platform claims that individuals and companies have borrowed around RMB78 billion ($11.4 billion) since launching. RMB1.8 billion ($262 million) pre-IPO investment round. Based in China.

Other Relevant News of Interest

LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman led a $30 million funding of Change.org.

First Reserve is in talks to acquire the wind farms of Brazilian energy company Queiroz Galvao Energia, according to Bloomberg.

Actis has agreed to acquire the Brazilian wind farms business of Spain’s Gestamp Renewables, according to Bloomberg, in a deal that could be worth around $760 million.

The Bay area has become the global hub for faux protein.

Scale is the real barrier for cultured meat or artificial protein.

U.S. President Trump has decided to withdraw from the Paris Accord. We covered its significance last week. Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted he would leave White House Councils as a result (see video).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZACfGmZqio

Sources: Crunchbase, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, AgFunder

FY 2018 President’s Budget May Signal Changes to NMTC

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

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May 30, 2017

clean-energy-defeating-trump — Source: Inhabitat

The Trump administration’s 2018 budget proposal does not provide any further detail regarding which special interest tax breaks, like CDFI or NMTC, are targeted for elimination, according to an analysis by McDermott Will and Emery.

This stands in stark contrast to last November’s announcement by the Community Development Financial Institutions fund (CDFI) during Obama’s administration that 120 organizations will receive a record $7 billion in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC).

Why This Matters

The NMTC program encourages private capital into low-income communities by permitting investors to receive a 39% tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities (CDEs). Its impact and benefits are proven, and we have advocated for its permanence.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund grants are also expected to be eliminated, effecting a savings of approximately $210 million. Elimination of the grants would reduce funding by $10 million from $24 million this year to $14 million in 2018.

Other Tax Credits Threatened

PTC, the federal renewable electricity production tax credit, an inflation-adjusted per-kilowatt-hour (kWh) tax credit for electricity generated by qualified energy resources was not also mentioned.

ITC, the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), a 30% tax credit for solar systems on residential (under Section 25D) and commercial (under Section 48) properties was also not mentioned.

“The Budget Proposal is silent regarding energy-related tax provisions such as the production tax credit (PTC) and the investment tax credit (ITC), as well as the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program.

Past proposals from the Obama Administration called for: (i) permanently extending the PTC and ITC; (ii) making the PTC refundable; (iii) allowing the PTC for solar facilities that qualify for the ITC and on which construction began after December 31, 2016; and (iv) enhancing and permanently extending the NMTC.

The PTC and ITC were extended by Congress in 2015, but are subject to phase outs.

For wind facilities, the PTC and ITC are reduced by 20 percent for facilities the construction of which began in 2017. For wind facilities that begin construction in 2018, the PTC and ITC are reduced by 40 percent. For wind facilities that begin construction in 2019, the PTC and ITC are reduced by 60 percent.

For solar facilities, the ITC is currently 30 percent. However, the ITC is reduced to 26 percent for projects that begin construction in 2020, and 22 percent for projects that begin construction in 2021. The ITC is reduced to 10 percent for solar projects where construction begins before 2022 but the project is not placed in service before 2024.

The NMTC was last extended by Congress in 2015 through December 31, 2019.”

Sources: McDermott Will and Emery, FY2018 Budget Proposal

U.S. Veteran-led “Vetpreneurships”

By

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

-

May 29, 2017

A good number of notable projects and ventures today are by former service men and women turned successful “vetpreneurs.” Veterans who are small-business owners own 7.5% of the nation’s 5.4 million businesses with employees, according to latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Talent Bench

Approximately 1 million military men and women are expected to return to the workforce in the next five years, according to studies. A total of 22 million veterans live in the U.S. today.

Among those who are fortunate to return as productive citizens, many are employable and skilled in areas such as leadership, cybersecurity and technology.

Numbers aside, the simple act of doing something to remember the sacrifices of those who have died while in the service of the nation can be satisfying, as Craigslist Craig Newmark puts it. “If somebody’s willing to risk taking a bullet for me, I figure I should give back.”

Notable Vetpreneur-led Ventures

Bands for Arms — converts old donated military uniforms into wristbands to honor fallen service members. 50% of the sale price is donated to military nonprofits helping active-duty service members and veterans. Founder Nick Mendoza is a U.S. Navy veteran.

Cognitoys — a smart educational toy that uses IBM’s Watson AI to help child development. CEO and co-founder Donald Coolidge is a U.S. Marine veteran.

Efflux — automated security operations software that can detect threats in (almost) real time. CEO Mike McNerney is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

EBV – a free, annual national program for veterans featuring a 30-day online class, an 11-day immersion class, and a 12-month mentoring period by business professors, industry leaders and subject matter experts.

Goodworld — platform to make real-time charitable donations on Twitter or Facebook, just by using a #donate hashtag. COO John Gossart is a U.S. Army veteran.

ID.me — a digital identity wallet that helps consumers gain access to benefits, including potentially 11 million veterans who rely on the VA. ID.me has raised over $45 million in capital. CEO Blake Hall is a U.S. Army veteran.

Kristie Erickson PhD — for suggesting a novel virtual reality based therapy to help veterans suffering from PTSD. Kristi Erickson is a clinical psychologist, former VetsInTech winner and is a U.S. Army veteran.

Patriot Boot Camp – free three-day program for active duty military members, veterans and their spouses features education, 30-minute speed mentoring sessions and pitch competitions.

Plated – a Forbes winner, aims to use data and technology to create a world where healthy, affordable, and delicious food is available. Founder Nick Taranto is a U.S. Marine veteran.

RideScout — acquired by Daimler in 2014, a transportation-sharing platform to help predict rides for consumers. CEO Joseph Kopser and COO Craig Cummings are both U.S. Army veterans.

RUMI Spice — sources sustainably farmed saffron from Afghan farmers for customers in international markets. CEO Kimberly Jung is a U.S. Army veteran.

Ustream — live social video streaming technology that was acquired by IBM in 2016 for $130 million. CEO Brad Hunstable is a U.S. Army veteran.

VetsinTech – helps train, connect and find jobs for military veterans wanting careers in technology. The young venture has grown to 12 veteran-led chapters across the U.S. in just three years.

More veteran startups via this Forbes story on the Top 25 Veteran-Founded Startups in the U.S.

Funding Sources

Boots to Business – a free, education and training program offered by the U.S. SBA to service members who want to become entrepreneurs. All active-duty military members transitioning out of the military and their partners or spouses are eligible.

Institute for Veterans and Military Families – program at Syracuse University provides education and training for business-minded veterans.

Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan – SBA loans help small businesses meet operating expenses if an essential employee is called to active duty.

Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small-Business Program – SBA program helps vetpreneurs obtain government contracts of up to $5 million. Qualifying participants must own at least 51% of the business and have a service-connected disability.

The StreetShares Foundation – Online lender StreetShares announced a partnership with JP Morgan Chase in November last year to provide a total of $10,000 in three monthly awards to eligible veterans, reserve or active-duty members, and military-spouse small-business owners.

VetBiz – Department of Veterans Affairs site to apply to become a certified veteran-owned small business, which makes you eligible to win federal contracts.

Veteran Entrepreneur Portal – VEP connects entrepreneurial vets to federal, state and local financing programs, resources and opportunities.

Women Veteran Entrepreneurship Program Grant – funding opportunity for female veteran-owned businesses. The SBA says it will make up to six awards with a minimum reward of $25,000 each for qualifying businesses.

Women Veterans Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship – online training program for tools like planning, accounting and finance that female veterans need to become successful vetpreneurs. Open to all female veterans, active-duty female service members, and the partners or spouses of active-duty service members.

Sources: TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Forbes, Nerdwallet

Gino Baltazar, MS Finance

Apple Issues a New $1B Green Bond

Off-Grid Energy Toolkit to Identify Solutions

Impact Investing Can Close Education Gaps, Report Says

Impact Investing Deal Report – June 7, 2017

CO2 Extractor Opened Near Zurich, A First

Growing Pains for Impact Investing Ahead, says Bob Webster of SEAF

Paris Accord Without the US – What’s Next

Impact Investing Deal Report – May 31, 2017

FY 2018 President’s Budget May Signal Changes to NMTC

U.S. Veteran-led “Vetpreneurships”

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