IMPACTASSETS 50™

An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

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An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

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ImpactAssets 50: A Global Landscape of Impact Investment Fund Managers
The ImpactAssets 50 (IA 50) is the first open-source, publicly published database of experienced private debt and equity impact investment fund managers.
https://www.impactassets.org/impactassets-50

ImpactAssets 50

An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers

IA 50 2024 PROFILE

Regeneration.VC

Total Assets Under Management: $50 – 99M
Asset Class: Private Equity
Primary UN Sustainable Development Goal: 12 – Responsible Consumption & Production
Clean Technology, Alternative Energy & Climate Change
Water and Sanitation
Sustainable Agriculture

Firm Overview

Category: Venture Capital - Early Stage (Pre-seed/seed, Accelerator, Angel) - Developed Markets

Regeneration.VC is an early-stage venture capital fund Supercharging Consumer-Powered Climate Innovation. We invest in Consumer ClimateTech companies that generate outsized economic and environmental outcomes across three strategies: Design (AgTech & Aquaculture and Next-Gen Materials), Use (Apparel & Lifestyle and Food & Beverage brands), and Reuse (ReCommerce and Reverse Logistics system technologies). As founders and operators, the General Partners successfully scaled and exited six businesses. The GPs hold a combined track record of more than 28 early and growth-stage direct investments (top-decile performance). The management team works closely with an expert advisory board including Leonardo DiCaprio, William McDonough (seminal circular economy thought leader), Dr. Marta Pazos (fmr. Head of Formulation at P&G, Estéé Lauder, and Coca-Cola), Stephen Badger (fmr. Mars Chairman), and Tue Mantoni (fmr. Chairman Vaekstfonden and fmr. CEO Bang & Olufsen and Triumph Motorcycles).

Firm Headquarters: US & Canada
Years of Operation: Less than 3 years
Total Assets Under Management:
$50 – 99M
Total Number of Investors: More than 25
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: Less than 25%
Investment Thesis:

We invest in hardware and software companies with outsized return potential and meaningful environmental impact across consumer industry supply chains. Consumer ClimateTech comprises three thematic strategies: Design (AgTech & Aquaculture and Next-Gen Materials), Use (Apparel & Lifestyle and Food & Beverage brands), and Reuse (ReCommerce and Reverse Logistics system technologies).

Investment Overview:

On average, consumer goods companies generate over “80% of GHG emissions and more than 90% of biodiversity and ecosystem resource impact” within their supply chain. Global material circularity rates dropped from 9.1% in 2018 to 7.2% this year, and fragmented supply chains continue to push Earth Overshoot Day earlier. Now, multinational consumer goods companies face their greatest challenge yet, in addressing scope 3 emissions (i.e. supply chain emissions), with supporting measures for material resource management and biodiversity conservation showing follow-on momentum. Regeneration.VC defines ‘Insetting Consumer ClimateTech’ as technical interventions addressing GHG emissions, material resources, or biodiversity within the corporate value chain of consumer industry businesses. Our proprietary five-screen investment process harmonizes business and impact criteria, resulting in a differentiated portfolio with outsized opportunity through insetting. Progress and setbacks of each portfolio company are closely monitored, alongside our founder-facing value proposition coined ‘Supercharging’.

Company Differentiator:

Key differentiating factors include our proprietary impact measurement & monitoring framework, our value-add protocol ‘Supercharging’, and our global presence. Developed by our in-house impact team, the Regenerative Evaluation Gauge (REG) harmonizes 150+ impact measurement & monitoring methodologies and 5,000+ metrics to evaluate circular and regenerative potential. This framework benchmarks six key pillars – resources, water, waste, toxics, emissions, and human – to the highest established global standards. Our Supercharging protocol drives Regeneration.VC’s ability to win competitive investment allocations. Leveraging the backgrounds and skillsets of our management team and advisor working groups, we collaborate on key technical, commercial, and strategic objectives with each portfolio company to unlock growth potential.  The Netherlands has established itself as one of the world’s leading circular innovation hubs, so we partnered with the Circle Economy Foundation to uncover leading Dutch Consumer ClimateTech businesses and scale them globally. We are establishing similar ecosystem partnerships in Denmark.

Investment Example

Cruz Foam upcycles shellfish waste streams into certified compostable, cost-competitive Styrofoam™ alternatives compatible with existing manufacturing infrastructure. Banned in over 50 countries and one quarter of U.S. states, polystyrene contains toxins, takes 500+ years to degrade, and comprises ~25% of global landfills. Cruz Foam empowers consumer product companies to inset a compostable solution with performance and near-cost parity as a drop-in replacement for upstream production. This non-toxic material replacement shows potential to mitigate 17,000 tons of CO2e annually for packaging producers and packaging consumers including Sony, Whirlpool, and Atlantic Packaging. At end-of-use, Cruz Foam products biodegrade within 60 days in home composts. Regeneration.VC invested in Cruz Foam’s Seed financing alongside strategic Sony Innovation Fund and the follow-on Series A financing (~3.4x initial investment mark-up). Our team facilitated vital contract manufacturing relationships, introduced new capital partners, and secured Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher as strategic investors & advisors.

Leadership and Team

Cumulative Leadership Experience in Impact Investing:
30 years or more
Cumulative Impact Experience of Top Three Firm Leaders:
20 – 29 years
Dan Fishman – General Partner More Info

Dan is a Co-Founder and General Partner of Regeneration.VC. Prior, Dan operated numerous companies within apparel, entertainment, and consumer products. He is an experienced investor in early-stage environmentally-conscious consumer businesses. In 2002, he co-founded Bulldog Entertainment Group, organizing brand deals for celebrities such as Quincy Jones, Shaquille O’Neal, Jennifer Hudson, and Prince before selling to Warner Music Group in 2006.

Michael Smith – General Partner More Info

Michael Smith led marketing for Smith Broadcasting, a group of 20 network TV stations later acquired by Boston Ventures. Michael then followed a lifelong passion to become a touring DJ, alongside Rihanna and Diplo. He launched The Playlist Generation, serving music to 10,000 retail locations (sold in 2015). He co-founded Creative Space, an adaptive real estate firm with a portfolio of 80 repurposed LA and SF commercial properties. From their successful outcomes, he established Ponvalley, an environmental initiative with philanthropic, research, and impact investing practices.

Katie Hoffman – Partner More Info

Katie Hoffman is a financial innovator, investor, and entrepreneur. Katie has over a decade of experience building and advising companies that drive measurable environmental impact in public and private markets. She has expertise in utilizing data-driven approaches to make climate-smart investments across multiple asset classes. Katie has shaped policy and practice around Environmental, Social and Governance standards for individual, family and institutional investors, including the California public funds and members of the $40.4T+ AUM Divest–Invest initiative, which she helped lead.

Percentage of Investment Professionals who identify as women:
25% to less than 50%
Percentage of Investment Professionals who identify as people of color:*
Less than 25%
Percentage of Senior Management Team who identify as women:
25% to less than 50%
Percentage of Senior Management Team who identify as people of color:*
Less than 25%
*People of color include: Black, Latinx, Asian, Native American/Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, Middle Easterm and multi-racial Americans

Financial Performance

Target Financial Returns Relative to Benchmark:
Above Market Rates
Actual Performance of Impact Products/Funds Relative to Target Financial Returns in the Past Three Years:
In line with initial target returns
Financial Reporting Frequency to Investors or Donors
Quarterly

Impact Performance

Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments:
100%
Primary Impact Outcomes:
Addressing climate change and environmental issues
Secondary Impact Outcomes:
Conserving land, oceans, ecosystems and natural resources
Value-added Services Offered:
Access to markets
Business and legal training

Investments systematically target companies where social and/or environmental impact is integral to the product/service being created:

Our sourcing and due diligence processes verify that any new investment opportunity demonstrates potential for both outsized economic/financial and measurable environmental benefit. Through our proprietary impact gauge–methodically designed to service our early-stage Consumer ClimateTech–we assess a venture's impact across six core themes: materials, water, toxics, CO2e, waste, human. Companies are evaluated based on the demonstrated potential for their core business model to generate significant measurable impact across any/all of relevant aforementioned impact themes.

Investments systematically include social and environmental sustainability practices in the due diligence process:

Our sourcing and due diligence processes consider the intrafirm sustainability practices of each venture we consider. We aim to measure across the same six impact themes (as relevant) assessing internal company operations with additional emphasis on understanding key governance, operational, and management policies in place to preserve and prioritize company mission/impact. The internal review also considers DEI representation, with a focus on founding and leadership teams.

Impact Tracking and Monitoring

Impact is Tracked:
Yes
Impact Verified by an Independent Third-Party:
Yes
Social and/or Environmental Impact is Reported to Investors and Donors:
Yes – to the public
Third Party Validations:
Member of Impact Capital Managers
Impact Frontiers Cohort Participant
Implement recommendations from Task Force on Climate Related-Financial Disclosure
Net Zero Assets Managers Initiative
Utilizes standardized impact metrics (e.g. IRIS+, GIIRS, etc.)
Participant on steering committees or leadership roles within impact industry associations
Publisher or contributor to industry white paper or other research in impact investing

Learn More

Key Contact Name: Dan Fishman
Phone: 917-701-2777
Mailing Address:

1732 Aviation Blvd #154, Redondo Beach, CA 90278 USA

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