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

Superorganism Ventures, LLC

Total Assets Under Management: Less than $25M
Asset Class: Private Equity
Primary UN Sustainable Development Goal: 15 – Life on Land
Clean Technology, Alternative Energy & Climate Change
Natural Resources and Conservation
Sustainable Agriculture

Firm Overview

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

Superorganism is the first venture firm entirely dedicated to biodiversity-positive startups. Backed by Builders Vision, Superorganism has built an active early-stage portfolio and community of nature tech advisors, founders, and investors. They invest in three areas: within industries driving biodiversity loss, at the overlap of biodiversity and climate, and in enabling technologies that unlock new ways to protect nature. Beyond this, the firm has pledged 10% of its profits to ongoing conservation efforts.

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

We invest in venture-profile startups that use new technology and approaches to combat biodiversity loss at scale.

Investment Overview:

We find venture-profile businesses that benefit biodiversity by focusing in three categories: within industries driving biodiversity loss, at the overlap of biodiversity and climate, and in enabling technologies that unlock new ways to protect nature. Within our first thesis, we use four out of five of the IPBES drivers of extinction (habitat loss, overexploitation, invasive species, and pollution) to find startups that are disrupting industries while avoiding, slowing, or reversing one or more drivers. Investments include Inversa Leathers and Planet A Foods. In our second thesis, we focus on startups that address the fifth IPBES extinction driver (climate change), while also delivering nature-positive outcomes. Investment themes include nature-based solutions, adaptation, wildfire, and water, and our current investments include Funga and Rosy Soil. Our final thesis focuses on breakthrough technologies, including mapping, AI, and genomics, that can be directly of value to conservationists. Current investments include Amini and Array Labs.

Company Differentiator:

We are the first venture fund to focus entirely on biodiversity, which informs every aspect of our business, including our team, community, portfolio, and brand. For the many companies that exist with a biodiversity-positive mission, we are a first port of call, and a first referral for many peer VCs looking for co-investors. Tom and Kevin bring over two decades of experience spanning conservation, entrepreneurship, and venture capital. To further accelerate startups, the firm has prioritized community, starting with its diverse >50% female Mentors Network, and expanding into a broader community of hundreds of entrepreneurs, conservationists, and investors in the nature tech ecosystem. Our mission goes beyond our investing: we aim for Superorganism to catalyze nature tech, much the same way other firms have with climate tech. Additionally, we have committed 10% of the firm's future profits to ongoing conservation work, a commitment we intend to maintain through future funds.

Investment Example

Funga is leveraging biodiversity to drive positive carbon outcomes. Funga uses soil microbiomes from healthy, native forests, and uses them to inoculate new seedlings in commercial forests. This restoration of soil fungal networks results in restored soil ecosystems and, importantly, a 64% faster increase in tree biomass accumulation. The low operational complexity and high value of this method will let Funga scale rapidly through the $430B+ US commercial forest market, while increasing carbon capture and enriching soils across the 500M+ acres of commercial timberland in the US. These healthier soils will lead to faster-growing trees, healthier forests, and more sustainable land use. We invested alongside Trailhead and Azolla Ventures, and the company’s CEO brought us in specifically for our biodiversity expertise.

Leadership and Team

Cumulative Leadership Experience in Impact Investing:
10 – 19 years
Cumulative Impact Experience of Top Three Firm Leaders:
3 – 9 years
Kevin Webb – Co-founder and Managing Director More Info

Kevin Webb is the co-founder and managing director of Superorganism, a new venture firm dedicated to startups that benefit biodiversity, recently covered in Bloomberg and TechCrunch. An early-stage VC and angel investor for over 13 years, Kevin previously helped found and run the Webb Investment Network, where he sourced unicorn companies like Verkada, Turo, and Ironclad. Kevin graduated from Stanford with a degree in Human Biology (Humans, a Changing Environment, and Infectious Disease), and Columbia with an MS in Sustainability Science.

Tom Quigley – Co-founder & Managing Director More Info

A conservation technologist and startup operator, Tom has spent over a decade working on and advising teams at the overlap of tech and nature.

Percentage of Investment Professionals who identify as women:
Less than 25%
Percentage of Investment Professionals who identify as people of color:*
Less than 25%
Percentage of Senior Management Team who identify as women:
Less than 25%
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:
Conserving land, oceans, ecosystems and natural resources
Secondary Impact Outcomes:
Addressing climate change and environmental issues
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 investment processes target companies that will have significant benefits to biodiversity at scale. We particularly look for companies where the business model and the impact model are cemented together, so as the business scales, the impact will scale alongside. This makes it significantly more difficult to abandon or pivot away from the impact model as the business grows. It also means that their customers, investors, and employees will keep them committed to their impact commitment. 

Impact Tracking and Monitoring

Impact is Tracked:
Yes
Impact Verified by an Independent Third-Party:
No
Social and/or Environmental Impact is Reported to Investors and Donors:
Yes – to investors and donors
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: Kevin Webb
Phone: 408-761-2402
Mailing Address:

2218 Broadway #275, New York, NY 10024 USA

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