Firm Overview

Our economy, society, and environment would benefit greatly from a larger number of: (a) private impact companies that have access to patient, non-controlling capital that maximizes their autonomy and ability to pursue their missions; and (b) investors with diversified investment portfolios that include private impact investments.

Most investors are non-accredited and perceive their investment options to be primarily limited to Wall Street. However, the greatest positive impact tends to be generated in private, not public, markets. If given the opportunity, more people would choose to invest a portion of their savings in private, impact investment opportunities that are better aligned with their own values. Furthermore, most impact entrepreneurs perceive their financing options to be limited to traditional investment sources that typically require that entrepreneurs: (a) give up full or partial control of their companies; and (b) operate their companies differently than they otherwise would (e.g. pursue more aggressive growth and/or profit at the expense of other stakeholders) in order to prepare their companies for an exit in 5-7 years. If more sources of mission-aligned, non-controlling, and long-term investment capital were available, more entrepreneurs would start, convert to, avoid exiting, or continue to operate purpose-driven impact companies.

Kachuwa is one of the only investment cooperatives in the USA. In contrast to traditional funds: (1) Kachuwa is an open-ended, evergreen fund into which members can invest via annual stock offerings; (2) each member has one vote, regardless of investment size; (3) Kachuwa has fixed-price stock that eliminates the need for highly speculative portfolio valuations to determine NAV for incoming and exiting investors; (4) members don’t have to pay third-party management fees or carried interest – they instead share in the cooperative’s operating expenses; (5) Kachuwa distributes its net income to members via annual “patronage dividends” in accordance with traditional cooperative principles; (6) Kachuwa aims for a more diverse portfolio with private debt, equity, AND real estate assets; and (7) Kachuwa is welcoming to non-accredited investors who can participate in its offerings and receive 1099s instead of relatively complex K-1s (because Kachuwa is a cooperative and not a partnership).