{"id":69,"date":"2024-07-17T23:56:57","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T23:56:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/2024\/07\/17\/at-the-money-impact-investing-with-soraya-darabi\/"},"modified":"2024-07-17T23:56:57","modified_gmt":"2024-07-17T23:56:57","slug":"at-the-money-impact-investing-with-soraya-darabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/2024\/07\/17\/at-the-money-impact-investing-with-soraya-darabi\/","title":{"rendered":"At The Money:\u00a0Impact Investing with Soraya Darabi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><iframe class=\"lazy lazy-hidden\" style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/at-the-money-when-your-investments-make-an-impact\/id730188152?i=1000662531729\" height=\"175\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/at-the-money-when-your-investments-make-an-impact\/id730188152?i=1000662531729\" height=\"175\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/at-the-money-when-your-investments-make-an-impact\/id730188152?i=1000662531729\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">At The Money: When Your Investments Make an Impact<\/a>. with Soraya Darab, TMV (July 17, 2024)<\/p>\n<p>We expect our investments to generate positive financial returns, but can they also have a positive societal effect? Can your capital make an impact?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ritholtz.com\/2024\/07\/atm-impact-investing-soraya-darabi\/#more-332706\">Full transcript<\/a> below.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~<\/p>\n<p><em>About this week\u2019s guest<\/em>: Soraya Darabi, partner in the venture firm TMV. She has been an early investor in companies that went public such as FIGS, Casper, and CloudFlare, as well as startups like Gimlett and Lightwell, that were later acquired by Spotify and Twitter.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For more info, see:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tmv.vc\/team\/soraya-darabi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Personal Bio<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tmv.vc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Company website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ritholtz.com\/2021\/10\/mib-soraya-darabi-tmv\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Masters in Business<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/sorayadarabi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/sorayadarabi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Find all of the previous <em>At the Money<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/ritholtz.com\/category\/podcast\/atm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">episodes here<\/a>, and in the MiB feed on <a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/masters-in-business\/id730188152\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/playlist?list=PLe4PRejZgr0O7QcmQBElzBauNakxrSZre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5LGxKlY6fzXS3tGsjB23Cb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Spotify<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/podcasts\/series\/master-in-business\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"lazy lazy-hidden\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/3DG6ptdqnYbtZDYxNephGk?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-radius: 12px;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/episode\/3DG6ptdqnYbtZDYxNephGk?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Transcript: Impact Investing Soraya Darabi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: \u200aWe can expect our investments to generate a positive financial return, but can they also have a positive societal effect? Can your capital make an impact? As it turns out, there\u2019s a strategy that can do that. It\u2019s called impact investing, and it\u2019s been having a good run for more than a few years, even as other forms of investing have been getting criticized.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Barry Ritholtz and on today\u2019s edition of At The Money, we are going to discuss how your money can not only generate gains, but substantially improve your community with To help us unpack all of this and what it means for your portfolio, let\u2019s bring in Soraya Darabi of the venture firm TMV. She\u2019s been an early investor in seven different unicorns, some of which that went public like Figs, Casper, and Cloudflare. Others were acquired like Gimlet and Lightwell.<\/p>\n<p>So Soraya, let\u2019s just start out with the definition. What exactly is impact investing?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: Well, first of all, Barry, thanks for having me on. It\u2019s always nice to talk to you. Uh, impact investing is, is pretty straightforward. It\u2019s simply a strategy that allows folks to invest in companies that create a positive social or environmental impact while also Generating great financial returns.<\/p>\n<p>And so impact investing is pretty straightforward. It\u2019s simply a strategy that involves investing in companies that create a positive social or environmental impact while also generating a financial return. And I emphasize the also because sometimes when people hear impact investing, they think it\u2019s synonymous with philanthropy.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not, it really is allowing people to feel good. about doing well in the markets while also doing right by society.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: I like that answer. So how is this distinct from other forms of value based investing like environmental, social and governance or various religious affiliated investing? What makes impact so different?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: Well, I think it encompasses everything that you just mentioned, but everybody has a different definition. And when you\u2019re an early stage investor, you are allowed to be a bit broader with your definition. And so at TMV, we just made up the rules for ourselves and said, We are going to be investing our capital and voting with our dollars by investing into some of the fastest growing CAGRs in the world, which happened to do right by society.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>So we invest in tech enabled, sustainable solutions. We invest in accessible and equitable healthcare, which is considered to be value-based care. Now we invest in AI and the future of work so that democratizes access to work and wealth for middle class and low-income Americans. So as you can see, this is very specific and niche, but it\u2019s our definition of impact and we\u2019re allowed to make it up because we\u2019re not subsiding to anybody\u2019s rules but our own.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: We know how to measure financial gains. Here\u2019s how much I invested. Here\u2019s what I got back. How do you measure the societal or environmental impact of investing in any given startup?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: There are great methodologies. to which we adhere. We, um, largely leverage something called <em>Iris Plus<\/em>. It\u2019s sort of an industry standard these days, and it\u2019s, it\u2019s really good for measuring, um, impact alongside UN Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs. So we do do that. And we specifically do that, by the way, we report, for our limited partners who give a damn.<\/p>\n<p>Some of them invest in TMV and I would put the Visa Foundation in that camp. Some of them invest in us specifically because they want to align with Those aforementioned verticals. Some of our LPs are investing in TMV because we just deliver great returns for them, full stop. So what\u2019s interesting is,we\u2019re neither a generalist firm nor a vertically specific firm.<\/p>\n<p>We have both impact LPs and an impact initiative, but it\u2019s not necessarily what we lead with. When we define who we are to the world, you\u2019ll see on our website, we lead with the sectors in which we invest \u2014 200 plus year old antiquated industries and ripe native innovation and re imagination. We invest in verticals that have founders at the helm who are successful, have had a front row seat to success before, who can consider creating new industries or re imagining ones in great need of investment of imagination. And so, you know, this might sound like generic VC-jargon 101, but breaking it down, we invested into Tali AI and ambient scribe, um, to help doctors dealing with burnout, um, you know, leverage AI to reduce 15 hours of note taking a week and to give patients more discernible and actionable access to their information.<\/p>\n<p>You know, some might just say that\u2019s a savvy AI investment. We see it as an impact investment to boot.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: It sounds like some of your LPs are very intentional when it comes to impacting investing. Other investors are simply saying, Hey, you seem to have a formula for generating good returns on invested venture dollars. What\u2019s that mix like?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: It\u2019s really fun and interesting. So, uh, we\u2019re one of the few funds I know that are backed by a pension fund, uh, for nuns. And I\u2019m very proud of this by the way. And so clearly the nuns, care a lot about our impact bend and they would only be, you know, investing their well earned capital into TMV if, if they thought we were mission aligned.<\/p>\n<p>And so, for the nuns, we\u2019re really specific about the kind of healthcare investing that we do because, we want to do right by them. But then, you know, we\u2019re also backed by, as I mentioned, five banks, including a European bank. And they love TMV because they\u2019re, they\u2019re extremely excited about all of the efficiencies and, disruption and, and hyper innovation that\u2019s occurring right now with the advent of AI.<\/p>\n<p>And as a firm, we\u2019ve been investing in AI, albeit in those, in those Three verticals, but we\u2019ve been investing for the last decade. And so, an example of a great and successful AI investment would be clockwise AI recently partnered with Microsoft, which, you know, oversees 98 percent of America and the world\u2019s calendars, office calendars, and clockwise basically uses predictive analysis to go in and, and help you rethink how you\u2019re spending your time, which is so important. I\u2019m using it right now. And this is podcast time. And then right to follow, I have an hour focus time. And then, uh, clockwise, uh, combined two different investment meetings this afternoon into one to allow me to run my day more efficiently.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m using Granola AI. It\u2019s not an investment. It\u2019s out of London. I hope they let me invest, but I\u2019m using it right now to record our podcast so it can send me a transcription after we speak, uh, about the main topics we discussed today. So all this to say, we\u2019re good venture investors, um, but we happen to think whether it\u2019s, um, AI for efficiency or healthcare investment that gives, you know, greater access to broadly healthcare for low income Americans. This is how we define impact at TMV.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: So you\u2019ve mentioned a couple of different sectors you\u2019d like to invest in. My first, my assumption is these are all equity investments. You\u2019re not doing any credit or fixed income type of lending. But second, so you\u2019ve mentioned healthcare, uh, you\u2019ve mentioned AI, what other sectors do you like to invest in?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: My business partner, Marina, comes from a 200 plus year old, uh, shipping family. And uh, my other partner, Azzy, is from the Anelli family and uh, they created XOR, Fiat, Piaggio, Ferrari, you name it. What\u2019s pretty cool about these two next gen women is that, they\u2019re not They are incredibly informed and accessed to say the least into traditional automotive and industrial industries.<\/p>\n<p>And as such you know, we\u2019re proud to invest in a business that is both a tech enabled sustainable solution as we coin it, and also a mobility company. Um, two examples quickly, uh, Ridwell privatized recycling business now available and subscribed to by over a hundred thousand Americans. We were a pre seed investor in this company back when valued at 5 million. (Valuation\u2019s a lot bigger now)<\/p>\n<p>What they do is they make it easy for Americans to upcycle. We call it the fourth bin. Not recycling, not trash, not composting, but upcycling things that are hard to recycle. \u00a0[What do you upcycle?]<\/p>\n<p>Paint, battery, plastics, um, and this is going to be a massive industry in the future, um, when, uh, regulation requires cities to be, uh, more efficient, their, their carbon footprint to be more efficient.<\/p>\n<p>Um, and also, uh, as we think about, um, shortages of necessary materials. And so, uh, Ridwell is, uh, helmed by an incredible, uh, repeat founder. And, uh, the board now consists of, uh, spark and CRV. Um, we have investors from the Midas list, like John door and, and Sargur, actually SARS, uh, call I\u2019m having later today.<\/p>\n<p>And all this to say for TMV, we came in at the pre seed and we led that round because we saw something pretty remarkable at the intersection of mobility and sustainability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: Really interesting. So you mentioned some of your larger investors before. Who is the typical investor in an impact fund? Is it an ultra high net worth individual, institutions, pension funds, foundations, family offices?<\/p>\n<p>Who puts money into impact funds?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: It\u2019s all of the above. Um, and so we have, uh, which is, which is lucky for me. We have, foundations, as I mentioned, Visa Foundation being one.\u00a0 Pension funds. I mentioned the non pension fund, which is just a fun and colorful example to use. Uh, we are backed by five banks, including JP Morgan and bank of America and Rothschild bank backed by publicly traded companies like synchrony financial next era corporation.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re backed by innumerous. ultra high net worth family offices globally. In fact, some of the most recognizable last names around the world because the principles, especially next gen principles, especially them care so much about impact investing. And with this 1 trillion wealth transfer, that\u2019s taking shape right now.<\/p>\n<p>You better believe it that funds that don\u2019t have an impact lens are going to suffer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: So I\u2019m so glad you brought that up. There\u2019s been a growing trend. particularly among younger investors and women towards impact. And let me throw some numbers that I found in my research. Over 40% of millennials report engaging in impact investing versus just 20% of baby boomers. I\u2019m assuming you\u2019re seeing that amongst your investors and potential investors.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Soraya Darabi<\/strong>: A hundred percent. There\u2019s really nothing to add. It\u2019s just mic drop. And this is, uh, this is showcased by two of my partners, um, and the families from which they derive. We\u2019re living in a really complicated time.<\/p>\n<p>And access to information is also access to anxiety. And for younger people growing up, they feel like the world was set up badly for them, and we won. Won\u2019t shift all the blame onto baby boomers, but. Let\u2019s point fingers where fingers deserve to be pointed. And so we\u2019re inheriting this earth. If you are a sustainability freak, like I am, you believe inheriting it for a short period of time. And, you know, we have to think about how we\u2019re spending our days on this planet. It\u2019s an existential crisis. It\u2019s a philosophical question. It\u2019s a mental health question, as much as it is about driving great financial returns. So if you believe this and you speak about it, somewhat eloquently. I hope I have.<\/p>\n<p>And you\u2019re passionate. This will resonate with young people who will happen to be inheriting wealth. It\u2019ll also resonate with young people who aren\u2019t wealthy, who just give a damn and want to take ac]]tion. And so we think we\u2019re in the right. Our fund has skipped over a lot of really interesting, but kind of wacky industries over the years.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re not chasing buzz or hype. We ignored web three for better or for worse. as one example, but we\u2019ve stuck to our guns about investing in healthcare, sustainability and supply chain and mobility and AI as it helps access and democratize, um, work to give us back time and giving us back time, Barry means better mental health.<\/p>\n<p>It means more time with our families. It means hybrid and flexible work. We think all this stuff just adds up to, to a better earth.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Barry Ritholtz<\/strong>: \u00a0To say the least. So to wrap up areas like healthcare, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy. Affordable housing, AI and education allow us to generate not only a good return on your capital, but to have a positive impact as well.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m Barry Ritholtz and this is Bloomberg\u2019s At The Money.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">~~~<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"lazy lazy-hidden\" style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; background: transparent;\" data-lazy-type=\"iframe\" data-src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/masters-in-business\/id730188152\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><noscript><iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; background: transparent;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/masters-in-business\/id730188152\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/noscript><\/p>\n<div class=\"printfriendly pf-button pf-button-content pf-alignleft\"><a href=\"#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden pf-button-img\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/printfriendly-button.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\" style=\"width: 112px;height: 24px;\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"pf-button-img\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.printfriendly.com\/buttons\/printfriendly-button.png\" alt=\"Print Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\" style=\"width: 112px;height: 24px;\"\/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ritholtz.com\/2024\/07\/atm-impact-investing-soraya-darabi\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 At The Money: When Your Investments Make an Impact. with Soraya Darab, TMV (July 17, 2024) We expect our investments to generate positive financial returns, but can they also have a positive societal effect? Can your capital make an impact? Full transcript below. ~~~ About this week\u2019s guest: Soraya Darabi, partner in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ekonomika-finansai-bankininkyste"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/europaskolos.lt\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}