About Capital Connect
Capital Connect was the first-ever global series of virtual gatherings with the goal of connecting gender-smart investors and fund managers with a gender lens, which ran from March to May, 2021.
The programme offered the opportunity for investors and those raising capital into gender-smart private capital vehicles to connect via a series of events, supported by a stellar set of co-inviting partners. Capital Connect was attended by managers of private capital vehicles and investors actively looking to deploy capital with a gender lens into private capital.
All investors were sophisticated, with an ability to understand and consider the investment opportunities presented by the funds.
Over 80 funds applied for the showcase, and just under 40 took part. If you’re an accredited investor and would like more information on the showcases, get in touch.
Partners and Supporters
Supported By
Inviting Partners
Legal Disclaimer
ImpactAssets is not authorised or regulated by any regulatory authority in the UK. By providing access to Capital Connect and related services, the Organiser is not: (a) inviting or inducing attendees to engage in any form of investment activity, or (b) carrying on any regulated activities, within the meaning given to those terms under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. In particular, the Organiser is not providing any advice to attendees on the merits of making any investment or otherwise engaging in any kind of investment activity. Any information provided by the Organiser in connection with Capital Connect is made available on a non-reliance basis and accordingly, the Organiser makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of such information, nor as to its suitability or fitness for any purpose. Attendees at Capital Connect should undertake their own due diligence and, if appropriate, obtain independent, professional advice prior to engaging in any form of investment activity following Capital Connect.
Fund Criteria
The funds featured in the first edition of Capital Connect were selected based on a variety of criteria:
credibility of the fund managers
gender lens investing thesis
fund pipeline
approach to gender lens investing and gender-smart processes
mix of fund structures, sizes, and sectoral/thematic focus
$15 million minimum raise with some capital already committed
GenderSmart and VC Include would like to acknowledge that there are innovative, less resourced, and, often, first-time fund managers across the globe who have not been included in this year’s Capital Connect due to this requirement. We do not intend to imply that the work of these fund managers is in any way less valuable or less important.
The Funds
Over 40 funds presented at seven regional 90-minute “un-showcases” plus one for global funds, held between March and May 2021.
19 March: North America
16 March: North America (Racial Equity Focus)
23 March: Africa
30 March 2021: Southeast Asia/Asia Pacific
20 April 2021: South Asia
27 April: Latin America/Caribbean
4 May: Europe and the UK
11 May: Global
Poetry
Each Capital Connect session featured original poetry on how moving capital intentionally can help move us towards a more just, equal world. These are reprinted here with permission from the authors.
Capital
Suzanne Biegel
Capital
Relationships
Capital
Investment
Capital
Invested
I’m invested in you
I’m invested in your vision
In your future
In our future
In our shared future
In a resilient future
No not only a resilient future a resilient today
Why do we only talk about the future
When the capital is needed now
Not later
Now
Financial capital
Relationship capital
Human capital
Intellectual capital
Spiritual capital
The capital of love
Of tending and befriending *
What is capital anyway
What are the relationships we value
What does it mean to be in relationship
About money
About power
About belief
About trust
About hope
About risk
About sense
What makes sense
Who determines what makes sense
Who has a seat at the table
Who sets the table
Who creates the tables
Who cooked Adam Smith’s Dinner **
What does it mean to be in
relationship
What is the relationship of my money with your energy
Your determination
Your Inspiration
Your Perspiration
What does it mean to say yes
How does it feel to say yes
How does it feel to open your eyes and really see
How does it feel to imagine
Your capital
Moving around and landing where it can release energy
Busting myths
Creating forward momentum
Laying new pathways
Saying no to the goldilocks principle – its too hot, too cold, too small, too
hard
Saying yes to
Money as energy
Belief as energy
And what is it all for, if not to be of purpose
Of service
In service
On purpose
Today
What is the net present value of your positive energy today and tomorrow
intertwined with mine
Now AND in the future
Don’t wait
No time to wait
The immediate need to think long term about the Purpose of Capital
And all of our intertwined
Deeply divine
Roles
Are you waiting for a sign
What kind of sign do you need
What else do you need to read
To move
Move capital
In relationship
Invested
Be invested
Be invested in the process and the outcome
Be in
Dive in
Join in
In relationship
Capital
* Vicki Saunders
** Katrine Marcal
Capital Connect
Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson
We are strong
We are resilient
Capital connecting
Around the world
We can increase
Capital
There's enough
Innovation
Capital Resilient
Capital Strong
Capital Exponential
Bountiful Beings
Being
Courageous
The change is here
Change is tough
Change is needed
We are the change
We are gender smart
Women
Men
A community
Of Capital
Connecting
To lead us to more access for ALL
Alfa. Beta. Delta. / Alpha. Beta. Delta.
(El Alfabeto del Poder / The Alphabet of Power)
Luisamaria Ruiz Carlile
Mi Capital / My Capital
Se mueve / Moves
Fluido y fuerte / Fluid and strong
Rio de posibilidades / River of possibilities
Cazando Alfa / Seeking Alpha
Para mi gente / For my brothers & sisters
Levantando a mi Pueblo / Lifting my People
Soy la Beta de nadie / I am nobody’s Beta
Realizando mi Delta / Driving my Delta
Yo soy la Diferencia / I am the Difference
En mi destino / In my destiny
Mi Capital habla / My Capital speaks
El idioma del Cambio! / The language of Change!
African Gold
Bahiyah Yasmeen Robinson
Home
Land
Home
Whose land
Is truly home
The soil that once was one
The Center
The motherland
Fertile
Feeding the nations
She keeps giving to us
And we are her children
She is strong
She is bold
She keeps giving to us
Her people keep giving to us
Diamonds
Her earth is so rare
She gives it to us
And many take from her
They don’t give back
Her fertile soil
We are her bounty
Bursting with potential
Steeped in value
Coweries crown us
Motherland Made
She is the Queen
We trade her bounty
While she keeps giving
The cup that runneth over
Unlimited elixir
Her people rise
Out of ashes
Out of mines
Out of bondange
Out of dependence
Towards Freedom
African Gold
Voices
Sana Kapadia
A whisper, a word, a sentence
An incident, a challenge, a victory
With each note shared, the cacophony softens
With each story, the mountain gets smaller
With each journey, the sky comes closer
But it takes more than a moment to be bold
It takes resilience to have each story told
We can’t fix where money goes, if we don’t walk a mile in her shoes
We can’t change this narrative until every voice is heard
Holders of a Shared Wealth
(Shareholders)
Luisamaria Ruiz Carlile
The right Lens
Clears vision so Capital
Bends
Towards Justice,
Extends
For Equity, and
Tends
The Diverse & Included.
As we Race
To erase
Injustice,
Leaving no trace
Of Inequity (a disgrace),
Seeking a place
To show case
Inclusion and Grace.
For the Human Race
Awakening to see
That it’s you and it’s me
Prophets of a New Profit
Calling on the alchemy
Of Capital infused with Purpose,
Catalyzing Returns on Equity and Fairness,
Conjuring Assets from allocations of Justice,
Restoring the Planet to Health,
Until at last, we are all Holders
Of a Shared and Common Wealth.