First Impact Syndicate in Ireland to invest €10M in sustainability start-ups

January 2022

Topic

Angel invetsors in Ireland will provide funding and supports to enterprises building on environmental, social and governance factors.

Business Spirit News reporting ⬤ Author

The Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) is launching a new Impact Syndicate aiming to collectively invest €10M in Irish enterprises focusing on ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) factors besides traditional financial returns.

The Impact Syndicate will be officially launched at the online All-Island Conference on 2 February 2022.

Over the next three years, the syndicate will consider pitches from start-ups located in Ireland focusing on climate, agri-tech and food supply chain, energy, blue economy, health and cleantech.

L-Faye Walsh Drouillard, co-chair of HBAN Impact Syndicate; R-Julian Seymour, Syndicates Manager, HBAN

“Investors and entrepreneurs alike want to make a meaningful impact.

The global focus on ESG has created a market with almost boundless opportunities for growth, and we want to help Irish businesses to be a part of that story,” Julian Seymour, Syndicates Manager, HBAN, said about the launch. Seymour added that HBAN Impact Syndicate aims to support ground-breaking innovations that integrate ESG factors into their core business.

Based on the International Finance Corporation (IFC) estimations in 2020, the global market for Impact Investing reached up to $2.1 trillion in assets under management and that continues to grow.

Faye Walsh Drouillard, impact investor and co-founder of WakeUp Capital, will co-chair the syndicate and become the first female chair of a HBAN syndicate.

“Impact investing provides exciting financial potential for investors, while also enabling them to make a difference in the community and even the planet,”

says Walsh about the importance of this step.

“I am passionate about supporting entrepreneurs to drive real social and environmental change, and impact investing is central to this.”

Walsh has been involved with impact investing throughout her entire carrier and feels that by co-chairing the Impact Syndicate with highly experienced WakeUp Capital co-founder Mark Peters, they can facilitate growth in this area in Ireland. Besides helping sustainability start-ups scale, the syndicate also encourages angel investors to get involved.

At the All-Island conference, HBAN will host sessions focusing on impact investing and demystifying angel investment, which they hope will encourage existing and first-time angel investors to join their network and consider its Impact Syndicate.

Speakers at the conference include Marcia Dawood, chair of the Angel Capital Association in the US; serial entrepreneur Norman Crowley, founder of Crowley Carbon; and Loretta McCarthy, whose investor consortium Golden Seeds backs early-stage female-led businesses in the US.

HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network) is responsible for promoting business angel investment on the island of Ireland and a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland.

Headline image: Pexels