Prime Coalition, a nonprofit that steers and influences capital to support scalable solutions to climate change, and Azolla Ventures – an impact-first investing firm launched by Prime – have recently announced a $239 million blended fund.
The new fund will invest in companies that could significantly alter the trajectory of climate change but are overlooked by traditional capital sources. And Prime Coalition evaluates and governs impact and additionality for all potential investments and tracks and reports on impact accomplishment. At the same time, Azolla Ventures assesses commercial potential and manages portfolio companies toward growth and maximal impact.
Azolla builds on the track record of Prime Coalition’s previous impact-first investment programs, including Prime Impact Fund, which was built and deployed with the same investment managers. And it blends catalytic, charitable capital with impact-aligned, market-rate capital to drive investment into solutions with profound potential for climate impact systemically overlooked by conventional financiers. Catalytic capital can be deployed to overcome risks unsuitable for traditional venture capital.
Through initial and follow-on investments consistent with Prime’s mission requirements, Azolla is designed to embrace high risk at the earliest stages and help safeguard impact as companies scale.
KEY QUOTE:
“We founded Prime Coalition 10 years ago to support market-driven climate solutions that have massive potential but are overlooked by traditional finance. Prime launched Azolla Ventures as our next approach to doing so for early-stage ventures, this time blending different types of capital under a single fund thesis. It is a celebration of difference: bringing together many different types of asset owners toward a shared, urgent mission, each aligned within their capital’s unique priorities and constraints.”
— Sarah Kearney, founder and executive director of Prime Coalition
