Jewish ancient wisdom establishes that ‘smart’ is someone that learns from every single person. But, how is this conclusion written in the first and second century (C.E) influencing the way in which we currently do business? Well, the hot trend of impact investment funds, and human-centered startups focused on solving real-life problems that real people face did not appear out of the blue.
In the last few weeks we’ve been publishing a series of blog posts talking about impact investment, impact startups, and the best venture capitals focused on impact investing both in Israel and around the world.
That being said, we haven’t stopped to acknowledge why this revolutionary movement is actually happening. In this publication, we would like to grab the opportunity to take a deep breath and think about what we’ve been doing wrong for decades and why the time for impactful solutions is now.
Before discussing impact investment we gave you numerous insights about the latest and hottest unicorns in Israel and Latin America, and when analyzing what do they have in common, we can get to one big conclusion: They are finding solutions to problems, and through those solutions -in some way or another- they are making this world a better, fairer place.
Let’s cut to the chase! It is time to comprehend what has been happening, and why impact startups will have an -almost- guaranteed success in the near future.
Impact Investing: Not limited to just creating a healthier planet!
As we have said in the previous weeks, and according to international definitions, impact investing refers to investments made into companies, organizations, governments, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact together with an important financial return. Impact investments provide capital to address both social and environmental issues.
According to a recent Forbes publication, some of the many advantages impact investment has are to align values with investments, achieve market-rate returns, meet client demand, and meet both innovative and standardized global challenges. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
But, why weren't we aligning values with investment in such a massive way until now? Why has happened to us as individuals that belong to a society that -all of the sudden- cares? Maybe, global warming got to a critical point; or maybe, we began to comprehend social issues we were not ready to see or identify before.
Nevertheless, those entrepreneurs that have been working hard to make hierarchies more horizontal, to make technology more accessible, and to make the world a better place are now seeing the magnificent fruits of their ‘caring creativity and intelligence’.
This isn’t only about creating a better world, this is about making a fairer society, solving real problems of real people, and offering solutions that are respectful of the environment that surrounds us. Without traveling that far in time, how many companies from the beginning of the last decade were deeply dedicated to creating these kinds of solutions? We both know the answer!
Identifying needs. Creating holistic and respectful solutions.
As we said in the beginning, someone truly smart is someone that’s able to learn from every single person, from society, and from the challenges we have to face every day. Someone smart is someone that is ready to pivot their original idea because a new approach might not damage the environment, or in a better scenario, might even help us craft a long-lasting world for our children.
When creativity is framed like this, only great things can happen. In Hebrew, ‘Tikkun olam’ can be interpreted as an aspiration to behave and act constructively and beneficially. Are we doing this only inside our houses or are we reaching the maximum potential ‘tikkun olam’ has in order to create breathtaking solutions?
Companies like XR-Health, which is facilitating physiotherapy treatment through virtual reality, is an example that with technology, amusing things can be done to help people that -without even knowing- were looking for a solution like the one you’ll create.
There’s no doubt, the next unicorns will be today’s impact startups. If our values and hearts aren’t involved nor aligned, it will be hard to get a relevant investment in the future.
Get involved. Make this world a better place.
We truly believe that anyone and everyone should get involved in the task of making this world a better place. This can be done in a multitude of ways and there's a place for all of us. If you are not going to be creating these solutions, you could perfectly be supporting those who do.
Allow us to introduce you to the best Israeli and Latin American players of an endless and magical industry. Just like you, we think innovation and technology aligned with values are the right way to do things in a significant and legendary way. Reach out to us and be part of the challenge.