ImpactConnect
About ImpactConnect at the Summit
A series of live, on-stage pitches by a select group of impact funds and companies looking to raise capital and scale their impact
ImpactConnect provides a highly efficient format for private and institutional investors to learn about Australian and international impact investment opportunities.
Investors have the opportunity to source new deals, ask questions directly from those pitching and evaluate the investment opportunities presented.
ImpactConnect delivers on growing investor demand for more deal flow and continues our quest to drive more capital to impact investments.
ImpactConnect at the 2024 Impact Investment Summit included the funds and companies below:
ImpactConnect at the 2024 Impact Investment Summit included the funds and companies below:
Summit Day 1: Wednesday 20th March 2024
11:30am
ImpactConnect Deals Room
3 live pitches of investment opportunities in Australia’s clean energy transition, regenerative agriculture and carbon in Australia, and the forest landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Australian Ethical Infrastructure Debt Fund
Session Details
The Australian Ethical Infrastructure Debt Fund offers investors the opportunity to be part of Australia’s clean energy transition. The Fund invests in infrastructure debt, which provides financing to renewable energy projects, and may also provide funding for social infrastructure and property projects with a social or environmental benefit.
SLM Agri Carbon Fund
Session Details
A new AU$250m fund to invest in regenerative agriculture and carbon in Australia. The Fund will acquire farmland properties in higher rainfall areas of New South Wales, Australia and implement regenerative agriculture to deliver essential nature-based climate solutions at scale.
African Forestry Impact Platform (AFIP)
Session Details
AFIP’s investment strategy seeks to establish a large scale, long-term and value creation focused, actively managed investment platform which will deploy capital across the forest landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa (including Sudan and South Sudan). It is focused on impact investing through developing markets investing with focus on climate, socioeconomic development and import substitution through a combination of timber sales with carbon credits. It seeks to deliver a nominal net return of 10-12% nominal, gross of fees.
12:20pm
ImpactConnect Deals Room
Snow Foundation’s Catalytic Impact Investment Opportunities Showcase. 5 early-stage enterprises, brought to you by the Snow Foundation.
Foremind
Session Details
Foremind is on a mission towards zero suicide by putting proactive mental health support in the pocket of every worker. Founded out of lived experience, Foremind makes it simple for companies to navigate psychosocial risks while also providing early intervention mental health support and training to their teams. Now supporting 32 businesses across Australia, Foremind has a vision to develop a world leading Psychological Safety System that ensures everyone has access to support when they need it most.
Founder Joel Anderson, who worked in construction before completing an engineering degree, is driven by his own experience of attempting suicide. When his mental health deteriorated, it took him a long time to find the courage to seek help – only to end up with a counsellor he couldn’t relate to at all. As a result, Joel founded Foremind in 2021 with the goal to end suicide – full stop.
Violet
Session Details
Melissa Reader is a dedicated social entrepreneur with a wealth of personal and professional expertise, driving impactful change in her leadership role at Violet. Drawing from her unique insights into end-of-life matters, Melissa’s consulting background in adaptive leadership, purpose-led strategy, and human-centred design has cultivated a culture of innovation and resilience within the organisation.
At Violet, Melissa has transformed a community-based charitable organisation into a tech-enabled, purpose-driven social enterprise, reshaping how we approach and manage end-of-life planning.
Violet’s Virtual care platform is setting new benchmarks in innovation and personalisation, enhancing experiences throughout the end-of-life journey. In 2023, Melissa and co-founder Tom Hull secured a coveted spot in the Techstars Accelerator, showcasing Violet’s transformative potential on a global stage.
Scriibed
Session Details
Mel Greblo is the CEO and founder of Scriibed, a service-based Australian start-up revolutionising digital outsourcing with a human touch. Through its Academy, Scriibed is shifting the dial on wicked problems impacting women whilst building a pipeline of talent fit for the future of work to fill predicted skills shortages in the labour market. A serial impact entrepreneur, Mel’s leadership is underpinned by innovation, systems thinking, and a track record of success across strategy, marketing, communications, community, content and impact. Mel is on a mission to activate a severely underrepresented workforce globally whilst delivering an exceptional experience to Scriibed customers.
Kindship
Session Details
Summer Petrosius is a passionate social entrepreneur and qualified speech pathologist with over ten years of experience in the health and disability sector. Summer is motivated by community-led systems change, peer support, and empowered parental advocacy. Summer is CEO and co-founder of Kindship and Barb an AI-powered NDIS Navigator designed to add support and reduce stress for families with disabilities.
RoboFit
Session Details
RoboFit is the culmination of a long journey for husband and wife duo Maryanne Harris and Daniel Hillyer. In 2010, a balcony collapse left Daniel paralysed and he was told he would never walk again. Daniel and Maryanne travelled overseas for rehabilitation options and were able to access the Cyberdyne device and see first-hand the difference it made to Daniel’s independence. Their hope is to make this technology more accessible to improve the quality of life for thousands of people. RoboFit now has 3 clinics, with another 2 clinics intended to open in 2024.
Summit Day 2: Thursday 21st March 2024
11:15am
ImpactConnect Deals Room
3 live pitches by innovative, for purpose organisations delivering financial returns and significant social impact.
Hotel Etico Australia
Session Details
Hotel Etico is Australia’s first social enterprise hotel, employing and training young adults with disability in hospitality and independent living skills. After 3 years of operation, Hotel Etico Blue Mountains has reached self-sustainability through earned revenue, (Accommodation, Food & Beverage, Events, NDIS). While Hotel Etico continues to grow the Blue Mountains business organically, they are now ready to scale by opening new sites across Australia and we are looking for property partners.
i=Change / Powering business for good
Session Details
With several years of growth & revenues, i=Change is bridging the worlds of business & NGOs, and ready for significant scale. The business is raising up to $2M for further investment in product, marketing & revenue diversification.
Unlock the potential of impact enterprises worldwide to achieve the SDGs with LendForGood
Session Details
LendForGood is seeking $2m from investors who share our ambition of mobilising $1b of impact lending per year. This is a unique opportunity to provide catalytic finance to build a new capital market and unlock the potential of 1000s of impact enterprises around the world.
12pm
ImpactConnect Deals Room
3 live pitches addressing the challenges around Specialist Disability Accommodation and social housing in Australia.
The Australian Unity Specialist Disability Accommodation Fund
Session Details
SDA is a developing market with only a handful of scaled investment funds operating within it. Like all Australian Unity Funds, the SDA Fund relies upon expert management with best-in-class sector experience to develop and execute strategy to establish the most meaningful SDA projects to best benefit Participants and provide above market returns to investors.
The Future Housing Taskforce “Micro” Build-To-Rent Solution
Session Details
The Future Housing Taskforce invites investors to explore an innovative approach to build-to-rent, offering unprecedented speed and efficiency in delivering compact, innovative housing solutions Imagine transforming a standard 400m2 residential block into five appealing, single-story micro-apartments in less than ten months. This approach is ingeniously integrated within a Rooming Accommodation framework, with unprecedented benefits to both investors and tenants.
Barwon Disability Accommodation Fund
Session Details
The Barwon Disability Accommodation Fund (BDAF) or (Fund) provides investors an opportunity to gain exposure to the Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) sector through a scaled, established and diversified portfolio of existing residential housing purpose-designed to accommodate people with disability in our communities who have extreme function impairment or very high support needs and are eligible for rental support under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The fund seeks to deliver an 8 – 10% total return, with a 5 – 7% distribution yield, alongside the clear social impact associated with providing housing to better enable people with disability to live independently within our communities.
2:35pm
ImpactConnect Deals Room
3 live pitches of investment opportunities to combat climate change by rewilding Sydney Harbour and creating better parks, investing in the Pacific through blended facilities, and investing in Australian companies developing transformational climate and nature solutions.
Re-visioning Rushcutters and Rewilding Ironcove
Session Details
Seeking seed stage investors for Re-visioning Rushcutters as equity or grant funding. Initial investment of $200,000 required, with potential for further investment in the second stage. Rewilding Ironcove, the larger second stage project, requires $1M investment in social enterprise Blue Green Australia, a Standard Valuation Cap of $3M.
Climate and impact investing in the Pacific through blended facilities
Session Details
Camco is raising for multiple blended facilities offering climate and impact investing opportunities in the Pacific. The facilities are supported by donor governments and augmented with market development facilities (MDFs) to develop capacity and capability, thereby giving investments a greater chance of success.
Kakariki Land Generation Fund
Session Details
The Fund provides exposure to carbon markets, with the security of real asset ownership. It will purchase mispriced Australian farmland to generate premium carbon credits, via biodiverse tree planting. The land will be redesigned to integrate carbon farming with food production and will enhance ecological health.