Greensoil Investments Report 2022: Sustainable Investments Shift From Niche to Norm

New report shows how mission-driven investing can drive change and how Greensoil's portfolio companies are setting a pace

NEW YORK, July 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Investment funds that provide the opportunity to participate in sustainable innovations in the fields of AgTech, FoodTech and PropTech are achieving record inflows and quickly becoming sector norms, not niche investments, according to a new report by Greensoil Investments.

Greensoil's Impact Report 2022 (available here: http://www.greensoil-investments.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Greensoil-Impact-Investing-Report.pdf) catalogs how mission-driven investing is transforming the face of the current and future marketplace. Notable results in 2021 included:

• Sustainable funds attracted $69.2 billion in net inflows in 2021, a new record high.
• Year-over-year, sustainable funds experienced a 35% increase in net inflows.
• 2021 marked the sixth consecutive year that net inflows into sustainable funds set a new high-water mark.

More specifically, this report:

• Highlights the need to more accurately benchmark the impact of portfolio companies and provides an inaugural process to assess, set metrics and inform future investment targets.
• Tracks how many of Greensoil's portfolio companies are making a substantial impact, both environmentally and socially and establishes a benchmark for future investment metrics.

"Profits are only sustainable if we preserve the Earth and everyone has a chance to survive and thrive," said Alan Greenberg, Co-founder and Chair of Greensoil Investments. "We believe these can, and in fact must, coexist. Only investors and inventors can provide the ingenuity and funding to address humanity's biggest challenges."

Approximately $17.1 trillion, or roughly one-third of all assets under professional management in America at the end of 2019, were managed with some form of sustainable investment strategy and/or ESG goals, a 42% increase since 2017, according to U.S. SIF.

The total number of sustainable open-end and exchange-traded funds available to U.S. investors, meanwhile, grew to 534 in 2021, up fivefold from 2012 (104 funds) and 36% just since 2020 (392 funds). All told, sustainable funds attracted a record $69.2 billion in net flows in 2021, a 35% increase over the previous record of $51.1 billion set in 2020 and the sixth year in a row for record deal flows.

"As impact investors, achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions, and creating a more just, equitable world are our market-making missions," said Gideon Soesman, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Greensoil Investments. "Greensoil Investments believes in the venerated Hebraic ideal known as 'tikkun olam' – that we bear a fundamental responsibility to repair and improve the world."

Most importantly, to hold itself accountable, the fund has set its own target of directing at least two-thirds of investments toward companies that reduce carbon emissions, with the remaining one-third having alternative impact goals. Portfolio companies are required to gauge their progress and share their measurements and assessments to meet carbon-reduction targets and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Some of the innovative assets within the Greensoil portfolio include:

• Oxygen8, a Vancouver-based HVAC maker which lowers HVAC energy spending – a factor that typically accounts for roughly 40% of a building's total energy consumption.
• Electriq Power of San Leandro, California, develops smart building energy storage, management, and monitoring solutions. Last year, the City of Parlier, California selected Electriq Power to run the city's new Home Solar and Energy Efficiency Program, providing the battery systems necessary for lower income homes to reliably use variable renewable energy sources such as the sun.
• Miru Smart Technologies of Vancouver is bringing next-generation electrochromic windows to the residential and commercial real estate markets, blocking unwanted UV rays and controlling building temperatures with automated tinting. Miru's glass also could extend the battery life of electric vehicles by reducing the energy needed to heat and cool cars, which could allow vehicles to travel up to 10% farther.
• Tipa, an 11-year-old Israeli firm, has developed packaging solutions that biodegrade into nourishing compost. Conventional flexible plastic packaging is a rapidly growing segment, yet historically less than 4% of flexible packaging is recycled, causing a huge global environmental hazard, from toxic residue to microplastics and other pollutants.
• Halifax-based CarbonCure, which is revolutionizing concrete production, has attracted attention from the likes of 60 Minutes and Bill Gates. CarbonCure's proprietary technology injects CO2 into concrete, a major source of worldwide CO2, to accelerate the curing process and decrease the cement needed in concrete mix. To date, CarbonCure's technologies have saved approximately 175,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
• Bay Area Wynd Technologies makes air purification technology that decreases HVAC systems' carbon emissions and improves CO2 levels in offices, protecting against pollutants such as smog and smoke, while reducing energy consumption.
• CropX, an Israeli firm, helps farmers make science-based decisions that reduce the water, fertilizer, energy and labor necessary to farm. Its software has led to 20% reduction in fertilizers, 13% fewer Greenhouse gas emissions, and up to 50% water savings in pivot irrigation, while increasing yields more than 10%.

Greensoil Investments funds companies with transformative technologies that change the way we use the world's resources. Our portfolio companies enable smart and efficient use of energy, water and land in the AgTech, FoodTech and PropTech sectors. Established in 2011, Greensoil launched two Greensoil Agro & Food Technologies Funds (GAFT I in 2011, GAFT II in 2013) raising a total of $40 million, in addition to establishing the $59 million Greensoil Building Innovation Fund (GBIF) in 2015 and Greensoil PropTech Ventures II in 2020. GSPV II is targeting a $100 million final close in 2022, and is currently three-quarters committed. For more information, visit greensoil-investments.com or gspv.vc and follow GSPV on Twitter and LinkedIn.

MEDIA

Daniel Axelrod, Shea Communications, [email protected], 646-599-9998

Sayla Nordin, Greensoil PropTech Ventures, [email protected], 416-557-0939

SOURCE Greensoil Investments