Impact investment firm ImpactUs has announced four new businesses have joined its platform.
ImpactUs is a platform companies that qualify as impact investments can use to raise capital from investors.
Impact investments are those which are viewed by the underlying investor as having a positive impact on the world.
They differ from ethical investments in that, rather than avoiding businesses considered to be having a harmful effect, impact investing requires the companies to both be not having a harmful effect and to be having a positive impact.
Among the new investments that have come to the platform are Coastal Enterprises, which provides services to businesses in the US state of Maine.
Also joining is Enterprise Community Investment, which provides funding for affordable housing in the US, and Iroquois Valley Farms, which is a property company linked to sustainable agriculture.
The final company to join the platform is MicroVest Capital Management, which funds the provision of banking services in “under banked” areas around the world.
All of these companies are unquoted, so an investor would be buying equity in a private company, where liquidity will be minimal.
Patrick Connolly, chartered financial planner at Chase De Vere said he has yet to detect much interest in impact investment opportunities from his clients.
David.Thorpe@ft.com
