Where we invest

Our portfolio is selected and managed to deliver measurable impact and competitive financial returns. Constructed as a diversified multi-manager, multi-asset, public and private market portfolio, there are investments with over 40 fund managers covering two interconnected themes: social equity and environmental sustainability. In our latest report Optimising for Impact, Risk and Return we shared stories of just some of these investments.

Lendable

Lendable was established in 2016 to expand fair access to credit using data analytics. An impact-driven organisation, the fund provides debt capital to fintech lenders in Africa and Asia. These fintechs in turn, make small-scale loans to micro businesses and individuals, thereby fostering employment, supporting economic growth and improving access to financial services.

With a clearly defined thesis of wealth creation for those who are traditionally excluded from the finance sector, Lendable is focused on generating impact by promoting financial inclusion, improving opportunity and facilitating access to essential goods. The fund engages at both industry and portfolio level, serving frontier market fintechs who are lending to the unbanked or underbanked, particularly women.

While the sector is relatively new, Lendable has a track record of more than five years and a data analytics platform that enables comprehensive risk management. To date, the group has helped to finance more than 63,000 SME loans and 1.9 million loans to individuals and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Ananda

Founded in 2010, Ananda was a pioneer in impact venture capital and is now on its fourth fund, investing in and scaling impact-driven enterprises across healthcare, education, sustainability and social justice. An active investor, Ananda is committed to embedding impact into the DNA of every portfolio company to mitigate any risk of mission drift.

Portfolio companies in the latest fund include Resourcify, which helps companies to digitise and optimise waste management, Closed Loop Medicine, designed to improve health outcomes through personalised digital healthcare, and Nature Metrics, which specialises in monitoring biodiversity. With a robust track record, Ananda’s governance framework highlights its commitment to impact. Carry is tied to impact, there is a market-leading impact term sheet and an independent advisory committee, which signs off on KPIs and targets.

Women in Safe Homes Fund (WISH)

Investing directly in UK residential and refuge accommodation, WISH is designed to help solve a major problem: the lack of affordable, safe and secure homes for homeless women. A joint venture between Patron Capital Advisers and Resonance Impact Investment, WISH was launched in 2020 and is believed to be the world’s first gender-lens property fund.

The fund hopes to improve safety, health, wellbeing and life chances by offering support and accommodation to women who have experienced domestic abuse; women who have been victims of human and sex trafficking; ex-offenders struggling to find a home, and women living in temporary, poor and inappropriate accommodation, often with children. Snowball was one of the first institutional investors to participate in this fund, which is managed intentionally for impact.

EKA Ventures

Founded in 2018, EKA works with founders to build companies that use technology to make the world more sustainable, healthy and inclusive. The EKA team believe there is an unprecedented venture capital opportunity to build a better economy with the use of science, data and technology. Focusing on sustainable consumption, consumer healthcare and an inclusive economy, EKA has made several investments, including zero-emissions delivery group Hived, socially responsible insurer Urban Jungle and Hylo, which makes sustainable sportswear. Snowball invested in the firm’s first fund at first close, since when we have actively helped the manager develop its impact practice.

If you have any thoughts on the article or would like to learn more about Snowball, please do be in touch on hello@snowball.im

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