foundations & endowments

The early-stage venture capital firm plans to invest in 40 start-ups across the continent.

The manager of Novo Nordisk Foundation’s $36bn of investments is expanding its planetary health portfolio and mulling carving out an allocation for private equity GPs to run, while more offices in Asia may also be on the cards.

Jennifer A. Ayer has joined the wealth manager, having previously co-led impact investing at AlTi Tiedemann Global.

Foundations and development finance institutions are participating in Zafiri, which starts commercial operations with $176m in capital and expects to have $300m in a year.

The decarbonisation-focused private equity firm could use side pockets or SPVs to help fill the funding gap for companies that have moved beyond venture-stage development, says co-founder Charles Cherington.

The Toronto-based impact investment firm aims to raise $36m for the new evergreen vehicle, including $11m by the end of the year, says portfolio manager Karolina Iaydjieva.

Reinova Partners anticipates a first close on around $400m in July or August this year.

SEDF would like to see consumer brands move beyond grantmaking to make co-investments or become customers of portfolio companies, according to head of policy and innovative finance Lily Han.

The Stockholm-based foundation has committed to invest $349m in European start-ups that use AI for climate, healthcare, food and education investments.

The impact investment firm's advisory business has inherited a 'handful' of new clients from Align and roughly doubled assets under management, says recently hired partner Matthew Weatherley-White.