Fledge is now more than just an accelerator, it is a family of seed investment funds. This new structure came about after talking to hundreds of impact investors, nearly all of which have specific areas of interest, either by geography and/or sector. With a large collect of funds, those investors can allocate their capital to the topics that best match those interests. To start with, all of...
Fledge is an impact accelerator, working with mission-driven for-profit startups from around the world, helping them achieve their impacts by teaching them how to succeed in their businesses. But what do we mean by impact? “What is impact?” is a question asked each year at SOCAP, at every Big Path Capital event, every Toniic gathering and Investors Circle national meeting. This...
One of the biggest challenges of impact investing is in measuring the impact of the investments. One would think that this would be an easy, solved problem, but it is far from simple. The impact ecosystem is still working through multiple methods of measurements, few of which provide a single value which can be summed, compared, and tracked over time. The Pinchot Impact Index is one proposed...
After hundreds upon hundreds of applications reviewed by Fledge, there are a series of common patterns that lead to rejections, no doubt frustrating the applicants, and similarly frustrating the screeners. 1. Team, lack thereof The number one criteria that Fledge seeks out is a strong team. If you’ve can’t even convince a friend to call themselves a member of your team, then you are...
It is application season here again at Fledge, and with it, dozens of repeats of a very common first-time entrepreneurial mistake. A grand vision with multiple components, which as a whole, all implemented, all popular, would solve some problem or simply make people’s lives better. To the ears of the entrepreneur, it sounds wonderful. To anyone who doesn’t review hundreds of business plans each...
The selection criteria at Fledge, the conscious company accelerator, are easy to explain. 1) Team, 2) Impact, and 3) Odds of success. The subtleties within each of these concepts and the whole selection process takes a bit more explanation: 1. Team Unlike most other accelerators focused on social good, Fledge is, behind-the-scenes, a for-profit impact investment fund. We invest...
BURN Manufacturing has raised $4 million, and with those funds is moving forward on their vision to rid East Africa of the smoke of cook stoves, and in the process, save at least 100 million trees. The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and General Electric have partnered provide this funding. This groundbreaking news was announced on January 31, 2013 by U.S. Secretary of State...
The Washington Global Health Fund awarded two grants to two Washington-based companies making an impact across the “bottom billion” around the world. $120,000 was granted to BURN Design Lab, the non-profit sibling of BURN Manufacturing, one of the Fledge “fledglings” from this summer. According to Peter Scott, founder of BURN, this funding will permit BURN Design Lab to...
More money than ever is flowing into impact investing, yet many entrepreneurs creating companies that serve the poor still find it difficult to raise capital, particularly at the early stages of their company’s growth. (Originally posted on the Stanford Social Innovation Review) Husk Power Systems, a growing social business, burns rice husks to generate power and provide electricity to low...