The Rise of CleanTech and Impact Investing

Let’s face it: humanity has done a fair amount of damage during our time on the planet. We need to clean up our act before we go too far and the planet sends us an eviction notice. But it’s so hard to separate ourselves from technology in this modern world.

This is why CleanTech is the way of the future. Innovators and entrepreneurs are using the advantages that come from modern ingenuity to help bring forth the advancements we need to save ourselves.

How do we ensure these saviours have what they need to uncover these advancements? Well, that’s where impact investing comes in. By supporting these initiatives investors both expand their portfolio and help heal the world.

If you think about it, CleanTech and impact investing are made for each other. Two new market segments showing incredible growth (by 2020 the CleanTech market will be worth over $2.5 trillion while impact investing will reach $400 billion), two creative outlets for technology and two innovations aimed at bettering the world.

They may not have made much of a joint impact until recent years, but the financial backing brought in through impact investing is now bringing forth the startups and companies ready to change systems around the world—look at NovoMoto, offering sustainable electricity to underserved African communities or Greenlight Planet, providing solar systems to India—and the market is taking notice.

Smart governments and entrepreneurs are now doing what they can to embrace the technology partnership.

Canada’s major banks are on board, offering clients the chance to invest in CleanTech initiatives. (Check out the RBC Generator or TD’s partnership with Venture for Canada.)

MaRS is doing great work, partnering with ArcTern Ventures to give people a new way to invest in important causes. With a deep knowledge of the startup process and the CleanTech field, ArcTern Ventures will prove to be a great route for people wanting to invest with purpose.

North Sky Capital is another great organization seeking to help people wanting to ensure their money is going towards a greener future. Its clean growth funds strategy seeks to find the causes and companies that best show both good risk return and positive ESG impact.

For those without access to an investment portfolio there is still a way to access impact investing. Through equity crowdfunding, investors can support CleanTech businesses.

GridShare is one of the companies seeking to make it easier for investors to support CleanTech ventures. This crowdfunding platform clearly lays out how easy it is, offering a three-step process (browse, learn, invest) for interested parties to follow.

Republic is another platform offering investors an entrance into CleanTech impact investing. Calling it crowd-investing, the Republic platform aims to both give information on CleanTech impact investing and give access to investment opportunities.

Equity crowdfunding also offers unique investing options. Flower Turbines, a wind turbine company hoping to remake the concept of the turbine, offers investors the chance to invest with bitcoin.

If you believe a modern industry should use a modern funding method then, yes, equity crowdfunding is definitely the way to go.

Both CleanTech and impact investing offer the potential of a better tomorrow and a better today. They are examples of the amazing things we can do if we just use our minds and hearts in the right way.

We need the CleanTech industry to survive and thrive and impact investing serves as a great way to keep it running. The funding route gives more people the chance to get involved, growing and strengthening the environmental movement. We can do great things with technology—we’ve already done so much—and this amazing pair up is getting ready to lead us to a brighter future.