HBAN angels to invest £8.3M in sustainability start-ups with launch of Impact Syndicate
HBAN (Halo Business Angel Network), has announced plans to increase funding for socially-conscious start-ups on the island of Ireland.
The network will launch its new Impact Syndicate at its online All-Island Conference on Wednesday 2nd February 2022.
Impact investing allows investors to drive positive and measurable social and environmental change alongside financial returns. In 2020, the global market reached up to $2.1 trillion* in assets under management.
Members of HBAN’s Impact Syndicate will collectively invest £8.3M in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) start-ups on the island of Ireland over the next three years. The syndicate will consider pitches from start-ups focusing on climate, agri-tech & food supply chain, energy, blue economy, health and cleantech.
RELATED: HBAN business angels have invested median of £167K each in start-ups
The syndicate will be co-chaired by Faye Walsh Drouillard, the first female chair of a HBAN syndicate, and Mark Peters. Faye is an impact investor and along with Mark, is a co-founder of WakeUp Capital. Faye also founded The Giving Circle and is a board member of Philanthropy Ireland. Mark is also an active impact investor, as well as being Google’s Director of EMEA Partnerships.
Speaking about her involvement, Faye Walsh Drouillard, said:: “Impact investing provides exciting financial potential for investors, while also enabling them to make a difference in the community and even the planet. I have been focused on impact investing throughout my investment career and I feel honoured to be contributing to its further growth by co-chairing the Impact Syndicate alongside my highly experienced and knowledgeable WakeUp Capital co-founder, Mark.”
Julian Seymour, Syndicates Manager, HBAN, also added: “HBAN’s Impact Syndicate will help to drive ground-breaking ESG innovation across the island of Ireland by providing the funding and knowledge that socially-aware start-ups need to scale. This will be supported by our two chairs who have extensive experience in impact investing, and who have significantly contributed to the growth of impact investing here.”
RELATED: HBAN angel investments exceed pre-pandemic levels
HBAN's online conference will take place on Wednesday 2nd February from 9:30am to 4:30pm and will have a focus on impact investing and demystifying angel investment, which it hopes will encourage existing and first-time angel investors to join the network and consider its Impact Syndicate.
Speakers at the conference will include Marcia Dawood, chair of the Angel Capital Association in the US; serial entrepreneur Norman Crowley, founder of Crowley Carbon; and Loretta McCarthy, whose investor consortium Golden Seeds backs early-stage female-led businesses in the US. The speakers will discuss the benefits of impact investing and break down the perceived barriers to angel investing to encourage more people to get involved.
More information, and registration details about the free event, can be found at www.hban.org/conference.
Source: Written from press release.
