Our first SOCAP in three years
Tom and Mike just got back from the annual SOCAP conference in San Francisco after a three year COVID hiatus. SOCAP is one of the largest conferences in the impact investing/"social capital" world, with over 2000 attending in person and another 2000-ish online. A couple key takeaways from their experience:
Impact is (finally) mainstream. There has been huge progress in the impact investment world in the past three years. People no longer need to be convinced that above market returns are possible. People have stopped complaining about a lack of products available in the market. There is general consensus on the role of ESG (defence) vs impact (offence). The money and top talent has flooded in.
Specialization is key. Just like Active Impact Investments made the decision to specialize exclusively in climate tech, most other funds have moved to a singular impact focus. This has caused a healthy splintering away from generalist events to a whole new host of events with deep domain expertise attracting real solutions and those that want to finance them.
GV and SOSV are awesome. In fact, for us they were the best two events. We hosted a small private dinner with Andy Wheeler from GV (formerly Google Ventures) who spoke about his experience in climate related investments and what excites him about the future. I think all the attendees got a lot out of his talk and Q&A because we certainly did. We also attended the SOSV breakfast event where we were inspired by their global approach to solving deep tech climate problems and how they have scaled.
Nothing beats in person. In addition to making new connections, we got to see Orianna pitch our portfolio company Aquacycl on the mainstage and hang out with our Canadian ecosystem friends like InBC, McConnell Foundation, Genus Capital Management, Rally Assets, Good & Well, Raven Indigenous Capital Partners, Renewal Funds, Amplify Capital, Spring Activator, SVX and more.
The best stories are never reported. You will have to call and ask if you want to know about our buffet lunch strategy, the dumpling war, middle aged men sharing a hotel room, where to buy cheap sunglasses and how drinking alcohol can lead to food waste at late night events.