Press Releases - IIX - Impact Investment Exchange

The Rockefeller Foundation’s Zero Gap Fund Mobilized $582M in Private Capital Towards UN Sustainable Development Goals -The Rockefeller Foundation

July 25, 2022 News, Press Release, SDGs

3^rd annual report demonstrates initial impact of the Fund’s 18 million diverse, global portfolio

NEW YORK | July 18, 2022 – The Rockefeller Foundation released its annual Zero Gap Fund: 2021 State of the Portfolio report capturing the crucial role that catalytic capital plays in enabling investment solutions to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. Across its seven investments to date, the Fund has mobilized $582 million in private finance toward a diverse portfolio of high-impact investment strategies. The Fund added two investments in 2021, bringing total commitments to $18 million of the $30 million fund.

The Zero Gap Fund was launched in 2019 in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. It deploys patient, risk-tolerant, and flexible capital into promising, impact-driven financial strategies and mechanisms that seek to boost large-scale private investment in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“Innovative financial mechanisms like those supported by the Zero Gap Fund demonstrate the power of catalytic capital to cultivate and scale impact-driven investment strategies. With the SDGs being undercut by Covid-19, climate change, and other crises, the need is both critical and urgent for investment solutions that marry impact and return and mobilize significant private capital to such strategies” said Maria Kozloski, Senior Vice President, Innovative Finance, The Rockefeller Foundation. “As the Zero Gap Fund’s portfolio matures, we are seeing encouraging results even in the face of broader instability in the market.”

Orange Bond Initiative™ drives the first Steering Committee meeting with top leaders in gender lens investing.

June 9, 2022 News, Press Release

To define a way forward for more to participate in building a gender-equal future.

June 9th, Singapore – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has made a big step forward in revolutionizing gender lens investing with the launch of the Orange Bond Initiative™, the world’s first asset class by and for the Global South and the 99% as a solution to financing gender equality. Trailblazing representatives across public, private sectors, and civil society gathered at the Orange Bond Initiative™ inaugural Steering Committee meeting on 19th May, 2022 to mark the moment in history. The meeting addressed the fundamentals of practices in revolutionizing gender lens investing to further push the boundaries that build a gender-empowered financial system.

Environmental Finance’s Bond Awards Recognizes IIX’s Women’s Livelihood Bond Series for innovative use of Proceeds to Impact Women and Climate

April 8, 2022 News, Press Release

April 8th, 2022 – Impact Investment Exchange’s (IIX) Women’s Livelihood Bond™ (WLB) Series wins Environmental Finance’s 2022 Bond Awards for Innovation. The award recognizes IIX for its use of proceeds in the latest issuance in the WLB™ Series, the US$30M WLB4Climate, which is set to impact an estimated 500,000 women and girls across South and Southeast Asia, transforming them into agents of climate action.

IIX Convenes a Global Coalition to Launch the World’s First Asset Class for Investing in Women with the Orange Bond Initiative™ to unlock $10B and empower 100M women.

March 8, 2022 News, Press Release

The world’s first gender-lens investing asset class by and for the Global South and the 99%.

March 8th, SINGAPORE – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has launched the Orange Bond Initiative™, a global coalition to create the world’s first gender-lens investing asset class by and for the Global South and the 99%. The Initiative will mobilize the multi-trillion bond market to empower 100 million women and girls as solutions to achieve the UN’s 17 SDGs and build a more inclusive, climate-resilient future for all. Orange is the color of UN SDG 5: Gender Equality – and the Orange Bonds are expected to unlock US$10 billion for gender-lens investing by 2030.

Impact Investment Exchange Lists US$30 Million Women’s Livelihood Bond™ For Climate on the Singapore Exchange, Supporting ~500,000 Underserved Women and Girls in Asia Through Building Resilient and Climate-friendly Economies

January 31, 2022 News, Press Release

World’s First Impact Investing Instrument Listed on a Public Stock Exchange

January 31st, SINGAPORE – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has successfully listed the US$30 million Women’s Livelihood Bond™ for Climate (WLB4Climate), the fourth bond in the award-winning Women’s Livelihood Bond™ Series (WLB Series), on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The WLB Series is the world’s first impact investing instrument to be listed on a public stock exchange.

Impact Investment Exchange Prices US$30 Million Women’s Livelihood Bond™ For Climate, Supporting ~500,000 Underserved Women and Girls in Asia Through Building Resilient and Climate-friendly Economies

December 14, 2021 News, Press Release

December 14, 2021 – SINGAPORE – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has successfully priced the US$30 million Women’s Livelihood Bond™ for Climate (WLB4Climate), the fourth bond in the award-winning Women’s Livelihood Bond™ Series (WLB Series). Advancing a total of 14 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the WLB4Climate will support an estimated 500,000 underserved women and girls in Asia to build resilient, sustainable, climate-friendly economies in the region.

IIX and the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Launch Blended Finance Solutions to Benefit 2.5 Million Lives in Asia Pacific by 2023

September 14, 2021 Community, Finance, Impact Investing, Press Release, SDGs, Women Empowerment

SINGAPORE AND CANBERRA [September 15, 2021] – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) and the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) announced today the launch of three blended finance solutions to boost resilience and drive investment to small and medium-sized businesses and underserved women in the Asia-Pacific. With AUD2.75 million in funding from the Australian Government, IIX will unlock an additional AUD18 million through the catalytic use of the funding.

World’s First Listed Gender Lens Impact Investing Security, IIX Women’s Livelihood Bond 1, Matures

July 6, 2021 Community, Finance, Impact Investing, Press Release, SDGs, Women Empowerment

July 6, 2021 – SINGAPORE – Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)’s Women’s Livelihood Bond^TM 1 (WLB1), the world’s first gender lens and impact investing instrument to be listed on a stock exchange (the Singapore Exchange), matured on July 6, 2021. With all coupon payments and principal payments made on time, even throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bond provided investors with an annual return of 5.65% from 2017-2021. The WLB1 is the first issuance of the US$150M Women’s Livelihood Bond Series, a series of innovative debt securities that creates sustainable livelihoods for over 3 million underserved women across the Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets. In addition to its strong financial performance, all social performance targets, including targets for increased financial inclusion and financial resilience, were met or exceeded, demonstrating the sustainability of the bond’s underlying portfolio throughout the pandemic.

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) relaunches IIX Impact Institute – a premier, go-to training center for sustainability

April 8, 2021 Education, IIX Institute, News, Press Release

April 14, 2021 – SINGAPORE – IIX has announced the relaunch of IIX Institute, a unique and innovative learning and training program that offers a full suite of online, interactive learning courses that will equip investors, professionals, and enterprises with the knowledge they need to be leaders in sustainable finance and impact investing. For the last 12 years, the IIX Institute has been the premier, go-to training center to equip professionals and practitioners with the knowledge and skills needed to play a catalytic role in the sustainability space.

This space is growing exponentially with the sustainable investing market reaching $30 trillion, yet the number of trained and qualified professionals who are ready to support this growth is lacking. Between all the acronyms, jargon, and varied approaches floating around, it’s no wonder that businesses, funders, and governments are scratching their heads when it comes to sustainability.

To help close this gap, IIX Institute launched three online masterclasses last year, bringing together more than 200 students from over 50 countries and featuring seven guest lecturers from the Wharton Business School, Stanford University, Social Value International, DSB Bank, Nuveen, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

UN Supports IIX In Accelerating Its Women’s Livelihood Bond Series – ESCAP

December 9, 2020 Press Release, Women Empowerment

The Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) has successfully closed its US$27.7 million Women’s Livelihood Bond TM 3 (WLB3), the third bond in the award-winning Women’s Livelihood Bond TM Series. Advancing 13 Sustainable Development Goals, the WLB3 complies with the International Capital Markets Association Social Bond Principles and will support 180,000 underserved women and women entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region to respond, recover from, and to build resilience in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. READ MORE