The Growth Impact Fund, a social impact investment fund deployed to help diverse social entrepreneurs across the UK, has today published its latest impact report. The Growth Impact Fund was launched by Big Issue Invest and UnLtd in 2022 in response to the Adebowale Commission, which highlighted the lack of inclusivity and equity in the investment market. It found that social investment had not met the needs of underserved populations including those from racialised minorities. Two years on, the Growth Impact Fund’s 2024 Impact Report illustrates how more than 65,000…
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Fund invests over £800k to improve accessibility, youth empowerment and mental health support for LGBTQ+ people
The Growth Impact Fund (GIF), a social impact investment fund developed by Big Issue Invest and UnLtd to help underrepresented social entrepreneurs across the UK, has announced new investments in mission-driven organisations Kalda, Ultra Education, and Patchwork Hub. These three exciting new investments bring the Fund’s total investment in social purpose organisations to over £2 million. To tackle the crisis in mental health provision for the LGBTQ+ community, GIF has invested £300,000 in Kalda, a mental health app that provides sexuality and gender affirming therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals. Patchwork Hub…
Read MoreGrowth Impact Fund backs Genius Within’s mission to empower the UK’s Neurodivergent workforce
Recently the Growth Impact Fund (GIF), a social impact investment fund developed by Big Issue Invest (BIIFM) and UnLtd, targeted at £25 million to help underrepresented social entrepreneurs across the UK, announces its first debt deal of £500,000 in Genius Within. The funding will help Genius Within, a specialist employment and training provider, support neurodivergent people into employment and help them to work best when employed. In the UK, it is estimated that over 15% of the population are neurodiverse, with 40% of neurodiverse employees reporting to be impacted most…
Read MoreMark Porter is announced as new Chair of Big Issue Invest
Financial services veteran Mark Porter has been appointed as the new Chair of the Big Issue Group’s social investment arm, Big Issue Invest (BII), as it looks to build stronger relationships with the wider investment community. Porter has had a 35+ year career in financial services, specifically in investment management, banking, investor & fund services, and trust and corporate services. He has held a number of executive and board positions within institutional and private equity backed businesses, including at UBS, MUFG and more recently Equiom Group. At UBS, Mark had…
Read MoreSocial investment arm of the Big Issue Group opens up applications for second cohort of social enterprises in London
Big Issue Invest (BII), the investment arm of the Big Issue Group (BIG), has opened up for applications to the second round of an investment programme, aimed at up to 20 new and early-stage social enterprises in London. Power Up London is an accelerator programme for London-based, diverse-led, early-stage socially impactful organisations addressing social and/or environmental issues and providing services to underrepresented communities. The programme is delivered by BII with funding by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda to invest…
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