Three of the world’s largest companies in different sectors have set up funds targeting impact investing in startups to help deal with global concerns around plastics, careers and financial welfare, and the climate and environment.
Switzerland-based food group Nestlé will launch a CHF250m ($258m) sustainable packaging fund to invest in startups that concentrate on that area.
It is part of a CHF2bn investment package to lead the shift from virgin plastics to food-grade recycled plastics, and to accelerate the development of innovative sustainable packaging solutions through sourcing up to 2 million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics by 2025.
Mark Schneider, CEO of Nestlé, said: “Making recycled plastics safe for food is an enormous challenge for our industry. That is why in addition to minimising plastics use and collecting waste, we want to close the loop and make more plastics infinitely recyclable.”
Separately, US-based bank Citi has launched its $150m Citi Impact Fund to make equity investments in local “double bottom line” private sector companies that have a positive impact on society.
The fund will invest up to $10m per startup but also at seed level. Its areas of focus include technologies that provide workforce training and development, expand access to finance, improve sustainability in water, energy and manufacturing, and enhance infrastructure such as housing, mobility or healthcare.
Citi said it would “actively seek opportunities to invest in businesses that are led or owned by women and minority entrepreneurs”. As part of that commitment, the seed funding will be allocated exclusively to investments in businesses led or owned by women and members of minority groups.
Michael Corbat, Citi CEO, said: “While Citi’s global footprint and scale allow us to use our balance sheet to play an important role, smaller, newer, ‘double bottom line’ companies play an equally important role in driving change.”
Citi, along with US government agency OPIC and the Ford Foundation, had previously launched a $100m loan guarantee facility that will enable Citi to provide early-stage financing in local currency to companies that expand access to products and services for low-income communities in emerging markets.
Finally, Microsoft will set up a $1bn fund that could invest in “carbon reduction, capture and removal technologies,” amid a broader commitment to clean up the software giant’s emissions across its corporate history by 2050.
It is one of the largest funding commitments ever to the development of methods of sucking carbon dioxide out of the air, an area that includes startups such as Silicon Kingdom, Carbon Engineering, Climeworks and Global Thermostat, according to university MIT.
As an aside to future challenges, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had before his death created Seattle’s Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, which has set up a $10m pre-seed fund for its incubator program.
The AI2 Incubator fund, which is run by Bryan Hale and Jacob Colker, counts venture capital investors including Madrona Venture Group, Two Sigma Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins among its backers.
