Main Stage Plenary - ImpacTech Investing: Dichotomy or Paradigm Shift?
Channel: Sankalp Forum
Date: 2022-11-04

When it comes to investment themes, Impact and Technology have always been discrete buckets for investors. Perhaps the belief that VC investing is primarily driven by financial objectives whereas impact investing is only about seeking people and planet outcomes has led to such a segregation.  
The truth is Impact and Technology have never been two unrelated paradigms. Both styles of investing are deeply intertwined and form a continuum rather than a dichotomy. The global ESG transition being extensively embraced by tech giants, unicorns and investors across asset classes demonstrates this phenomenon. 
Impact+Tech (or ImpacTech) is often misconstrued as reluctantly espousing ESG factors as an after-thought for enhancing investment worthiness or employing emerging technologies one dimensionally to deliver impact. Scaling up is an inherent objective of every venture, whether digital or impact, intending to solve a grand challenge. For businesses, ImpacTech is about designing business models from the ground up which leverage both technology and impact as sustainable competitive advantages to achieve scale. The next 3 billion presents the largest underpenetrated market for digital businesses, whereas impact ventures are transforming their business models for scalability through digital inclusion. 
For investors, the ImpacTech dimension has always been profoundly ingrained in the investment thesis across strategies, sectors and stages. Reclassifying ImpacTech as a distinct and broad-based investment theme would simplify investments at the intersection of impact and technology to empower digital businesses solving global challenges.