Impact Investor Challenge (Investors)

These are 8 to 11-week training programs where we gather a group of investors new to impact investing who want to put their capital into solutions they believe in. The group will go through the training and decide at the end of the program to invest collectively into one of the companies that have been selected to participate in the program.

Like in an Angel Group, the due diligence work is done by the investors. Unlike an Angel Group, this program is focused on impact where the investor will learn about the unique aspects in evaluating impact and creating their “investment thesis”. We think this makes us even better than an Angel Group, but don’t tell our friends at Spring Impact Capital we said that, because we’ll deny it. 

Actually, many program participants are also members of Angel Groups and find this program a useful resource for knowledge, community and deal flow. So we’re both awesome.

One especially fabulous benefit is that we’re open to non-accredited investors. They’re able to invest thanks to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that’s created for each investment.

The program is 8 to 11 weeks long. We meet online for 2 hours each week. We’re family, pet and food friendly, understanding that participants may get interrupted or need to eat during our sessions. We just ask that if you eat during the session, you provide the recipe in the chat and if you have a cute pet, we must see them at least once. Cute kids are optional.

At the start of the program, you’ll be given access to an optional online training platform that provides you with approximately an hour of content per week. We realize that some weeks you might be all over this, while other weeks you just won’t have capacity. 

The last 4 weeks of the program are a little more time consuming as you will be performing due diligence on one of the finalist companies. Participants usually spend between 2 to 4 hours  interviewing the company and preparing the final investment recommendation report, in addition to the regular 2 hour weekly session. But as this is the nuts and bolts of investing, this extra time is usually intriguing and even fun.

If you’re psychic, you already know who they are. If not, the selection process for startups ends at least three weeks before the start of the Challenge. Once the startup pool is selected, we’ll share the list with all registered investors, as well as those still considering participating.

The selection is fully in the hands of the investor cohort. As the program continues, you will reduce the startup cohort, from approximately 15 to 10, down to at least three, choosing one at the end.

Yes, you are able to also invest directly in any of the companies … but this option is usually only open to accredited investors, due to securities regulations. We didn’t make the rules, we just have to respect them. With that in mind, if there’s demand from the cohort to invest in a second company, we may be able to offer a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) structure to include the non-accredited investors.

Because they had so much fun, met so many like-minded people and learned so much, many of our IIC investors will continue exploring investment opportunities through Spring’s deal flow or elsewhere. 

As an alumni of the program, you have the opportunity to invest in the subsequent winning companies of other investor challenges if they’re of interest. Some investors also take part in multiple IICs as they appreciate the structured approach of the program and the experience and may want to explore another area of focus.

Your IIC program fees also include your first year of membership in the Spring Collective, to make further connections and increase your learning. Accredited investors can also check out Spring Impact Capital for continued access to impact deal flow.

Basically, once you’re here, you’ll never want to leave.

Early-stage investing is a high risk investment that may even be lost entirely. Private equity investments typically generate returns by selling the business. For early-stage investments, this sale will likely not occur for at least 4 years, but can be as much as 10 years (or more). In this case, the selling price of the shares will be paid into the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will then be distributed to the shareholders (ie. investors), prorated to your investment. If any of this terminology is new to you or uncertain, signing up for the program will make it all clear!

We completed 10 challenges between the fall of 2019 and the end of 2022. Almost all of our winning finalists have gone on to raise subsequent rounds at higher valuations (or caps). These “markups” are good signs because they demonstrate the companies’ ability to show value creation, usually from a combination of revenue, new intellectual property and/or new strategic partnerships. 

There hasn’t been an exit so far, but given the short time period invested, this isn’t unusual. The previous winners (and investment years) include Open Ocean Robotics (2019), Indiegraf (2020), Moment Energy (2021), Heal Mary (2021), Viridis Research (2021), Circular Rubber Technologies (2022), UVX (2022), Certicraft (2022) and VoxCell BioInnovation (2022).

Each investment differs, but most companies are seeking to return capital to their investors via a strategic sale or IPO. We also allow entrepreneurs and investors to consider alternative investment structures, such as revenue-backed financing, which could be liquidated over time with repayments.