Focusing on Sustainability

India’s first VC firm to integrate SDG investing for enhanced returns

At IvyCap, responsible investing entails a wide spectrum of investment strategies and approaches centered on generating returns sustainably. We constantly adopt existing solutions focused on creating lasting value for all our stakeholders - ranging from ESG strategies, exclusions and integration to thematic investing.

IvyCap’s Philosophy of Responsible Investment

Traditional
investments

Exclusion

ESG Integration

Thematic investing
aligned

Impact
Investing

Return First

Impact First

Philanthropy

Delivering competitive financial returns

Mitigating environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks

Pursuing environmental,social and governance (ESG) opportunities

Focusing on measurable high-impact solutions

Investing through the SDG lens

At IvyCap, we’re committed to creating impact over and above financial returns. As such, we invest through the SDG Framework - UN’s blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future by 2030.

Measuring impact

  • What: Tells what outcome the enterprise is contributing to, whether it is positive or negative, and how important the outcome is to stakeholders.
  • Who: Tells which stakeholders are experiencing the outcome and how underserved they are in relation to the outcome.
  • How much: Tells how many stakeholders have experienced the outcome, what degree of change they experienced, and how long they experienced the outcome for.
  • Contribution: Tells whether an enterprise’s and/or investor’s efforts resulted in outcomes that were likely better than what would have occurred otherwise.
  • Risk: Tells the likelihood of whether the impact will be different than expected.

SDG for investors

One of the major components of our approach towards Responsible Investment is our adoption of SDG Impact standards released by the UNDP team. Investors involved with IvyCap can leverage the processes we’ve adopted to build a sustainable portfolio.
External disclosure and reporting

To report on performance to external stakeholders. (Largely backward - looking) and enable them to make informed decisions

Impact management tools

To enable and facilitate better and more efficient decision making

High Level Principles

To set purpose and direction

Decision making framework

Making better and more efficient decisions in line with high - level principles and contributing positively to substainable development and achieving SDGs

SDG IMPACT STANDARDS

SDG Impact Standards

Investors can leverage these SDG impact standards to frame their investment guidelines, identify relevant questions for Funds and Fund Managers, and push for greater standardization of practice and external assessment of Funds. Alternatively, they can use these Standards to push for greater standardization of practice and external assessment of Funds making SDG and other sustainability-related claims.

Standard 1
(Strategy):
Embedding foundational elements into purpose and strategy
Standard 2
(Management Approach):
Integrating foundational elements into operations and management approach
Standard 3
(Transparency):
Disclosing how foundational elements are integrated in purpose, strategy, management approach and governance, and reporting on performance
Standard 4
(Governance):
Reinforcing commitment to foundational elements through governance practices

SDG for enterprises

To help enterprises kickstart and make headways on their SDG journey, we leverage the Sustainable Development Goals Disclosure (SDGD), a tool to measure and monitor their progress across SDGs. We guide enterprises in implementing and progressing through each of the following stages to design their responsible business and impact management practices and improve their impact performance.
Enterprise Life Cycle Assessment - Impact Strategy

Sustainability implementation in business processes keeping in mind the regulatory needs and compliances at each level for all departments towards sustainability requirements by various bodies, reporting frameworks and governments of the land.

ESG Risks & Metrics

Conducting a risk assessment to understand the risk appetite of an organization, the potential ESG risks and developing a mitigation plan. As part of it, an Ecosystem Services Review is conducted to develop proactive strategies to manage business risks and opportunities arising from the company’s dependence and impact on ecosystems.

  • Operational Risks
  • Regulatory and legal Risks
  • Reputational Risks
  • Market and product Risks
  • Financing Risks
Independent Impact Study

Complete Impact Study of all the outcomes and impacts on the business, including the direct and indirect impact of the business processes, partners, products, services, sourcing and distribution channels. This can be done at the end of the year or after the completion of a major project.

Leaf
Hands

Our Sustainability Partner

Hands

Fandoro Technologies Pvt Ltd. is our chosen sustainability partner that guides and supports IvyCap Ventures in our journey of responsible investment. Fandoro curates the core sustainability principles that meet our objectives and helps us achieve them by working with the investee companies to align their efforts with the sustainability goals. This ensures that our portfolio creates a significant positive impact on the environment and society, while maintaining the highest level of transparency in our governance by the fund.

Know more