cKers Finance selected as ImpactAssets' IA 50 2022 – Emerging Impact Asset Manager for Financing India's Clean Energy Transition
NEW DELHI, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — ImpactAssets has zeroed in on cKers Finance as part of its discovery of some of the globe’s most impactful investment managers. Over the last 4 years, cKers Finance has been rapidly making inroads into financing new segments that enable the sustainable energy transition and sustainable mobility transition in India.
This year marks the eleventh edition of the IA 50, which now includes the IA 50 Emerging Impact Managers list and IA 50 Emeritus Impact Managers list. Across all three categories,143 impact fund managers reported assets totaling $116.96 billion invested in a range of asset classes and impact themes.
“We’re excited about this year’s IA 50, with its dramatic expansion and diversification of impact fund managers across a spectrum of strategies, geographies and investment targets,” said Jed Emerson, ImpactAssets Senior Fellow, IA 50 Review Committee Chair and Global Lead, Impact Investing with Tiedemann Advisors. “This group of managers reflects the intentionality of our manager selection process, to provide investors with a resource that shines a light on the breadth and diversity of impact fund managers. These managers bring unique and informed perspectives to the challenges that impact investing is addressing.”
“We look forward to working with asset owners and asset managers that are keen to deploy capital in India as well as catalyze a positive environmental impact,” shared Pawan Mehra, Director and CIO of cKers Finance. “We are thankful to the IA50 Review Committee for examining our impact and endorsing its scalability.”
cKers Finance is actively working with impact investors to extend investment into sustainability–linked segments in India because of its specialized focus. It has raised and deployed funds from impact investors in the US and impact focused financiers in India.
“Over the last few years, we have developed underwriting frameworks in several sustainability–linked segments and built data around risk metrics,” added Jayant Prasad, Executive Director of cKers Finance. “This has helped us create specialized financing products in SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) led segments. In the current quarter, we have financed decarbonization of last-mile delivery, residential solar rooftops and industrial water reuse.”
In addition to Emerson, the IA 50 Review Committee is comprised of impact investment experts and leaders, including Lauren Booker Allen, Senior Vice President, Impact Advisory, Jordan Park Group; Mark Berryman, Managing Director of Impact Investing, The CAPROCK Group; Ronald A. Homer, Chief Strategist, Impact Investing, RBC Global Asset Management (US) Inc.; Jennifer Kenning, Senior Advisor, IA 50 Review Committee and CEO & Co-Founder, Align Impact; Karl “Charly” Kleissner, Ph.D., Co-Founder of Toniic and KL Felicitas Foundation; Justina Lai, Chief Impact Officer and Shareholder, Wetherby Asset Management; Andrew Lee, Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investing, UBS Global Wealth Management; Tony Lent, Co-Founder, Capital for Climate; Malaika Maphalala, CPWA® Private Wealth Advisor, Natural Investments, LLC; Cynthia Muller, Director of Mission Investment, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Rehana Nathoo, Founder & CEO, Spectrum Impact; Stephanie Cohn Rupp, CEO and Partner, Veris Wealth Partners; Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative; and Margret Trilli, CEO and CIO, ImpactAssets.
The ImpactAssets Investment team led by Kartt conducted the application scoring and analysis process, and collaborated with Align Impact on fund analysis.
About cKers Finance
cKers (pronounced ‘seekers’) Finance is a specialized Sustainability finance company that operates in the rapidly growing segments around clean energy and resource efficiency in India. This includes segments such as rooftop solar, electric vehicles, storage, solar pumps, energy efficiency and industrial water etc.
Launched in 2017, it is emerging as an aggregation platform of choice, that can help investors deploy climate/ ESG capital into sustainability ventures. cKers is backed by cKinetics and Infuse Ventures. It has also raised capital from California Clean Energy Fund; and received support from the US International Development Finance Company (DFC).
More at www.cKersFinance.in
About the ImpactAssets 50
The IA 50 is the first publicly available database that provides a gateway into the world of impact investing for investors and their financial advisors, offering an easy way to identify experienced impact investment firms and explore the landscape of potential investment options. The IA 50 is intended to illustrate the breadth of impact investment fund managers operating today, though it is not a comprehensive list. Firms have been selected to demonstrate a wide range of impact investing activities across geographies, sectors and asset classes.
The IA 50 is not an index or investable platform and does not constitute an offering or recommend specific products. It is not a replacement for due diligence. To be considered for the IA 50 2022, fund managers needed to have at least $25 million in assets under management, more than three years of experience as a firm with impact investing, documented social and/or environmental impact and be available for US investment. Additional details on the selection process are available here.
The IA 50 Emerging Impact Managers list is intended to spotlight newer fund managers to watch that demonstrate potential to create meaningful impact. Criteria such as minimum track record or minimum assets under management may not be applicable.
The IA 50 Emeritus Impact Managers list illuminates impact fund managers who have achieved consistent recognition on the IA 50.
About ImpactAssets
ImpactAssets is an impact investing trailblazer, dedicated to changing the trajectory of our planet’s future and improving the lives of all people. As a leading impact investing firm, we offer deep strategic expertise to help our clients define and execute on their impact goals. Founded in 2010, ImpactAssets increases flows of money to impact investing in partnership with our clients through our impact investment platform and field-building initiatives, including the IA 50 database of private debt and equity impact fund managers. ImpactAssets has more than $2 billion in assets in 1,700 donor advised fund accounts, working with purpose-driven individuals and their wealth managers, family offices, foundations and corporations. ImpactAssets is an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
