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Part 1: Profit Sharing and Gender Bonus: Innovative Models to Accelerate Impact

Tuesday, October 17, 2023
12:00 PM 1:00 PM

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Event Recap

Key takeaways from this conversation:

There isn’t a lot of data yet around profit sharing models like Equitable Venture. But BCV was committed to using a model that levelled the playing field between investors and investees and was not extractive. They decided they didn’t need the data to start doing it.
BCV intentionally designed their fund so investors don’t have to choose between strong financial returns and impact. They are crowding in investors who are looking for strong returns, and along the way these same investors learn about gender smart strategies. It’s a win-win.
BCV ensures that women are meaningfully and actively engaged in their portfolio companies. They do this by having a small portfolio in which they are actively involved, and they spend the time to really get to know the founders. They screen for conscious leadership in all their founders to ensure they are aligned in their vision that all stakeholders matter (i.e. employees, suppliers, investors).
The Gender Empowerment Bonus model is transferable across themes. BCV plans to use it for climate next year.
The Equitable Venture model sounds complicated but it is not. Each founder has specific triggers for vesting and when they meet those triggers, they become a carry holder.
The key challenge fund managers need to wrestle with is whether they are prepared to give up some of their carry. Once they get over that hurdle, they can make it work.

Related resources:

Beyond Capital Ventures 2022 Impact Report. This page also includes a webinar Q&A with the BCV Impact Director. The preliminary gender benchmarking research Eva mentioned on the call is available on pages 12-13 of the report.
Interview with Eva about the Equitable Venture structure on Entrepreneur.com.
Article on Equitable Venture in Eva’s Conscious Investor magazine.
Eva’s book, The Good Your Money Can Do, provides a fantastic primer for those interested in learning more about the impact investing field. Her book also comes with an affiliated planner, 7 Steps to Becoming a Conscious Investor (use discount code CAFIID20 to get 20% off the 7-steps book).
If you are interested in learning more about the Equitable Venture model, please contact Isabelle Schmidt at isabelle@beyondcapitalventures.com

Invitation:

On October 17th at noon EST, join the Canada Forum for Impact Investment and Development (CAFIID) in a fireside chat with Eva Yazhari, founder and General Partner of Beyond Capital Ventures, a women-led venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies in India and East Africa. We will hear from Eva about the innovative funding structures and approaches that the fund has developed to accelerate impact:

Using their Equitable Venture model, Beyond Capital Ventures shares a portion of its carried interest with portfolio company founders who meet performance milestones;

Drawing on their deep commitment to gender equality, and to encourage their portfolio companies to promote women into management roles and adopt gender-inclusive policies, Beyond Capital Ventures uses a Gender Empowerment Bonus. Companies that meet these additional criteria are eligible to double their carry.