Welcome to our September Newsletter!
“Building Sustainable Capital Markets for the Oceans”
We used this phrase during Climate Week NYC and it seemed to strike a chord – so we’re making it our mission statement. The timing is not accidental: over the past months the blue economy dance card has filled in across the major asset classes of stocks, bonds, private equity and venture capital.
For example, this past month Rockefeller Capital Management launched KSea, an ocean engagement focused Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) that allows non-accredited US investors to put their money to work in the service of creating a “blue economy”. We asked Rockefeller’s portfolio manager Rolando Morillo to share some thoughts on this new offering, you can see his response below with a link to the press release.
In our last newsletter we also observed that blue bonds seemed to be heading for an inflection point, with more frequent and diverse offerings coming to market and more on the horizon. Add to that the proliferation of blue economy funds (see below) and you get a sense of the broad growth. While connecting early stage companies with accredited and institutional investors will remain a primary focus for us, we also see opportunities to participate in this widespread deepening of ocean capital markets.
“Climate Week is feeling very Blue this year, finally!!”
Those were Amy Novogratz of Aqua-Spark’s words after an ocean-suffused Climate Week, and we couldn’t agree more – this time felt different. Ted and Investable Oceans helped host 5 events during the week at The Explorers Club:
And that’s just skimming the surface – there were so many other wonderful and imaginative ocean events, gratitude and congratulations to all who helped give the week a decidedly blue tint.
Stay Tuned for our Piece on Impact Measurement in Blue Economy Funds:
Investable Oceans is delighted to partner with CREO on an upcoming GreenMoney article exploring the current landscape and future potential for impact measurement in blue economy funds. We interviewed and surveyed more than a dozen of the leading investors in this space, and their collective insight is fascinating. We previewed the results at the 1000 Ocean Startups annual meeting and Ted will be discussing this work further on a panel at the GIIN Impact Forum in Copenhagen this coming week. A lot ended up on the cutting room floor, as the saying goes, so more to come after this initial survey piece. We are eager to engage with our community on this topic, so please feel free to reach out after reading the article if you’d like to go deeper with us!
Don’t Stop Scrolling!:
- A new global practitioner’s guide on blue bonds to help unlock finance for a sustainable ocean economy
- An interactive tool from The Circulate Initiative that provides insights into private investments in plastics circularity in emerging markets
- Six exciting calendar events, including Ocean Exchange's impactful annual event where Ted will be serving as a voting delegate
As always, we thank you for your support!
The Investable Oceans Team
