Kachuwa Impact Fund

WHO WE ARE

Kachuwa Impact Fund is an investment cooperative and public benefit corporation focused on owning and operating “impact real estate” and investing in privately held “impact companies.” As a cooperative, Kachuwa is democratically owned and controlled by its members on a one-vote-per-person basis. As a cooperative, Kachuwa is democratically owned and controlled by its members on a one-vote-per-person basis. By design, ~60% of Kachuwa’s assets are real estate, ~40% of its assets are investments, and all of its assets must be aligned with one or more of Kachuwa’s nine “impact themes.” Kachuwa is an open-ended, “evergreen” fund, and it is similar to a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) combined with a mutual fund whose diversified holdings have a positive impact on society and the environment. Kachuwa’s goal is not to maximize financial return at any cost; instead, it is to create positive impact while earning reasonable, non-extractive returns for its members. Consequently, Kachuwa’s investors tend to be people who are seeking private investment opportunities that prioritize social and environmental impact rather than the short-sighted, bottom line focus for which Wall Street is known.

$15,000,000

TARGET SIZE OF FUNDS

Sector

Healthcare, Biotech, MedTech

Stage

Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A, Series B, Growth, Mid-Size, Buyout

Region

North America

Countries

Founder(s)

Blake Jones

In addition to founding Kachuwa in 2005, Blake also co-founded four other cooperative enterprises: (1) Namaste Solar, an employee-owned cooperative; (2) Clean Energy Credit Union, a federally chartered credit union and a solely web-based financial services cooperative; (3) Amicus Solar Cooperative, a purchasing cooperative; and (4) Amicus O&M Cooperative, a resource-sharing cooperative. He is a 2010 Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award recipient and has a BE in Civil Engineering from Vanderbilt University. Blake began his career in 1996 as a civil engineer at Halliburton/Brown & Root in the oil and gas industry, which included a two-year project assignment in Egypt. After a life-changing epiphany, he decided to leave the oil and gas industry and pursue a career in renewable energy. Following a brief stint at Level 3 Communications in the telecom industry, he moved to Nepal in 2001 and spent three years implementing solar, wind, hydro, and electric vehicle technologies. In 2004, Blake returned home to the U.S. and co-founded Namaste Solar, a solar electric company and certified B-Corp that is democratically owned and governed by its employees.