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CONTRARIANIMPACTINVESTINGFORBES.COM OCTOBER 20 20CRICKET^ FLOURS^ :DORLING^ KINDERSLEY/GETTY^ IMAGESof feed a year—a potential game changer for the
$40 billion global fish-feed market. “When I met
[Novogratz and Velings], I said it could take 10
years,” recalls Calysta cofounder and CEO Alan
Shaw. “They really do trust.”
With its in-it-for-the-long-haul approach,
Aqua-Spark has yet to sell a single holding. It ex-
pects companies in its portfolio to pay all employ-
ees a living wage and to prioritize transparency
for scientific results. Several of its investments
are in farms, which must minimize antibiotics
and chemical use and limit polluting discharge.
Aquaculture “was seen as a very dirty, disease-
ridden industry. They’ve shifted the mindset on
it and made it investible,” says Lisa Kleissner, a
prominent impact investor who sits on Aqua-
Spark’s board.
Novogratz is the sixth of seven siblings whose
U.S. Army colonel dad expected them to be up
by 6 a.m. on weekends. After studying theater at
New York University, she did a stint in Washing-
ton, D.C., researching policies affecting teenage
mothers, then went to work with her brother-in-
law, heading up the TED Prize, the annual award
given to an individual behind a single change-
the-world idea. That’s how, in the spring of 2010,
Novogratz found herself on a research ship in the
Galápagos for a trip mixing ocean-conservation
lectures and scuba diving. On that trip she met
Velings, a Dutch serial entrepreneur who started
his first business at age 18.
Their relationship blossomed over the next
seven months, but then Novogratz started hav-
ing worrisome seizures. By October, she had
received her brain tumor diagnosis. After the
surgery, Velings proposed at her hospital bed-Just Keep Swimming Cont.Michael & Susan Dell
Areas of impact: Education,
International
Avanti Learning Centres, an Indian
coaching startup they’ve backed
with $4.3 million, has been running
a free app for math and science
classes for low-income students
during the Covid-19 crisis.
John Doerr
Area of impact: Diversified
The Kleiner Perkins chairman’s
recent investments include
mental-health benefits company
Modern Health, which aims to
improve employee well-being.
Dagmar Dolby
Areas of impact: Health Care, Tech
Her Dolby Family Ventures counts
QurAlis, a biotech firm researching
treatments for ALS and dementia,
as one of its nearly 50 portfolio
companies.
Cheryl Dorsey
Area of impact: Diversified
Dorsey’s Echoing Green
provides seed funding to social
entrepreneurs. In 2019, she led
$2.7 million worth of investments
in 54 organizations.
Bill & Melinda Gates
Areas of impact: Health Care,
Poverty/Inequality
Through the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, they’ve backed two
German biotechs now developing
vaccines for Covid-19: BioNTech
and CureVac.
Kathryn Gleason &
Tim Ring
Area of impact: Health Care
Gleason and her husband, Ring,
cofounded TEAMFund, which
invests in medical-tech startups
to benefit low-income patients in
India and Africa.
Al Gore
Area of impact: Diversified
The former vice president
cofounded the $24 billion
(assets) Generation Investment
Management to invest in
sustainable, low-carbon
companies.
Arlan Hamilton
Area of impact: Diversified
Her Backstage Capital funded more
than 130 early-stage companies
led by minority and female
founders, such as Hava Health,
which has designed a vaporizer
that reduces nicotine intake.
Reid Hoffman
Areas of impact: Civic
Engagement, Tech
The LinkedIn cofounder has put
$1.5 billion of his fortune into
impact investments like OpenAi,
which aims to build safe AI to
benefit humanity.Irwin Jacobs
Area of impact: Environment
The Qualcomm cofounder led
a $4 million funding round in
water-purification startup
Cyclopure, the second investment
he’s made in the Encinitas,
California–based company.
Justin Kamine
Areas of impact: Agriculture,
Infrastructure
Kamine has built KDC Ag,
a network that turns food
waste from supermarkets into
pet food, animal feed and
organic fertilizers.
Mitch & Freada Kapor
Area of impact: Diversified
Since 2011, their Kapor Capital
has invested solely in impact
startups; 60 of their 102 portfolio
companies have a woman or
underrepresented person of color
as a cofounder.
Shahid Khan
Area of impact: Civic Engagement
The auto-parts billionaire is
majority owner of Black News
Channel, which launched in
February to provide 24/7 cable
programming focused on news
and perspectives of the African-
American community.
Vinod Khosla
Area of impact: Diversified
The VC has helped finance
startups like renewable jet biofuel
maker LanzaTech, dairy-free egg
replacement JUST Egg and battery
company QuantumScape.
Dustin Moskovitz &
Cari Tuna
Area of impact: Diversified
In May, the couple invested in
Kainomyx, a San Francisco–based
biotech company working to
develop a new antimalarial drug.
Jacqueline Novogratz
Area of impact: Diversified
Her nonprofit impact fund,
Acumen, has invested more
than $125 million into about
130 companies tackling poverty,
clean energy and education.
Amy Novogratz &
Mike Velings
Area of impact: Aquaculture
Through investing firm Aqua-
Spark, Novogratz and her
husband, Velings, have minority
stakes in 20 companies, many
of which are sustainable farms.
(See story, page 54.)
Robyn O’Brien
Area of impact: Agriculture
O’Brien cofounded rePlant Capital
with two others to use creative
financing, like loans to farmers with
terms based on soil-health metrics,
to combat climate change.Little Big PictureBIG MAC VS. BUG MAC
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