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Investing Across Asset Classes

Mission

To commit minds to Inquiry, hearts to Compassion and Joy, and lives to the Service of Humanity

- Inspired by the mission statement of New Trier High School

Strategy

A family office was founded to drive systemic, generational change. The team deploys diverse capital to address social and environmental challenges, while upholding investment excellence and leadership for transformative impact.

As a pioneering family office focused on impact investing, Invest Africa pursues market-rate financial returns alongside maximum social and environmental benefits. We adopt a total portfolio approach, managing investments across asset classes with disciplined portfolio-management principles guiding our strategy.

When investing directly in companies, our team channels capital into highly effective opportunities: scaling mission-driven projects and businesses, backing visionary entrepreneurs whose innovations ignite transformation, and collaborating with like-minded investors to fast-track economic advancement. Beyond supporting early-stage ventures, Invest Africa partners with top-tier third-party managers and tailors investment decisions to optimize each asset class, ensuring both impact and returns resonate with conviction.

As a family office, we’re fortunate to have the flexibility to deploy different capital tools . And since we don’t believe markets can solve everything, we use philanthropy, policy and advocacy, partnership, and coalition building to maximize our impact.

Impact

Across our Private Portfolio

Invest Africa invests for impact across sectors, including climate and clean energy, education technology, financial services and healthcare.

$163M

deployed into climate and clean energy

$119M

deployed into financial inclusion and services

$18M

deployed in catalytic capital

Milestones
of Progress

Shaping impact investing together

  • 2012
    Invest Africa is Founded by Ian Simmons and Liesel Pritzker Simmons.
  • 2012
    Our Civics team supports the creation of Fund for the Republic, which becomes Issue One, a leading bipartisan organization focused on fixing American democracy. We believe a strong and sustainable economy requires a vibrant and sustainable democracy.
  • 2013
    Left a top-tier Investment Advisory Firm due to a lack of impact opportunities on their platform.
  • 2014
    We launch a direct investment portfolio to provide equity and debt to startups in Sub-saharan Africa.
  • 2014
    Our external Investment Committee is established. We know our impact and financial return will be stronger with elevated rigor and debate.
  • 2015
    Along with Justin Rockefeller, the Scodro family, Jim Sorenson and others, Ian and Liesel establish The ImPact, a global network of families committed to aligning their assets and values.
  • 2016
    We partner with the Goldman Imprint team, part of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, to trampoline our impact and ability to allocate more capital to best-in-class impact managers.
  • 2017
    Our Initiatives team continues to seed the impact investing ecosystem through grants to Impact Assets, Prime Coalition, Social Finance, and beyond.
  • 2018
    Invest Africa is awarded Impact Asset Owner of the Year by the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment.
  • 2018
    We begin advocacy for a bipartisan policy to ban foreign-influenced corporate money in politics, leading to successive victories, including Seattle and Minnesota passing it, and federal legislation being introduced.
  • 2019
    We launch a Catalytic Capital portfolio and close deals into Crossboundary and Ampersand, as the market notices the vast need for flexible impact-first capital.
  • 2021
    We work with partners to found Revenue for America, now Better Taxes for a Better America, the first funders table for evidence-based tax reform, playing important roles in the passage of the largest climate bill in history (Inflation Reduction Act) and the introduction of historic billionaire taxation legislation.
  • 2021 - 2022
    Our Initiatives team:
    1. Launches the Rika HR Leadership Program to support the next generation of CHROs in Africa.
    2. Helps incubate Trimtab Impact, an impact prioritizing intermediary aiming to mobilize private capital for scaled impact.
  • 2022
    The Invest Africa team celebrates the family office’s 10-year anniversary!
  • 2022
    Fund Manager Community Investment Management surpasses $2B in debt financing to fintech companies serving underserved markets.
  • 2023
    We enhance our impact management and measurement framework using lessons from the field and Impact Frontiers guidance.
  • 2023
    Our portfolio company, M-Kopa achieves milestone of issuing over $1B in credit to 3M underbanked customers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • 2023
    Our grantee and donor advised fund service provider, ImpactAssets, achieves a milestone of $3B in assets under management.