San Francisco, CA–Investing in Sustainable Business. On May 10 – 12 some of the most promising thinking on this subject will be proposed at an innovative conference called “Patient Capital for a Sustainable Future”. The conference is hosted by the organization Investors’ Circle. The organization was founded in 1992 and is based on the idea of using venture capital — specifically from angel investors, foundations, and venture capitalists oriented toward sustainable businesses — as a powerful catalyst for creating sustainability worldwide.
These investors allocate their money into early-stage and growing businesses that solve social and environmental problems — innovative businesses that are under the radar of traditional VC firms.
This type of business could be a restaurant chain serving food grown on certified local organic farms or an innovative wastewater treatment enterprise that uses natural algae instead of chemical products. It could be a culturally diverse multimedia company or a next-generation wind-solar hybrid energy company. In each case, investors expect sustainable benefits in addition to financial returns.
The Investors’ Circle Conference will bring 20 pre-selected companies, many of the organization’s 150 members and other investors to San Francisco to work on deals that will fund the next wave of sustainable businesses. In addition to a Venture Fair, there will be a day of spirited discussions and presentations representing groundbreaking thinking about how to fund and nurture these enterprises among investors, thought leaders, philanthropists, entrepreneurs and non-profit representatives
We will have 25 special speakers, including Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International; Jon Sinton, COO of Air America; Vishal Vasishth, chief strategy officer at Patagonia; Leslie Christian, President of Progressive Investment Management and Jared Blumenfeld, the director of San Francisco’s Department of the Environment. They will discuss a range of innovative ideas, including the creation of local stock exchanges that promote sustainable business, new ways of structuring corporations, and possible partnerships between governments, socially minded entrepreneurs and like-minded investors.
Other sessions will look at the emerging potential in mission-driven media companies, entrepreneurs who are creating new ways of delivering health and wellness products and services, and fresh approaches to sustainable food systems and alternative energy sources.
The Investors’ Circle network has invested more than $107 million in 171 companies. The organization has hosted national conferences in Boston for several years. With this event, it is adding a second annual conference on the West Coast.
The May 11, 2006 Venture Fair, where companies will make individual presentations, is open only to the organization’s members and accredited investors; the May 12 event is open to all other participants, with advance registration. Those sessions will take place from 8:30am to 5:00pm at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, in San Francisco.
For more information, please visit www.investorscircle.net
