I. About ALMA
ALMA Sustainable Finance is an investment management firm that creatively deploys capital for sustainable development. Our debt platform serves high-growth, impact-oriented companies in a range of sectors, primarily in emerging and developing markets in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Since launch in 2020, we’ve deployed nearly $40 million and committed nearly $50 million to 11 companies with diverse underlying exposure — to multiple economic sectors and nearly 20 different global markets.
What makes ALMA unique
- Proprietary dealflow. Via our experience working at and long-term relationships with the world’s leading sustainable impact organizations and investors.
- Operating experience. Decades of starting, building, scaling, and exiting impact enterprises across the globe help us attract and vet the teams we fund.
- Security. We’ve historically put in 2.5% of our own capital as first-loss in every deal Goldfinch funds. Going forward, ALMA will contribute 2.5% of every pool.
- Mission and values. Committed to sustainability - commercially and for society - while prizing creativity, transparency, relationships, experience and humility.
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Innovative technology. Relentlessly improving systems and processes so we can do more, know more and share more — with less effort and less delay.
II. Who we are
Gautam Ivatury / Managing Partner: 20+ years of emerging markets investing and operating experience including founding or CXO roles at SKS Microfinance (IPO 2010), Jipange Kusave (Kenya’s first mobile lender), and M-KOPA (first PAYGO solar company). Previous roles with (CGAP) World Bank, IFC, Signal Point Partners. Advisor and investment committee roles at Encourage Capital.
Eli Popack / Managing Director: 20+ years as an entrepreneur and and investor in global payment and lending businesses in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, including Foretake (global payments platform), FastCash (microlender) and Mapcash (digital payments infrastructure).
Chesky Malamud / Managing Director: 20 years in founding and executive roles in the lending and payments space, including as executive chairman of Symphony Financial (Caribbean consumer lender) and previous founding and executive roles at FastCash (microlender) and Mapcash (digital payments infrastructure).
Nicole Pasricha / Head, Impact and Climate: 17 years in sustainable finance in emerging markets, including as head of impact at Canada’s development bank and advisor to the Climate Investment Funds ($60B energy and resilience fund). Previous nonprofit roles in corporate supply chain sustainability at Rainforest Alliance and agri/microfinance at MEDA.
Saksham Agrawal / Head, Analytics: 15 years building data science practices, products and platforms for large financial institutions and early-stage ventures for clients such as American Express, Goldman Sachs, PNC Bank, and for VC-backed startups in the healthcare, fintech and digital commerce sectors in India.
Corissa Steiner / Director, Investments: 10 years in finance and climate, including at the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (World Bank), the Economic Transformations Group, and the Icelandic Ministry of the Environment. Previous roles at M&A team at the Wall Street Journal and financial institutions investment banking team at BMO Capital Markets.
III. Our 3 Investment Areas
ALMA invests in market-leading, impactful businesses led by experienced teams. Our portfolio companies and pipeline borrowers are backed by the world’s leading equity investors.
1. Inclusive Lenders
- e.g. Selfin, an Indian lender that provides small, medium-term loans to MSMEs in India through a distribution network of financial advisors.
- e.g. JuanchoTePresta, a fintech Colombian lender that targets employees, gig workers, and students with on-demand loans, with 60% of customers women.
2. Carbon Reduction Project Developers
- e.g. Greenway Appliances, one of the world’s leading clean cookstove suppliers and distributors, with hundreds of thousands of rural customers in India and Africa
- e.g. Impact Water, which supplies over 30,000 schools across central and eastern Africa with systems that avoid burning fuel to make water safe and potable
3. Diverse Social Impact Businesses
- e.g. Trella, a leading digital transportation and logistics platform focused on the Middle East, with clients and investors including Maersk and Exxon
IV. Track Record Highlights
Deployed and committed since Q2 2020: US$46,550,000
FY21 Yield (actual): 16.17%
FY22 Yield (projected): 16.32%
Delinquency (lateness): 0%
Portfolio at risk: 0%
Security taken: Overcollateralized loan portfolios, carbon credit purchase agreements, corporate/personal/sovereign guarantees, cash collateral, pledge of shares.
Country investments / exposures. India, Brazil, Netherlands, Colombia, Mexico, Singapore, Mauritius, Ghana, Zambia, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Panama, Pakistan, Egypt.
V. Our Approach
This chart shows ALMA’s typical investment process for an inclusive lending or carbon finance transaction. Our investment committee includes members of our leadership team along with representatives of our funders and third-party advisors.
To analyze and monitor the assets we finance in real-time, such as loan portfolios, we’ve created the ALMA “Pulse” technology. We have also developed and are piloting a blockchain-based collateral registry (LendLedger) which stamps all collateral pledged by our borrowers on the Stellar blockchain, to ensure that this collateral is never double-pledged, lowering the credit risk of the corresponding portfolios.
VI. ALMA + Goldfinch
History. Goldfinch is one of ALMA’s most important lending partners and in turn, ALMA is one of the earliest and largest borrowers in the Goldfinch community, coming up on $40 million in total capital sourced through the protocol.
Leadership. Gautam Ivatury, ALMA’s Managing Partner, is an active member of the Goldfinch governing council and provides frequent inputs to the Warbler Labs team.
Investment. ALMA has historically provided funding subordinated to Goldfinch backers in every deal. Going forward, ALMA will contribute 2.5% of every Borrower Pool.
Pipeline. Through 2022, ALMA expects to raise at least $60 million more from the Goldfinch community, to help satisfy its pipeline of diverse, secured lending opportunities.
Transparency. ALMA is working to share real-time monitoring of underlying collateral as well as results of its blockchain-based collateral registry with the Goldfinch community.
Carbon Neutral. In addition, through its climate arm, ALMA Climate Innovations, ALMA is helping Goldfinch to improve the climate impacts of DeFi by committing to offset the carbon footprint of all ALMA Borrower Pool contracts, from the date they are created through their entire multi-year activity on the Ethereum blockchain. Stay tuned for more announcements on this!
VII. Learn More about ALMA
Website: https://www.almavest.com/
AMA with Goldfinch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urcnhuh-6to