Impact Measurement & Management

Impact Management

Integrating robust impact management throughout our investment process

Robust impact measurement and management (IMM) is core to who we are and integrated throughout our entire investment process.

Beyond our fund manager-level IMM practices, we also provide post-investment IMM support to our portfolio companies. High-quality IMM is vital for early-stage startups because it increases efficiency, business resilience, and investment attractiveness by helping companies better articulate and understand their customer value proposition.

87 45%

countries served through our portfolio companies

of our portfolio has at least 1 female co-founder

70%

of our portfolio has at least 1 proximate co-founder

Explore our IMM Engagement Guide

Impact Standards

Aligning to the SDGs and industry standards

At Mercy Corps Ventures, we recognize our role in contributing to the $2.5 trillion funding gap to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through our investments, we are committed to making meaningful contributions to the SDGs. Our portfolio companies have social and/or environmental impact embedded in their business models and we map each of our investees’ impact outcomes directly to the SDG targets. While our portfolio indirectly contributes to nearly all of the 17 SDGs, we specifically focus on these 9 SDGs when selecting investments.

In addition to the SDGs, we are also strongly aligned to several globally-recognized industry frameworks, including the Impact Management Project’s 5 Dimensions of Impact, the Operating Principles of Impact Management, and the 2X Collaborative.

Impact measurement & management throughout the investment process

Identify impact

Confirm alignment with MCV’s investment thesis and theory of change

Assess impact

Conduct due diligence, assess alignment to MCV’s Climate Adaptation & Resilience Framework, and determine impact metrics

Monitor impact

Collect and monitor impact metrics regularly

Report impact

Publish annual impact reports highlighting key metrics and lessons learned

Evaluate impact

Continuously evaluate portfolio impact to inform future strategy

Climate Adaptation & Resilience Framework

A first-of-its-kind framework specifically tailored to early-stage startups

Climate resilience is context-specific and there is no one-size-fits-all definition or metric. For each company that comes through our investment pipeline, we apply our CAR Framework to identify, understand, and analyze the potential climate adaptation & resilience impact of the unique venture under consideration. We break down the climate resilience cycle to assess whether a company’s product or service supports communities to prepare for, adapt to, and/or recover from climate-related shocks.

Explore our CAR Framework

Impact Performance

Measuring and managing impact

Leveraging the theory of change developed during the due diligence process, we work with each portfolio company to identify key metrics to track the social, environmental, and economic impact of their product or service. With a holistic approach to the multiple dimensions of impact, we collect both qualitative and quantitative data to monitor and manage the impact performance of each investment and of our entire portfolio.

Breadth

46.3M

customers served with impactful products and services across

87

countries globally

Reach

32%

of customers are women

53%

of customers are smallholder farmer

49%

of customers are gaining first-time access to impactful products and services

Depth

$2.9B

provided in financing to SMEs or individuals

Impact Reports

Reporting impact and sharing our learnings

In line with IMM best practices and our own fund-wide commitment to transparency, we publish an annual impact report to share portfolio highlights, business model case studies, insights and key trends, and our own fails and lessons learned as investors.