Citi has announced its next round of investments through the Citi Impact Fund, a USD200 million fund launched last year to invest in companies that are addressing some of the biggest societal challenges, including workforce development, financial capability, physical and social infrastructure, sustainability, and access to capital and economic opportunity.
The new companies included in this round are Daylight, Flume, Jetty, Lacuna, Pathstream, Recycle Track Systems, and Stackshare. To date, this brings the Impact Fund’s total number of investments to 23 companies – more than half of which are founded by women and/or minorities. The Citi Impact Fund’s Black Entrepreneurs Investment Initiative – a USD50 million capital commitment from Citi to reduce the wealth gap by creating equitable access to venture capital funding for Black founders – has made nine early-stage equity investments in tech-enabled ventures led by Black founders.
“The portfolio of the Citi Impact Fund keeps growing as we continue to find inspiring companies that are taking on solutions for the physical, financial and social infrastructure challenges that our communities are facing,” says Ed Skyler, Head of Global Public Affairs at Citi. “From addressing lack of internet access to reducing the burden of medical care, these companies are rethinking what’s possible, and we are proud to deploy our balance sheet in support of true ‘double bottom-line’ companies.”
“Home broadband in the US lags far behind in both competitive options and fiber penetration compared to many other countries, and the events of the last 18 months have really highlighted how this disproportionately affects lower income communities across the US in both urban and rural settings,” says Prashanth Vijay, Co-founder and CEO, Flume Internet. “Flume is working to bridge this digital divide by bringing premium fibre services to overlooked locations in major cities. We’re excited to work with Citi, who has been a critical partner in this vision and is powering us to not only deploy but also educate residents about the benefits and most productive ways to use their fibre connection.”
“Our mission is to help the millions of working adults in the US who are looking to transition to economically stable and personally fulfilling careers but have hit a dead end by offering a fast, flexible, and guided educational experience providing a direct path into higher skill roles,” says Eleanor Cooper, Co-Founder, CEO, Pathstream. “Individuals come to us to get in the doors of employers, and employers come to us as a solution for attracting, retaining, and upskilling their frontline workforce by providing digital skills & promising career pathways to historically high-turnover, dead-end jobs. We’re thrilled to have Citi on board, both because of their history supporting innovative education and for their partnership in promoting equity issues more widely.”
