Excerpt
2020, Paper, "This note describes results from a survey of “anchor investors” in impact funds. Anchor investors are described as “generally the first investor to make a substantial capital commitment to a fund,” (according to the Global Impact Investing Network, “GIIN”) and their role is often thought to be an important determinant of the fund’s ultimate ability to raise meaningful amounts of investable capital. We survey 13 fund managers, who collectively provide information for 28 funds. We also conduct qualitative interviews with six anchor investors. We find the following: the average number of anchor investors per fund is one; however, 16 out of 28 funds report having no anchor investor; anchor investors invest $8 million into funds on average whereas non-anchors invest $4.5 million. We also note that reinvestment rates seem relatively low: anchor investors reinvest in subsequent funds in 8% of cases, while non-anchors reinvest 17% of the time."