Lynn Johannson, Advisor, Sustainability and ESG
January 4th, 2024
Lynn Johannson, President of E2 Management Corporation and Catalyst for THE Collaboration
In a care[...]
How Data-driven Strategies Can Improve Impact Investing Outcomes
Wharton University | Jan 10, 2019
Data science is making inroads into the world of impact investing, helping program designers and beneficiaries achieve closer alignment between their goals and strategies. While some are building on models from the business world to correlate different pieces of ecosystems to understand how impact flows, others are attempting to marshal next-generation digital technologies such as blockchain to improve outcomes in areas such as disaster response and land titling.
The Rockefeller Foundation has been designing ways to harness data effectively in order to improve the effectiveness of impact investing. “Data really helps you understand the nature of the problem, and thinking about data ahead of time helps you structure your experiments and your interventions,” said Zia Khan, vice president of initiatives and strategy at the foundation. “Measuring data helps you prove what works, what doesn’t work, and then you can monitor and scale things up.”
The data movement is infectious. Khan said he sees “increasing appetite to learn more from some of the countries that have done some breakthrough work,” such as Estonia and India. In particular, he cited India’s biometrics-based identification system called Aadhaar, which has enabled millions of previously undocumented residents to open bank accounts and secure government benefits, education and jobs, among other gains.
The Power of Correlation
Locus Analytics, an economic research and data analytics firm, has developed a new model to locate, map and study the components of an economy, which allows researchers, policymakers, investors, entrepreneurs and anyone interested in economic data to sort, splice and analyze the information in new and innovative ways, according to founder and CEO Rory Riggs.
The company created the Locus Model, which it said enables “a new method of interactive data analytics for business and economic data.” The model is apt for impact investing because it brings more precision in directing resources and maximizes desired outcomes. “If I could give you transparency to all these marketplaces, you now, from a financial point of view, can think through, ‘Where is the most impact for your dollars?’” Riggs said. “It is a way to benchmark and grade your investments and make them much more targeted.”
Riggs explained how Locus harnesses the power of interrelation in data. Much like how geographic mapping uses a so-called “coordinate system,” the company uses location-based services to create “a robust classification system to understand better who you are, who’s around you, and then how to find other people who are like you,” he said. “We’ve taken a production system from inputs to outputs and allows you to figure out where you are in that process.”
“Measuring data helps you prove what works, what doesn’t work, and then you can monitor and scale things up.” –Zia Khan
For example, the model creates correlations between various functions, such as design, production, sales and transportation in a business setting, to create an “activity wheel.” That framework “captures every activity in the economy, and these activities are the same in Kigali as they are in New York,” he added.
Riggs and Khan shared their insights on innovating with data in an episode titled “Driving Data for Impact” as part of a Knowledge@Wharton podcast series From Back Street to Wall Street, where entrepreneurs, investors and policymakers from around the world focus on maximizing impact investing outcomes. (Listen to this episode using the player at the top of this page.)
Widening Interest
Riggs said one user of such data could be an entity like the Farmers Business Network, which crowdsources farmers, connects them with each other and shares real-time information on crop patterns, new agricultural products and others. “This is going to happen industry by industry” by providing participants greater visibility into their individual roles and their impact across their value chains, he said. “I’m hoping that every impact worker will have access to understanding what their business is and how their business is performed around the world.”
The Locus Model helps organizations locate their place in a value chain and then create their own networks. “It’s a neat way of saying, ‘Once I put my own code on myself, then I can find other people that do that, and we can start building neat networks that allow people to communicate,’” Riggs said. That model could be extended to country-level planning, too. In what he called a “clinical model” for economic development, policymakers could understand how their economy has developed and compare that with other countries.
See: While Canada debates, others are commercializing our most valuable asset: data
“Our codes facilitate your creating a clinical model, because it allows you to build a standardized representation of your community, and be able to compare it to a standardized representation of Detroit or New York or Stockton,” Riggs said.
As it happens, Stockton is a transportation hub for farm areas around California. “If you’re building a merchant hub in an impact country, wouldn’t you like to know about the businesses that have formed and developed in an American distribution center? And start building your models around that?”
Locus has also identified stock indices as users of its tool, where it could correlate companies by their businesses. “The S&P, MSCI, Wilshire and Russell are now running indexes using my technology to group companies that correlate because of function,” Riggs said, adding that investors following those indices could design and diversify their portfolios based on this data.
Insurance companies also are studying the model to understand correlations between, say, disability problems and specific jobs, Riggs added. “In the financial world, we’re getting good traction by people realizing they now have a new tool to identify and then manage risk because they can see it more clearly.” He is also seeing interest in the model from companies that want to understand their peers better or map their supply chains.
Working with Governments
Riggs has been taking his model to governments. Locus recently reached an agreement with the government of Rwanda to start developing survey tools for that country that will allow it to start mapping its community in “a functional mapping context,” he said. “What we’ve told Rwanda, and we’d tell others, is that once I have your system mapped in our system, I will handle the [networks across the] developing world,” said Riggs. “The promise will be in the impact world. If you let me come in and map your community, I will allow you, then, to compare your community to all these developing world countries.” Locus has already mapped China, England, France, the U.S. and Mexico.
“It is a way to benchmark and grade your investments and make them much more targeted.” –Rory Riggs
In order to ensure that the data in the networks stays current, Riggs plans to crowdsource that effort by creating online homepages for users to update their information. “Just like people will update their Facebook page or a Wikipedia page, I’m hoping that people will take ownership of the page they care about so that that page stays current.” His firm is also building machine-learning tools that can read websites and update business summaries. Locus already has information on more than 50 million companies in its database, which together account for about 150 million jobs.
See: Startup CEOs on how to keep the artificial intelligence ball rolling in Canada
Riggs described the Locus Model as “the ultimate free trade tool.” It allows users to get “perfect information at any given point in time, so the speed of change in business will become much faster,” he explained. Impact investors would be able to map information on new business startups, and businesses could use it to manage supply chains, plus find avenues to sell their products and services, he added.
Research work in correlation led Riggs to create the Locus Model. A math major in college, he had spent most of his earlier career working with scientists building biotechnology platforms to conduct fundamental research. That work involved using data to understand a disease by matching its attributes with those of other diseases. He wondered whether he could build similar platforms for business with a network of all economic activity based on fundamental attributes of business functions. With the Locus Model, he showed that it was indeed possible.
Data in its DNA
As for the Rockefeller foundation, using data to shape its strategies dates back to its origins more than a century ago, Khan said. “We coined the term scientific philanthropy, which was this idea of how do we get analytical and data driven around understanding problems, measuring the effect of interventions, and then scaling up the ones that really worked,” he added. “It has been part of our DNA for a while.”
Khan credited Rockefeller Foundation president Rajiv Shah with “putting data and technology kind of at the center of the vision for the foundation.” Shah joined the foundation as president in January 2017 and previously worked as the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
“Data has always been really important,” said Khan. “What is different today is how available data is.” In the past, philanthropy involved investments in producing data, but that is no longer required because plenty of data is available these days. “The arc shouldn’t necessarily be in producing new data, but in taking the biggest advantage of all of the data that is there.”
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Leadership | April 14, 2025 Why Embracing Uncertainty Can Help Founders Gain Insight (During Chaos) In an economic climate where geopolitical tensions are high and markets volatile with inflation spikes and policy u-turns, founders and innovators that embrace uncertainty can gain an edge. Uncertainty isn't a side effect of innovation, it's the starting line. Inspired from Deepak Chopra's recent article on the power of uncertainty, this article looks at the impact of embracing the unknown and how it can sharpen decision-making, unlock creativity, and help build resilience during times of rapid change and uncertainty. Key Actionable Insights 1. Uncertainty Isn't the Enemy...It's the Edge Chopra argues that trying to eliminate uncertainty kills creativity. When everything is 'the exact same', it breeds complacency. We've all experienced this. During some routine periods, a founder may feel that time is passing by very quickly. Yet during times of great change, novelty, innovation, a founder may feel that time is going by slowly. Fintech leaders who stay agile during times of ambiguity can separate themselves from those who stall in the face of uncertainty. Put differently, successful founders don't just survive during chaos, they scan for signals of change/chaos that others can miss, often ...
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Regulation | April 10, 2025 SEC Says Some Fully Backed, Payment-Only 'Covered Stablecoins' Aren’t Securities On April 4, 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement that clarified some U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins may not be considered securities. While the statement was welcomed and creates some breathing room for crypto and fintech projects, the announcement ignited an internal debate at the SEC and many are wondering what's next. Covered Stablecoins The SEC said certain U.S. dollar-backed stablecoins (referred to as 'Covered Stablecoins') are not considered securities if they have all of the following characteristics: Stablecoin must maintain a 1:1 fixed value equal to the U.S. dollar, without fluctuations Each stablecoin must be fully backed by an equivalent amount of high quality assets such as U.S. Treasury bills, cash, or cash equivalents that can be redeemed on demand. These assets must be held in custody and verified regularly No expectation of profit - cannot be promoted as an investment or marketed in a way that leads buyers to expect profit from simply holding the token See: U.S. Senate Moves to Regulate Stablecoins No voting rights, control over the issuer, or shares in any profit or management decisions (no governance) ...
Funding | April 10, 2025 Regulation Crowdfunding Markets Show Tariffs Straining Innovation Economy Regulation Crowdfunding (RegCF) has proven to be a resilient market for early stage entrepreneurs and investors alike. When uncertainty strikes, it's often traditional venture capital that pulls back, while the community-driven model continues to offer early stage start-ups access to capital allowing them to innovate. However, just in from Sherwood (Woodie) Neiss, NCFA Advisor and Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors, data shows that tariffs are starting to strain RegCF markets - from March 10 to April 9, 2025: RegCF investment volumes declined by 24% (yoy) to just $57.48 million New campaign launches dropped over 40% Number of investor checks also declined by 15% Average capital raise size dropped to $720,000 (from $1.2 million) Sherwood Neiss, Principal at Crowdfund Capital Advisors: “We’re seeing the first real signs of pullback in what has otherwise been a resilient funding ecosystem. The numbers tell a story not of panic, but of pause. Investors and issuers alike are waiting for clarity—on costs, on policy, and on risk.” Tariffs Introduce New Risks for Early-Stage Companies In a volatile environment where U.S. tariffs are levied one day, and then paused the next, founders must now face ...
Economy | April 10, 2025 Trump Temporarily Halts Tariffs for Most Countries But Keeps Pressure on Canada, Mexico, and China On April 10, 2025, President Trump announced a 90-day pause on most of the newly implemented global trade tariffs after market backlash and political pressure. The break was extended to countries in Europe, Asia, and parts of South America, but Canada, Mexico, and China are still under tariff pressure. Strategic Pause, Not for Everyone While Trump paused the most recent tariffs for over 75 countries, U.S. tariffs still apply to Canada and Mexico primarily on cars and auto parts (25%), steel (25%), aluminum (10%), and some agricultural products like dairy, grains, and processed foods, and continue to affect cross border trade in manufacturing and farming sectors. Trump's pause also didn't apply to China In fact, Tariffs on Chinese good were raised to 125%, as China hit back with an 84% tariff on U.S. goods and filed new complaints with the World Trade Organization. See: Klarna Delays IPO As Markets React to Trump’s Tariffs After the tariff pause was announced, markets surged with the S&P 500 exploding 9.5%, the largest one day gain since World War II, according to Business Insider ...
Funding | April 9, 2025 Toronto’s Tailscale Secures $230M and $2B Valuation for Identity-First Networking On April 8 2025, Toronto-based Tailscale announced that they raised $230 million CAD Series C (about $160 million USD), valuing the company at approx $2 billion CAD. The round was made up of U.S. investors, led by Accel, CRV, Insight Partners, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital, along with some prominent individual investors notably George Kurtz CEO of CrowdStrike (returning investor) and Anthony Casalena CEO of Squarespace. New funds will be used to grow product and engineering teams, expand globally, and improved support for fast scaling customers. Tailscale - A Shift from IP Addresses to Identity Tailscale was founded in 2019 by former Google engineers Avery Pennarun, David Crawshaw, David Carney, and Brad Fitzpatrick, and officially launched in April 2020 to help users connect devices and apps securely without relying on traditional VPNs, IP rules, or firewalls. Tailscale uses a technology called WireGuard which is easy to setup and lets devices connect directly to each other, safely and privately. What's unique about Tailscale is its approach to solving networking challenges. Instead of relying on where a device is located (IP address), it focuses on who or what is connecting. This ...
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