Voices from the Field: Shally Shanker, AiiM Partners

For our new ‘Voices from the Field’ series, we speak to Heading for Change’s portfolio fund managers. First up is AiiM Partners’ Founder and Managing Partner, who speaks to us about launching into a new field during a time when climate nor gender lens investing was on the radar of most mainstream investors, and why she felt it was a battle worth fighting.

How has applying an integrated climate and gender lens helped you to achieve a greater impact on climate?

At AiiM Partners, we are part of the solution to address 84% of greenhouse gas emissions and a $17 trillion market opportunity, and still remain one of the few funds focused on the “missing middle” of capital for companies that have early revenue and large contract value potential for large scale impact. 

Ten years ago we intentionally decided to take an integrated approach to climate and gender that’s remained leading edge in the industry and helped us demonstrate a track record of above average financial returns. Most recently this was recognized by leading impact verifier BlueMark, which gave AiiM the top scores in every category of assessment. From the beginning our focus on quantifiable, measurable climate/sustainability and gender metrics — using expert resources within the team to interrogate and model key data with the same level of discipline as other traditional financial risk metrics — has helped us identify companies poised for commercialization. Alongside this, AiiM’s diverse team of serial entrepreneurs and knowledgeable operators help identify, invest and provide hands-on support to scale successful companies and scale our impact across the portfolio.

We ensure there’s a meritocracy in our portfolio companies, and that they nurture a culture where everyone will be equally represented. Over 50% of senior teams in our portfolio companies are diverse, and diversity naturally runs through their organizations. We know that for a fact because we measure it!

How is climate and gender integration showing up in your fund?

In addition to being a diverse team ourselves, our commitment to gender equality and diversity has been critical to AiiM’s success. Over 50% of our fund is invested in companies that have senior leadership consisting of women and people of color. While we don’t screen for gender, we make an effort to make our portfolio company teams diverse if they are not already there. While we are one of the few female GP's, estimated at just 1% of all GPs, we are doing our part to increase that number and to attract more diverse talent - one example is our Returnship program - offering paid positions and mentorship to qualified female professionals reentering the workforce after a hiatus. Private equity has traditionally been a hard industry for them to break into.

In your own words, what opportunities does investing at the climate-gender nexus provide to investors?

It has been my experience that while there is a growing number of climate investors and also gender focused investors, very few focus at the nexus of the two. This leaves open an unaddressed opportunity set for not just the investors looking to invest in either opportunities, but also for traditional investors looking to invest in undiscovered talent. It provides investors like AiiM access to companies that typically are not on the radar of traditional investors who may have screened them out for a number of reasons.

This nexus also provides investors with the opportunity to invest in female entrepreneurs who have come up with innovative ways to tackle the climate crisis, but who often get overlooked. Women-led companies also have faster exits than their male counterparts, but they typically struggle to raise capital. They spend the longest time fundraising for the least amount of dollars, raising 43% less capital than all-male teams. Women-founded startups accounted for 2% or less of venture capital (VC) funding invested in Europe and the United States in 2023. 

How did you get to where you are — what inspired the interest and commitment to climate and gender strategies?

A decade ago neither climate nor gender lens investing was on the radar of most mainstream investors. However, all the scientific research and data emerging at that time was pointing towards the need to include both in successful investments in the future. It felt like a battle worth fighting.  Until then, I had worked only in the institutional investing world. There had been no reason to venture out or look for other ways of investing. Values based investing or impact investing were not terms that were very popular. Especially among institutional investors. I took an intentional risk to pivot my career in this direction. As a mentor wisely advised me, “You will either be on the ground floor of something amazing starting right now. Or you will meet some amazing people!” Sounded simple enough!

But coming from the institutional world of investing I understood that this was not going to be about quick wins. Still, I did not realize the challenges of launching into a new field, launching your own firm, and trying to build credibility in a field that has been quickly dominated by industry giants. I have been pleasantly surprised by the flow of capital, talent and interest in this space, as well as collaborations and partnerships, especially in the last few years. 

Find out more about Heading for Change’s investment thesis and portfolio companies