What we do

The TransCap Initiative works at the nexus of real-economy systems change and finance. Our mission is to build the field of systemic investing—a new investment logic for funding systems transformation. We do so by running an open innovation space for developing, testing, and scaling systemic investing through research, prototyping, and field building.

Why it matters

The defining challenge of our time is to transform the economic and natural systems that matter most for the prosperity of humanity and nature, such as cities, food, energy, mobility, forests, marine ecosystems, and industrial supply chains. Traditional approaches to sustainable finance and philanthropy are not catalyzing change in those systems at the speed and scale we need. There is an urgent need to rethink the way we go about funding systems change. Systemic investing answers this call.

Who we are

The TransCap Initiative is a tax-exempt non-profit working with an emergent collective of organizations and individuals committed to fundamentally re-imagine the flow of financial capital for transformative societal impact. It is led by a core team, guided by advisors, catalyzed by partners, and funded predominantly by foundations and philanthropists.

How you can be part of the movement

We partner with the most ambitious people and organizations to push the theoretical and practical boundaries of systemic investing. Most of our work happens in collaborative projects with one or more stakeholders, such as asset owners, investment managers, foundations, NGOs, governments, and on-the-ground systems change agents. The purpose of these projects is to increase the sophistication and quality of systemic investing (scale deep), reach new audiences and contexts (scale out), and amplify our real-world impact (scale up).

Our projects

Active

Concluded

Prototyping

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Bringing Systemic Investing to Cities

Bringing Systemic Investing to Cities

The TransCap Initiative is partnering with the Centre for Public Impact to bring systemic investing to the challenge of transforming urban spaces.

Transforming the Swiss food system

Transforming the Swiss food system

Systemic investing for food system transformation in Switzerland

Systemic investing meets regenerative agriculture

Systemic investing meets regenerative agriculture

We are designing a systemic investment strategy and funding vehicle for the regenerative agricultural transition in the Midwest, USA.

Transforming Switzerland's Mobility System

Transforming Switzerland's Mobility System

Mobilising financial capital in order to achieve Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction

Funding the Reimagination of Melbourne

Funding the Reimagination of Melbourne

Using mission-oriented innovation and Doughnut Economics to guide the remaking of a place

Research & Conceptual Development

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Definition and hallmarks of systemic investing

Definition and hallmarks of systemic investing

Our new publication seeks to define and describe systemic investing through 16 hallmarks

Strategic capital facilitation: the missing role in the systems change ecosystem

Strategic capital facilitation: the missing role in the systems change ecosystem

We are collaborating to understand, scope and test this critical 'backbone' role

Making connections across an emerging landscape of ideas

Making connections across an emerging landscape of ideas

We explore the connections between our ideas and those of Deep Transitions Lab.

What is systemic investing? An update

What is systemic investing? An update

It has been 4.5 years since we published a primer on systemic investing. Time for an update!

Impact measurement and evaluation

Impact measurement and evaluation

What would it mean to measure or manage ‘systemic impact’, and is this even a helpful thing to aim for?

Developing Conceptual Foundations

Developing Conceptual Foundations

We are implementing our first-generation research agenda

Transformation capital: A new investment logic for catalyzing systems change

Transformation capital: A new investment logic for catalyzing systems change

One of our first conceptual articles on systemic investing

Transformation capital: our white paper

Transformation capital: our white paper

In 2020 we released a white paper – a starting point for a journey of exploration and discovery into a new investment logic

Field Building

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On funding systems change

On funding systems change

How philanthropy can amplify its impact by strategically partnering with other forms of capital

The Systemic Investing Summit

The Systemic Investing Summit

The Summit brings together investors, funders and other systemic investing pioneers to go deeper on investing for systems change

Enhancing Private-Wealth Impact Investing

Enhancing Private-Wealth Impact Investing

We are partnering with The ImPact to bring systemic principles to wealth owners

Engage with us

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Do you want to collaborate with us?

There is an urgent need to rethink the way we deploy financial capital for transformative impact in human and natural systems. The field of systemic investing has garnered significant momentum, and now is the time to scale deep and scale out. So we invite challenge owners, systems thinkers, innovation practitioners, investment professionals, ecosystem shapers, and creative voices to join us in figuring out how to redeploy financial capital in service of a prosperous and sustainable future for all.

How is systemic investing relevant to

Foundations

...because the pots of capital operating under a philanthropic logic are orders of magnitude smaller than those operating under an investment logic, so systemic investing is a way for foundations to leverage their capital in the systems they care about.

Corporations

...because their supply chains are becoming increasingly fragile and societal expectations of business are growing. This requires companies to deploy all the tools in their finance toolbox (incl. direct investments, advanced purchase agreements, and supply-chain financing) and partner more strategically with governments, foundations, and NGOs.

Impact Investors

...because single technologies, start-ups, or social enterprises—no matter how ingenious their solutions and how brilliant their teams—are unlikely to change systems by themselves. So what matters is that these single-point solutions are synergistically nested within a broader systems change effort.

Institutional Investors

...because mainstream ESG investing doesn’t benefit places and communities at the pace, scale, and quality required, so institutional investors must channel more capital into real-economy assets in a strategic and collaborative manner.

MDBs and DFIs

...because sustainable development in a VUCA world requires portfolio approaches to systems innovation, and those need to be funded with a different investment paradigm than those dominant in development finance institutions today. And because the public sector cannot finance sustainability transitions alone, so systemic investing is a way to crowd-in private-sector capital in a smart way.

Engage with us

Which option best describes your interest in systemic investing?

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About

Who We Are

The TransCap Initiative is a think-and-do-tank operating at the nexus of real-economy systems change, sustainability, and finance. We operate as a multi-stakeholder alliance coordinated by a backbone team and comprised of wealth owners, innovation leaders, system thinkers, research institutes, and financial intermediaries. Our community is open to anyone committed to our cause and values.

Why We Exist

We exist to improve the way sustainable finance is purposed, designed, and managed so that money can become a transformative force in building a low-carbon, climate-resilient, just, and inclusive society. We believe that the key to accomplishing this vision is to inspire and enable investors to leverage the insights and tools of systems thinking and complex systems science for addressing the most pressing societal challenges of the 21st century.

What We Do

Our mission is to build the field of systemic investing. This means developing, testing, and scaling an investment logic at the intersection of systems thinking and finance. We do that by convening a multi-stakeholder alliance to develop a knowledge and innovation base, test novel concepts and approaches, and build a community of practice.

Our core ideas borrow from the disciplines of systems thinking and complex systems science, challenge-led innovation, human-centred design, new economic frameworks, and financial innovation. Our experiments are contextualised in those place-based systems that matter most for human prosperity—such as cities, landscapes, and coastal zones—as well as in value chains and other real-economy systems. We hope that our work produces knowledge and insights, methods and tools, and a self-organising community of inspired and enabled change makers.

The places and value chains we intend to transform act as centres of gravity for our work. In each of these systems, we will work with challenge owners, communities, innovators, investors, and other stakeholders to design, structure, and finance strategic investment portfolios nested within a broader systems intervention approach.