There are several trends that I have been following that I feel will contribute significantly to the success of Mission Markets and the growth of the Impact Investing movement.
One trend that will help drive our success is the growing awareness that local businesses, products, and services are inherently more socially and environmentally responsible as well as impactful to the community in general. The investment community is seeking greater social and environmental impact and accountability from their investment choices. Mission Markets can help to meet the rising demand for high-quality, triple bottom line opportunities
Another very important trend that has received significant news coverage as of late is the dramatic drop in the number of smaller companies going public. This is a direct result of high cost of going public, regulations and the fact that there is now less investor demand for earlier stage companies seeking public capital.
Investors have lost a great deal of money in the last few years, and have become more conservative. This is going to drive an increase in companies that stay private or choose to self underwrite a pubic offering via a “DPO or Direct Public Offering”. Both of these trends are supported through the Mission Markets private, password protected Impact Investment Platform, through the facilitation of private placement offerings and our secondary trading board that provides a bid/offer system for restricted private equity, debt and illiquid DPO shares for impact and community investments.
Mission Markets plans on providing a market for DPO’s beginning in early 2011.
Here is a recent New York Times Article on the decline in I.P.O.s:
“Wall Street, the Home of the Vanishing I.P.O.”
New York Times
November 17, 2010
-Mike Van Patten, Mission Markets CEO and Founder
Mission Market's goal is to increase awareness of and conversation about the social and environmental capital markets. Postings focus on ways to effectively develop viable investment asset classes within the subsectors that make up these markets, with the goal of increasing the flow of capital, information, and transparency, in support of environmental conservation and socially focused initiatives.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Mission Markets mentioned in International Herald Tribune article on Water Footprinting
Mission Markets was mentioned in an article published today in the International Herald Tribune entitled "'Water Footprinting' to Deal with Demand for Supplies". The article discusses the growing interest in "water footprinting", similar to carbon footprinting.
Here is a brief quote from the article that mentions Mission Markets:
"Michael Van Patten is chief executive and founder of Mission Markets, a financial services company that operates Earth, a multi-environmental credit exchange regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the United States. “We might be several years away, but the potential is huge,” he said. “The world knows we have a huge water problem, and no one knows how to solve it yet. This is one way to approach it.”
His idea is to develop tradable credits from the offsets of localized water projects. These could be bought by companies, countries or any community with a direct effect on the water supply. While there is no regulation in the United States to drive such a market, credit programs, if managed properly, could help to encourage environmental protection by reducing the costs involved, said Christian Holmes, a senior adviser for energy and environment at the U.S. Agency for International Development."
Click here to read the full article.
-The Mission Markets Team
Here is a brief quote from the article that mentions Mission Markets:
"Michael Van Patten is chief executive and founder of Mission Markets, a financial services company that operates Earth, a multi-environmental credit exchange regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the United States. “We might be several years away, but the potential is huge,” he said. “The world knows we have a huge water problem, and no one knows how to solve it yet. This is one way to approach it.”
His idea is to develop tradable credits from the offsets of localized water projects. These could be bought by companies, countries or any community with a direct effect on the water supply. While there is no regulation in the United States to drive such a market, credit programs, if managed properly, could help to encourage environmental protection by reducing the costs involved, said Christian Holmes, a senior adviser for energy and environment at the U.S. Agency for International Development."
Click here to read the full article.
-The Mission Markets Team
Required Reading: Report on Impact Investing by J.P. Morgan and The Rockefeller Foundation
Impact Investments: An emerging asset class, is a new report put together by Social Finance at J.P. Morgan and The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the Global Impact Investment Network. This report suggests that impact investing will establish itself as an important investment movement over the coming years.
The report estimates significant market opportunity for impact investment over the next ten years. After analyzing selected segments of five sectors – urban affordable housing, rural access to clean water, maternal health, primary education, and microfinance – serving the population at the “base of the economic pyramid,” the report estimates a potential profit opportunity of between $183 and $667 billion and a potential investment opportunity between $400 billion and $1 trillion in the next decade for just these segments of the impact investing market.
The report also includes the first large-scale data analysis of return expectations, including comparisons to established benchmarks for emerging and developed market debt and equity returns. The analysis shows that investors have broad expectations for impact investment financial returns, ranging from concessionary to market-beating. This report is aimed at advancing the understanding of impact investing as an appropriate and economically effective way to complement government and philanthropy in solving the world’s greatest problems at scale.
Happy Reading!
-The Mission Markets Team
The report estimates significant market opportunity for impact investment over the next ten years. After analyzing selected segments of five sectors – urban affordable housing, rural access to clean water, maternal health, primary education, and microfinance – serving the population at the “base of the economic pyramid,” the report estimates a potential profit opportunity of between $183 and $667 billion and a potential investment opportunity between $400 billion and $1 trillion in the next decade for just these segments of the impact investing market.
The report also includes the first large-scale data analysis of return expectations, including comparisons to established benchmarks for emerging and developed market debt and equity returns. The analysis shows that investors have broad expectations for impact investment financial returns, ranging from concessionary to market-beating. This report is aimed at advancing the understanding of impact investing as an appropriate and economically effective way to complement government and philanthropy in solving the world’s greatest problems at scale.
Happy Reading!
-The Mission Markets Team
Monday, November 15, 2010
Mission Markets CEO Mike Van Patten quoted in CNBC article on Environmental Markets
Mike Van Patten was recently quoted in a CNBC article on environmental markets entitled "As Carbon Market Stumbles, Other Environmental Markets Succeed". The article discusses the creation of economic value from natural processes that have critical functions for the human species. Here is a brief quote from the article:
'Markets like the wetlands mitigation credits—aimed at solving the damage caused to crucial wetlands by industrial and commercial activities—are worth billions and already well-established, says Michael Van Patten, CEO of environmental markets firm Mission Markets.
"As it stands, compared to the compliance carbon markets they’re microscopic," says Van Patten, comparing the $3.5 billion wetlands credits market to the $20 billion carbon markets in Europe where polluters are required to offset their carbon footprint. "But compared to voluntary carbon (markets), they’re big."'
To read more, click here.
- The Mission Markets Team
'Markets like the wetlands mitigation credits—aimed at solving the damage caused to crucial wetlands by industrial and commercial activities—are worth billions and already well-established, says Michael Van Patten, CEO of environmental markets firm Mission Markets.
"As it stands, compared to the compliance carbon markets they’re microscopic," says Van Patten, comparing the $3.5 billion wetlands credits market to the $20 billion carbon markets in Europe where polluters are required to offset their carbon footprint. "But compared to voluntary carbon (markets), they’re big."'
To read more, click here.
- The Mission Markets Team
Thursday, November 11, 2010
CEO Mike Van Patten Presents Mission Markets to European Investors at TBLI Conference in London
Mike Van Patten presented Mission Markets today on the panel on Social Stock Exchanges at TBLI Europe, the largest annual global networking and learning event on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing of Asia and Europe. The conference is being held in London, and the theme is "Values and Leadership in Finance". To view the Mission Markets press release for the event, click here.
- The Mission Markets Team
- The Mission Markets Team
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Mission Markets featured in CSRwire Member Spotlight
"CSRwire Member Spotlight: Man with a Mission"
Jayne Flannery
"A 20-year-long career in capital markets and traditional Wall Street transactions endowed Mike Van Patten with material success, but also a deep and lingering feeling of dissatisfaction. "A long sab!batical enabled me to take an objective look at the world around me, finally creating an insight into how capital could be used to support contemporary social and environmental challenges, rather than simply moving around money for the sake of a financial return that would benefit nobody and nothing in particular," he comments.
Mission Markets, founded in 2009, is the result. The company exists to create an impact investing marketplace that dramatically increases the flow of capital for sustainable investments, which in turn generates measurable social and environmental impacts intended to improve the human condition and life on earth."
Click here to read the full article.
-The Mission Markets Team
Jayne Flannery
"A 20-year-long career in capital markets and traditional Wall Street transactions endowed Mike Van Patten with material success, but also a deep and lingering feeling of dissatisfaction. "A long sab!batical enabled me to take an objective look at the world around me, finally creating an insight into how capital could be used to support contemporary social and environmental challenges, rather than simply moving around money for the sake of a financial return that would benefit nobody and nothing in particular," he comments.
Mission Markets, founded in 2009, is the result. The company exists to create an impact investing marketplace that dramatically increases the flow of capital for sustainable investments, which in turn generates measurable social and environmental impacts intended to improve the human condition and life on earth."
Click here to read the full article.
-The Mission Markets Team
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Mission Markets completes first Virtual Roadshow!
Today, Mission Markets executed the first Virtual Roadshow for the Impact Investment Platform. This new service enables companies and organizations that have listed an offering on the platform to present their business and offering via Webex (real-time desktop sharing alongside phone conferencing). Mission Markets plans to schedule and host these investor presentations weekly to increase the interactivity of the investment platform and to better facilitate communications between issuer and investor members. Presentations will be recorded and available on our platform. Please feel free to share your comments as always, and we look forward to sharing more exciting developments as we continue to build the infrastructure necessary to build a vibrant impact investing marketplace.
-The Mission Markets Team
-The Mission Markets Team
Friday, November 5, 2010
Mission Markets Impact Investment Platform Integrates IRIS Taxonomy
Mission Markets is excited to announce that the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) have been integrated into our Impact Investment Platform. IRIS consists of social and environmental performance measures that facilitate comparison of impact data across a wide range of social and environmental sectors. The IRIS taxonomy is an important tool that will help companies and organizations seeking capital quantify and communicate social and environmental value to investors. We look forward to integrating more useful tools like IRIS as the impact investing industry grows!
- The Mission Markets Team
- The Mission Markets Team
Monday, November 1, 2010
Mission Markets featured in Invesment News
Mission Markets was featured yesterday in an Investment News article on impact investing, along with the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) and First Affirmative Financial Network LLC. The article discusses the current challenges facing the impact investing industry and explains how Mission Markets, GIIN, and First Affirmative are working together to overcome these barriers to growth. Investment News, owned by Crain Communications, Inc., is a key publication delivering news and analysis essential to the financial adviser community, who are often referred to as the 'gatekeepers' of the impact investing market. Click below to read the full article.
"Advisers seen as key to success of 'impact investing'"
Investment News
"Broker-dealer Mission Markets Inc. is poised to capitalize on this growing interest. It offers two transaction platforms — Mission Markets, which allows direct investment in organizations with a socially focused mission, and Mission Markets Earth, which provides access to environmental-market credits...This one-stop-shopping approach is what makes the Mission Markets platform the first private sustainable investment exchange of its kind, said Michael J. Van Patten, the firm's chief executive and founder."
-The Mission Markets Team
"Advisers seen as key to success of 'impact investing'"
Investment News
"Broker-dealer Mission Markets Inc. is poised to capitalize on this growing interest. It offers two transaction platforms — Mission Markets, which allows direct investment in organizations with a socially focused mission, and Mission Markets Earth, which provides access to environmental-market credits...This one-stop-shopping approach is what makes the Mission Markets platform the first private sustainable investment exchange of its kind, said Michael J. Van Patten, the firm's chief executive and founder."
-The Mission Markets Team
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