Amy Cortese

New York

Senior Editor at ImpactAlpha

journalist, senior editor at @impactalpha, author of Locavesting, Brooklynite

Featured in: Favicon

impactalpha.com Favicon

nytimes.com Favicon

gulfnews.com Favicon

crainsnewyork.com Favicon

ssir.org

afar.com

ediblemanhattan.com Favicon

apo.org.au Favicon

bthechange.com Favicon

consciouscompanymedia.com + 1 more

Articles

Green bank grantees may get access to loan funds - for now

1 week ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

Blink and you might miss the latest in the ongoing skirmish between grantees of Biden-era climate funds and the Trump administration, which has blocked and attempted to terminate billions of dollars worth of grant awards. A federal judge in Washington, DC late Tuesday night ordered that $20 billion in funds be released. That might crack open a small window for grantees of a federal “green bank” program to access funds that have been frozen in a Citibank account for more than eight weeks.
Restive LPs look to secondaries and creative exits to recoup capital

1 week ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

The LPs want their money back. 2025 was supposed to be the year when initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions came roaring back. Instead, tariff threats and global volatility have slammed shut an incipient thawing of the IPO market and caused would-be acquirers to hit pause, prolonging an exit drought that has left private equity funds and their limited partners without needed liquidity. Capital distributions to limited partners are at an all-time low.
Could trade chaos cut emissions and make impact investments the safer bet?

2 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

Donald Trump, green de-growther? The president’s draconian tariff regime has crashed global financial markets and dramatically increased the chances of a recession (unless, as BlackRock’s Larry Fink says, we’re already in one). But if the dark clouds have a silver lining, it may be that the sudden global contraction could reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as did the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 and the Covid-19 shutdown of 2020.
Fairly Made raises $16 million for sustainable fashion supply chains

2 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

A growing spotlight on the environmental and social toll of the fashion industry has brands scrutinizing their value chains. The industry is among the largest consumers of water and generates up to 8% of global carbon emissions, while over-production (and consumption) result in tons of used textiles ending up in landfills each year. Paris-based Fairly Made offers comprehensive software to help fashion brands bring visibility to their supply chains and manage their impacts.
How Symphonic Capital is setting up pre-seed founders for success (video)

2 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

ImpactAlpha Editor Amy Cortese Sydney Thomas was working for an early stage venture capital firm when she noticed that some of the firm’s portfolio companies from unconventional backgrounds would get “lost in the sauce” when they went to raise followup rounds from investors. She realized she needed a more focused approach to address the gaps for founders from overlooked communities or creating solutions for them.
Climate concerns are top motivator for some investors

3 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

Since the US presidential elections in November, the term “climate change” has been strangely absent from many climate tech conferences. Instead, startups and investors lead with energy security, lower costs and resilience in an effort to appeal to a broader base. Not so for at least one subset of committed investors.
Open Road raises $14 million to bridge funding gaps for high-impact USAID projects

3 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

The Trump administration last week moved to formally abolish USAID. The vast reach of the $40 billion program — which for more than six decades has provided overseas assistance for everything from disaster aid to eradicating disease and supported US diplomacy efforts — is daunting for philanthropic funders looking to fill the gap. Rethinking aid will be a prominent topic at the Skoll World Forum kicking off this week in Oxford. “I keep asking myself, how do you eat an elephant?
Remembering Lisa Hall

4 weeks ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

The impact investing trailblazer served as a senior policy advisor in the Clinton administration and as CEO of Calvert Impact Capital, where she championed community development and the Women Investing in Women initiative. She led an impact investing portfolio at Anthos and most recently launched Apollo Global Management’s impact strategy.
Aura snags $140 million for AI-based online safety tools

1 month ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese

The capital injection is the first for Boston-based Aura since it split off in September from Pango Group, which owns cybersecurity brands including Betternet and Financial Shields. The $140 million Series G round, which included equity and debt, was led by Ten Eleven Ventures and Madrone Capital, the family office of Rob Walton and other family members. AT&T Ventures also participated. The deal values Aura, which reported recurring revenue of $150 million last year, at $1.6 billion.
EPA can’t cancel ‘green bank’ funds yet

1 month ago | impactalpha.com | Amy Cortese |Isaac Silk

In a ruling late Tuesday, federal judge Tanya Chutkan said the Environmental Protection Agency may not recoup $20 billion in frozen Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grants without due process. The ruling finds that the EPA must provide legal justification for the cancellation, which it so far has failed to do, and follow proper procedure.