Change is the opportunity

On the personal front, 2024 was a year of challenges and growth. When reflecting on why it felt so overwhelming, I realized that personal change was layered over a rapidly changing macro landscape. Politically: we saw a decisive global shift to the right, the definition of an era where money directly and openly dictates outcomes, surprising twists and intricacies in the Middle Eastern geopolitical landscape, and a series of coups and elections in Africa redefining entrenched colonial allegiances. Socially: the effects of inflation theft from expansive monetary policy during the pandemic reached a peak making life very difficult for low-income earners, and a broad pushback on DEI mandates reversed progress made in capital flows to, the creation of, and discovery of talent in underserved market segments. Venture, while a small industry in the grand scheme, played a surprisingly huge role in this changing landscape.

The philosophy
The venture asset class has matured, and investors are looking for new places to find alpha. Traditionally, innovation in the asset class has been two dimensional: inventing new ways to underwrite (financing mechanisms and instruments) and deciding on new innovations to underwrite (new waves of technology). A third dimension answers the question what must be underwritten? Our thesis is that alpha will come from the harnessing of existing technologies and know-how to underwrite existing pressing societal problems. Today’s areas of high risk and reward are problems of alignment, coordination, and efficiency to amplify participation in the global economy. Companies that are funded will tackle excesses in rent seeking, government inefficiency, poor customer service, subpar innovation, and monetary policy that result in inflationary theft: problems stunt the ability of commercial enterprises to create markets that include billions of people who currently lack access to human abundance.

Where we see opportunity
Since Fairbridge’s inception, we have made it clear that our goal is to invest in mission-driven founders who can deploy technology to create markets that eliminate the widest discrepancies in human progress. In our first fund, we tackled themes of access to useful credit, availability of mental health services at scale, and the proliferation of materials (knowledge and capital) to catalyze planetary wellness. We believe these areas will now take center stage in the new economic dispensation. 10 areas we are looking at this year include:

1. Tools to empower businesses serving real needs especially SMEs

2. Better alignment of wages and labor - shorter / instant wage cycles

3. Tools to enhance productivity, economic value and enterprise value of the self

4. Accessible and effective insurance for the vulnerable e.g., lower income and aging

5. Capital-as-a-service

6. Mental health through human connectedness

7. Care model innovation for customer value at scale

8. Civic education and participation

9. Freedom of speech and combating misinformation

10. Boosting climate knowledge and capital in the consumer space

What other areas would you add to this list?

Join us to make a contribution

At Fairbridge, we believe that generational founders are best positioned to lead groups of aligned stakeholders—public, civic, local communities, and academics/creatives—to drive enduring solutions to our most difficult societal problems. We hosted our first gathering this holiday season. In the new year, we are organizing a few more exciting forums to bring together leaders from different disciplines to catalyze knowledge and collaboration for the biggest challenge and opportunity of our time! Stay tuned and we hope you can join us!

Happy New Year to you all! 💚