Citi Announces New Impression Fund Investments in Seven Firms

New Portfolio Corporations Incorporate Girls-Owned, Black-Owned, and Veteran-Owned Organizations

Citi declared these days its subsequent spherical of investments via the Citi Impression Fund, a $200 million fund released past 12 months to make investments in firms that are addressing some of the most significant societal troubles. The new providers provided in this round are Clerkie, KETOS, MedHaul, Perch, Shift, Superpedestrian, and Vyv. They be part of four portfolio corporations beforehand introduced in September 2020: Fulcrum BioEnergy, ICON, PadSplit, and The Mother Job.

“In just its very first yr, the Citi Impression Fund has invested in 11 firms, the vast majority of which are launched by females, minorities – and in some conditions the two – that have the possible to make our cities and communities more equitable and sustainable,” said Ed Skyler, Head of World wide Public Affairs at Citi. “The financial and social challenges of the COVID-19 disaster have improved the urgency for new techniques of doing work, and we’re concentrated on creating on these investments to establish new partners this year.”

The Citi Effect Fund, the major of its sort produced by a financial institution working with its individual capital, is concentrated on providers that are addressing 5 societal problems:

Workforce Enhancement – instruction and connecting men and women to occupations.
Fiscal Ability – escalating entry to the money technique.
Actual physical & Social Infrastructure – increasing an individual’s way of lifetime by way of housing, healthcare and transportation.
Sustainability – addressing problems related to power, water and sustainable output.
Entry To Capital & Financial Prospect – addressing disparities in access to cash and financial option by investments in providers started by gals and minorities.

Investments focus on firms that have shown proof of notion, developed an existing purchaser base and exhibited the prospective for scale in numerous marketplaces. A part of the fund is designated solely for earlier-phase seed investments in organizations led or owned by females and minorities. Of the 11 preliminary investments, the fund has invested in a few Black entrepreneurs, one of whom is also woman, 3 other female entrepreneurs and a veteran entrepreneur.

“The Citi Affect Fund is broadening obtain to capital for founders like me,” mentioned Erica Plybeah, Founder and CEO of MedHaul, a journey-booking system for non-crisis health care rides, assisting generally overlooked populations access quality transportation. “MedHaul is the initially company getting previously-stage seed financial commitment from the fund, and we’re extremely thrilled to husband or wife with Citi as we scale our firm to assist extra persons in need of high quality, trusted health-related transportation.”

“Citi has distinguished alone as both equally an employer and supporter of veterans, assistance customers and their people throughout the US,” reported Mike Slagh, CEO of Change, a veteran-led talent growth business. “This Citi Effect Fund expense will assistance further more our mission in helping veterans efficiently changeover out of the military services and prosper in thriving civilian occupations.”

Clerkie, is a Black-established AI enterprise based in San Francisco. Their proprietary fiscal automation system streamlines the relationship amongst creditors and their people, and it is purpose-constructed to assist more than 100 million People in america simplicity their debt burden. After a long time of product or service screening and validation, Clerkie has aided thousands of borrowers get out of debt and establish credit history by negotiating up to 70% off users’ financial debt. It is promptly grown to turn out to be a go-to device for collectors to handle their mortgage losses and the monetary platform combines skilled money information with one particular-click automation that makes it effortless for people to acquire motion.

KETOS, Inc. (“KETOS”) is a Milpitas, California based and woman-led corporation that delivers integrated, cloud-dependent, IoT solutions for actionable h2o intelligence. KETOS serves an array of industrial and agricultural enterprises, professional corporations, establishments, towns, and utilities, empowering them to make smarter choices through real-time drinking water intelligence and predictive analytics. Its modern, patented hardware, machine mastering algorithms, and Good Drinking water Intelligence System provide the predictive and actionable insights necessary to optimize water utilization, be certain useful resource sustainability, and deliver drinking water security assurance.

MedHaul, a Black and feminine-established enterprise based in Memphis, operates an conclude-to-close system that aids health care providers (e.g. hospitals, health practitioner groups) come across and e-book secure, competent, and individualized non-crisis health-related transportation (NEMT) for folks with unique needs. Each individual yr, approximately 4 million Americans with persistent disorders skip their health-related appointments due to transportation difficulties. Especially for reduced-money and/or older clients with diabetic issues, asthma, and arthritis, this can suggest the variation in between managing long-term ailments at property and ending up in the crisis room. The price of skipped appointments and ambulance abuse costs the health care system about $200 billion for every year. MedHaul provides a cloud-centered, cellular-optimized marketplace that automates the transit management method and links healthcare suppliers with specialized transportation solutions.

Perch is a Black-established Los Angeles primarily based enterprise intended to empower unbanked and underbanked young older people with instruments to correctly regulate their credit rating. Perch has built a system that assists young older people understand sustainable credit score practices and create credit score without the need of possessing to go into debt or boost bills. Applying the Perch system, people are able to report recurring month to month payments (these kinds of as lease payments and membership services) to US Credit bureaus and start to create a credit history profile.

Shift.org, Inc. (“Shift”) is a San Francisco centered and veteran-led occupation improvement firm the place present-day and previous associates of the US Army find out occupations, acquire and display new techniques, and embark upon new occupation activities at the very best providers in the world. Shift’s expertise acquisition solutions deliver company associates with a talent pipeline of various, non-standard, skilled and geared up candidates.

Superpedestrian is a transportation robotics company that develops the technologies inside the Connection Scooter, the safest, most reliable lightweight electric motor vehicle in the globe. Dependent in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Superpedestrian was spun out of the MIT Division of Urban Research and Arranging in 2013 with the mission of producing risk-free and responsible light-weight electric powered automobiles (LEVs). Superpedestrian’s 1st endeavor was to engineer a process to manage micro-automobile safety and general performance. This hard work culminated in a patented Car or truck Intelligence Technique (VIS), a selection of sensors, firmware, and onboard diagnostic engineering that displays the mechanical and electrical status of an total motor vehicle in genuine time, and autonomously resolves a greater part of prospective troubles. For Superpedestrian and its Url Scooter service, the outcomes have demonstrated that VIS potential customers to best-in-class reliability, safety and operational efficiencies.

Vyv (formerly known as “Vital Vio”) is a New York-centered and female established overall health tech enterprise that has produced a new sort of cleansing security. Vyv, formerly Critical Vio, provides proprietary steady-use, non-UV antimicrobial mild engineering for households, general public areas, and industry. Not like harmful UV gentle, Vyv meets global criteria for continual and unrestricted use all over persons, animals, and plants. Today, Vyv delivers a exceptional method to cleansing continuously. Vyv LED mild results in environments inhospitable to the progress of microorganisms, fungi, yeast, mold and mildew. As overhead lights, Vyv can be discovered in foodstuff manufacturing and providers, health care services, travel and hospitality, retail, industrial and community structures and numerous other locations. Vyv technological know-how is also embedded into industrial and customer merchandise and programs – shower lights that stop mould development, guiding cleaner elevator buttons and in several other assorted and artistic ways.

The fund is a ingredient of World wide Public Affairs’ Local community Investing and Growth group, which aims to enrich optimistic social impression and fiscal improvements that reward underserved communities close to the planet. This incorporates the function of Citi Inclusive Finance and the Citi Impression Fund in addition to the philanthropic get the job done performed by the Citi Basis. Through fairness investing, lending and grant making, Citi and the Citi Basis are doing the job in new methods to impact optimistic and significant change in the communities close to the entire world.

To discover extra about the Citi Impression Fund, pay a visit to https://www.citigroup.com/citi/about/citizenship/citi-impression-fund.html. For more info on how Citi is enabling development and sustainable progress in communities all around the globe, see Citi’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report at https://www.citigroup.com/citi/about/citizenship/.

Citi

Citi, the major world bank, has roughly 200 million consumer accounts and does organization in a lot more than 160 international locations and jurisdictions. Citi gives buyers, companies, governments and institutions with a wide array of financial products and services, like buyer banking and credit score, corporate and investment decision banking, securities brokerage, transaction solutions, and wealth administration.

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