Societal Benefit
- about-us
Inthallo backs early-stage, publicly listed companies with the potential to catalyse broad societal benefit.
Potential
We are ‘blue sky’ thinkers who like to think outside the box (and outside company guidance) over a long-time horizon. We support management teams to be ambitious and innovative in the impact their businesses can have. We dream big and back management teams to dream big with us.
Catalyse
We are not going to change the world from behind our desks, but we can help others to. By backing those who have the potential to disrupt the way we think and do things with long term capital, we can become enablers of a better future.
Broad
We think laterally and don’t like to stop at the obvious answers. The world is not perfect, neither are we and nor are the companies or sectors we invest in. But with the right support each can improve. Over the past few years, flows have gravitated towards ‘sustainable investing’, but this has often happened in a very simplistic way. This has led to a concentration of resources in certain themes and left other, equally important, areas starved of capital. In attempting to think differently to the market and in finding these areas, not only are we able to catalyse impact and back ideas in a way others have ignored, but also, to make better returns.
Societal benefit
This may be simultaneously the simplest and most complex part of the above statement to define. In essence, we look for companies whose outputs improve society, planet and beyond. For example, in healthcare companies we look for drugs with the potential to serve a $1bn market and help 1m+ lives by saving costs, improving outcomes, and reducing future disease. When looking at energy and materials, we hope to promote best practice for companies pulling critical metals and fuels out the ground where our ownership helps keep the company public, and thus accountable. And when we look at a new (or old) technology we ask ourselves what the world would look like if it did not exist.
We do not exclude, and we do not preach. We aim to work with partners towards common goals.
We take a mostly qualitative, common-sense approach.
So how do we do this?
On a macro level, we ask ourselves questions: what might the world look like in 5, 10, 30 years? What might we need to get there? What might enable the energy transition? How might we improve quality of life, globally, for all cross sections of society and for each generation to come?
On a micro level, we encourage companies to think about their long-term impact rather than short term ESG score. We do not use external ESG data providers, but rather look in depth at board, management, and business model, and encourage them to be aligned to a sustainable future.
We acknowledge that we make mistakes. We constantly interrogate and challenge each other over the impact of current and prospective holdings. This means we will not stick with an idea, however good the investment case, if we believe it no longer has (or never had) broad societal benefit.
We encourage others to think differently. We look to work alongside our investment companies to change opinions in the private and public sphere and back them to have the biggest impact they can. We also look to see where philanthropy or other funding can enhance the impact of the companies we invest in.
Ultimately, we aim to invest with societal benefit in mind, not as a marketing tool, a way to attract funds or to fulfil an ESG checklist. We invest this way because it is what we are passionate about. We want to take an active role in improving the future. We fundamentally believe that by sticking to this credo, and by holding each other to it, we have the best chance of catalysing societal benefit while making healthy returns that enable us to repeat this cycle.
By Grace Ramsay
The content of this website does not constitute financial advice nor a financial promotion. It is provided for general information purposes only as an illustration of Inthallo's work and investments. The information contained on this website shall in no way be construed to constitute a recommendation nor an offer with respect to the purchase or sale of any investment. Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution. We recommend investors seek advice from a regulated financial adviser.
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