BlueMark, a United States-based provider of independent impact verification and intelligence for the impact and sustainable investing market, has announced that it had closed its Series A funding round with $10 million in capital commitments from a diverse group of seven investors.

The lead investor is S&P Global, with other new investors including Temasek Trust Capital and three family offices with significant experience in impact investing — Blue Haven Initiative, Gunung Capital, and Tsao Family Office, BlueMark said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ford Foundation and Radicle Impact are also participating in the Series A round, having previously funded BlueMark’s seed round with $2.25 million in equity financing, with Ford Foundation as lead investor and Radicle Impact as co-investor.

The increase in funding will be used to accelerate BlueMark’s leadership position as a premier provider of impact verification, benchmarks, and analytics to institutional investors of all types.

“This latest funding round shows how strong the appetite is for greater transparency, accountability, and integrity in the impact and sustainable investing market,

“BlueMark’s distinctive approach to impact verification, benchmarking, and analytics continually raises the bar on best practice impact management and reporting among investment managers and also helps asset allocators identify and engage with managers driving impact,” said Christina Leijonhufvud, Chief Executive Officer of BlueMark.

Founded in January 2020, BlueMark has completed 125 verifications to date for investors with a combined $206 billion in impact asset under management (AUM).

The firm’s experience with such a large swath of the impact investing industry allows BlueMark to generate a unique set of market information and data.

By providing insightful and comparable interpretations of investor impact performance, BlueMark helps optimize capital allocations towards impact. BlueMark also plans to expand its presence across different industries and geographies, with a particular focus on Asia where three of its investors are based.

“Companies and investors are seeking access to high quality data and advanced analytics relating to sustainability,

“This investment represents a step forward in enhancing market participants’ access to impact-focused insights,” said Dr. Richard Mattison, President of S&P Global Sustainable.

Roy Swan, Head of Mission Investments at Ford Foundation, said BlueMark’s work to help impact investors reach for a higher standard in tracking their performance has rightfully earned them a reputation as a leading authority on best practices in impact management and reporting.

“This next phase for BlueMark signals the growing awareness around the importance of impact investing as a whole,” he said.

Dawn Chan, Managing Director, Investments at Temasek Trust Capital, said impact and sustainable investing is a focus at Temasek Trust Capital.

“We see significant growth opportunities for impact investing in Asia and around the world. Independent experts are vital in assessing and assuring that investors are delivering on their impact claims and commitments,

“BlueMark is a leader in this space, and we look forward to working with the BlueMark team to expand their verification and market intelligence services to new geographies and sectors,” he added.

Kelvin Fu, Managing Partner of Singapore-based Gunung Capital, said the firm is excited to partner with BlueMark in expanding their impact verification and intelligence capabilities in Asia, a market where they see growing demand for sustainable investments and impact verification services.

“Having gone through our own journey of establishing impact and sustainable frameworks for investment, we view BlueMark’s methodologies, capabilities, and team as world-class,” he said.

Bryan Goh, Chief Executive Officer at Tsao Family Office, said he believes that BlueMark’s work will enable capital allocators to make more informed decisions and at the same time drive best practice amongst impact asset managers.

Liesel Pritzker Simmons, Co-Founder and Principal of Blue Haven Initiative, said BlueMark’s industry-leading approach to impact verification brings greater clarity and accountability to the process of selecting and engaging with managers, and ultimately makes life easier for allocators like Blue Haven Initiative.

“We look forward to working with the BlueMark team to extend BlueMark’s verification services and unique data to the rest of the market,” he said.

The latest funding for BlueMark comes at a pivotal time in the maturation of the impact investing industry.

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