Alice Leguay: Accelerating investment in nature-based solutions
This week, the TTI Interview Series covers our memberAlice Leguay. Alice is a Strategy Advisor at Bright Tide, a start-up connecting companies with nature-based organisations that are making an impact. Alice was previously a partner at Clim8 Invest, a fintech that focuses on investing in impact-driven companies while growing savings and pensions
In this interview, Alice discusses why some investors hesitate to fund nature-based solutions, what she envisions for the future and the importance of thinking about impact from a macro perspective.
Alice Leguay: Scaling funding for nature-based solutions
Alice, tell us about your work and how it intersects with the impact space.
My work focuses on accelerating nature-based solutions and entrepreneurs who build startups on regenerative frameworks. These businesses often face an uphill battle to raise capital, as they are not seen as investable by mainstream VCs mainly because they require a long-term investment horizon for instance, building a brand new supply chain from ecosystems that require testing from one season to the next is a slow and arduous process!
Also, building resilience to nature and climate risks in a business requires stepping away from a 100% bottom-line focus, and looking at how value is distributed through the business. One example is Omie & Cie, a French deli brand that discloses the earnings breakdown for each product, from farmer to retailer.
Many of these businesses also think about growth very differently to traditional investable businesses, challenging the conception of infinite growth to focus on growth within planetary boundaries.
Therefore, my work is to connect these nature entrepreneurs with corporates and investors. Bright Tide does it beautifully with accelerator programmes across Blue Economy, Blue Carbon, Regen Farming and AI. Interestingly, when it comes to upskilling our startups on areas like nature risks and opportunities, biodiversity credits, and marketing without greenwashing our program sponsors are just as keen to be a part of the sessions!
A holistic approach
What is your own definition of impact?
Impact comes in all shapes and sizes. My view isn't the 'right' view - just one of many that we urgently need to put into action.
However, it always strikes me when entrepreneurs or investors claim to identify with one of the E / S / G which entirely misses the point of holistic thinking. What I often see is the application of the same methods (mainly linear thinking) that got us into this mess in the first place. Dismissing biomimicry principles, distributed governance, emergence and more as hippy concepts and refusing to admit we need to move to post-capitalism or capitalism 2.0, where we reverse the myth that we are separate from nature into the understanding that we are 'of nature'.
Identifying opportunities in nature-related risks
Within your sector, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges in the impact space (standing in the way of providing solutions faster)?
Investors often focus on secondary solutions, such as drones and SaaS platforms. While these innovations are important, they cannot thrive and scale without substantial investment in primary solutions. We need a Marshall Plan-scale investment in infrastructure for regenerative farming to support farmers undertaking this monumental task with minimal support.
Another challenge is the widespread lack of awareness about nature-related risks. These include direct business risks such as supply chain vulnerabilities and emerging regulatory risks. By recognizing and addressing these nature-related risks as opportunities, rather than sidestepping the issue, businesses can generate significant momentum and drive impactful change in the industry.
Taking nature investing into the mainstream
Tell us more about the long-term vision you have for your work and how you measure & quantify your impact.
My long-term vision is to unlock capital at scale into nature as an asset class. Currently, we measure our impact by looking at the number of successful startups in our programmes. They quantify their impact by measuring a few metrics like biodiversity uplifts, carbon and more. It will take years for those measurements to harmonise. Still, in the meantime, I want to see successful nature businesses such as Wildfarmed, a regenerative food and farming company, because those stories inspire the investment community to join in.
Interested in connecting with impact-driven investors, founders, and experts across different sectors? 🚀
Visit our network page to join our global community & gain exclusive access to investment opportunities, partnerships, deals, knowledge exchange, and more!
