High-net worth-individuals interested in impact investing can now make those investments through a new Financial Industry Regulatory Authority-regulated one-stop online platform. Enable Impact essentially functions as a matchmaking service, bringing together accredited investors – those earning $200,000 per year with a net worth exceeding $1 million – with social ventures looking for funding.
The technology "is designed to make it potentially easier, quicker and less expensive for impact investors to find and fund deals [and] social entrepreneurs to raise capital in a more efficient and effective way," according to the company's press release.
There is no charge for investors; the ventures pay a 7.5% fee if they succeed in raising funds through the website.
Financial advisors can access some information about deals on the site, but only their clients, if they're accredited investors, can enter the website's Deal Room after creating an account and completing a "self-accreditation process." The minimum investment is $250,000.
In the Deal Room, investors can find due diligence and legal documentation about deals – provided by CrowdCheck, an online disclosure and compliance service for capital formation – then wire funds to close the deal. North Capital serves as the broker-dealer.
"Impact investing is a rapidly evolving area of finance that is well-suited to early and growth-stage deals, and the Enable Impact team brings a level of expertise, focus and purpose that we have not seen before," said North Capital's founder and managing director, James Dowd, in a statement.