A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inner Wealth Newsletter, Robert Frank is a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up to receive future versions directly to your inbox. Melinda French Gates has pledged $2 billion to promote women’s rights and economic mobility. In 2015, she founded her family office, Pivotal Ventures, which not only supports these causes through philanthropy but also invests in women’s funds and startups that serve women. The investments are managed by Erin Harkless Moore, who joined Pivotal Ventures in 2020. “We want to demonstrate that investing in women can produce first-class returns and performance while advancing the social process with the social process,” Harkless Moore told CNBC. Pivotal Ventures is on the good side. Although some traditional asset managers have been affecting the impact of investments in the attacks of Republican lawmakers, the home office has not shyled. Over the past 10 years, home offices have been increasing their impact investments, aiming to achieve social or environmental goals while generating profits. This category accounted for 56% of the total home offices in the first half of 2024. According to a survey by RBC Wealth Management and Campden Wealth, three of the most popular reasons in home offices that generate impact investments. Harkless Moore said the Trump administration’s recent diversity, fairness and inclusive crackdowns have led some to mistakenly believe that Pivotal Ventures has changed its position. Since January, Pivotal Ventures has invested in two startups: Little Otter, a home mental health app, and Millie, a pregnant woman clinic in Berkeley, California. “We had a meeting and people liked, ‘Well, let’s assume you don’t invest anymore,” said Harkless Moore, managing director of Pivotal Investment. “We are open to business. We have the capital to deploy.” These private investment companies have the ability to hold this line because they answer only the founders of the wealthy and are not the same as those of registered investment consultants. Other home offices with impact portfolios include Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective, which supports a range of reasons such as women’s health through venture capital. Founded by Heatt Heir Liesel Liesel Pritzker Simmons and her husband Ian, the Blue Haven initiative supports funds and startups that are available to low-income people. Pivotal Ventures manages the wealth of the French Gate, the former wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In addition to supporting startups, Pivotal Ventures has invested in about 20 funds with approximately $5 billion in assets under management. Harkless Moore started her two decades of careers as an analyst at Goldman Sachs in 2005. After earning her MBA at Harvard Business School, she joined Cambridge University in 2012 as managing director and advises home offices and private foundations. “I want to coordinate my personal values through the investments I’m doing, and it’s the world I want to see,” she said of her decision to join Pivotal Ventures. Harkless Moore admits that investing in women means worse financial returns, but she disagrees. She cited a push-up study that reported that companies founded by women exited faster with lower burn rates. She said the critical risk criteria for evaluating investments are roughly similar to other institutional investors and tried to eliminate bias rather than lower the criteria. For example, it does not disqualify general partners who invest heavily in their own funds, a common list item for some institutional backers. “I want our incentives to align with our fund managers, but if you’re not from wealth or have not exited a lot and accumulated a lot of money, where would you find millions of dollars to invest in your fund?” Pivotal Ventures also prioritizes early-stage investments to make it easier for emerging founders and funds to attract other investors. This means actively looking for entrepreneurs rather than relying on inbound courts. “A lot of the time, this business is about ‘Oh, you know, I need a warm introduction.’ “We try to make ourselves as accessible as possible. Harkless Moore described the objection as challenging and frustrating. However, women-led investments will stay here, she said. “I am a believer in capitalism and the market.” ” “Even if there are some obstacles and speech, capital will still flow to ideas. “I think it’s our strategy, we stay consistent, keep the course, be disciplined, not deviate from the paper, and it’s very important at this time. ”
Erin Harkless Moore manages investments in key businesses in Melinda’s French Gate.
Provided by key companies
A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inner Wealth Newsletter, Robert Frank is a weekly guide for high-net-worth investors and consumers. Sign up To receive future versions, go directly to your inbox.
Melinda French Gates has pledged $2 billion to promote women’s rights and economic mobility. In 2015, she founded Pivotal Ventures, a family office, to support these causes not only through philanthropy but also through investments in women’s funds and startups that serve women.
