Impact investment venture Soul Capital aims to make our economy more inclusive

These days, most people are familiar with the concept of impact investment. But when academic and social entrepreneur Jamie Newth launched his impact investment venture Soul Capital a decade ago, he was very much a trailblazer. “In New Zealand, even globally, impact investment was extremely new,” he recalls. “In hindsight, I probably seemed like a bit of a lunatic trying to convince other people to be crazy enough to play with me.”

As a Senior Lecturer in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Waipapa Taumata Rau, the University of Auckland, Jamie had always been curious about entrepreneurship, both as a practitioner and as an academic. It’s fitting, then, that Soul Capital had its genesis in Jamie’s PhD research. “My research is around the economic and social systems that we need to change to have an economy which is sustainable and inclusive,” he explains. “I saw that there were new ventures and entrepreneurs who could take our economy to that more sustainable, inclusive place, but there wasn’t any aligned capital for them. Because social entrepreneurs combine financial returns with embedded social or environmental impact, they require capital which has that purpose behind it.”

Soul Capital’s vision is to catalyse that capital, he says. “We’re trying to nudge our economy to that more sustainable, inclusive place by changing the entrepreneurial ecosystem to have some direction behind it – rather than just more of the status quo.”

This purpose-driven ethos informs the organisation’s selection process when it comes to identifying potential investments. “We like to see that the social or environmental impact is baked into the product or service, and we go deep in diligencing that impact’s veracity and integrity,” Jamie explains. “We also consider all the usual commercial parameters that investors look at. But we are primarily there for the impact that the venture will make.”

The people behind the pitch are equally important, he adds. “We’re looking for founders who understand the social or environmental problem they’re looking to solve, so that they’re focused on addressing the causes of issues, not just the symptoms. They also need to be highly capable in terms of their venture’s commercial success, because we require that financial return and they need to be able to grow their enterprise to grow its impact.”

Kara Technologies – a successful start-up to emerge from the Velocity programme delivered by the Business School’s Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) – ticked every box. The company has created sign language avatars which translate media content such as video, audio or text into visual sign language in real time, thus making the world more accessible for sign language users.

Founders Arash Tayebi, Sahar Izadi, Farmehr Farhour and Ken Erskine were compelling, recalls Jamie. “They exhibited what we look for in social entrepreneurs. When Arash suffered his hearing loss, it compelled him to go deep in understanding the problem at the community level. And from day one they’ve ensured they’re serving the Deaf community first and foremost, despite their customers being large companies and governments. We were convinced by their ability to build the technology, and there was no expression of that technology that wasn’t impactful. Scale that tech and you’re driving more equitable outcomes.”

Soul Capital has supported Kara Technologies since its inception in 2018, with Jamie joining as a director in 2022. The venture recently raised $4 million in funding as part of its Pre-Series A round, led by Soul Capital, and also picked up the Social Impact Award at the 2024 American Chamber of Commerce Awards. “It’s looking extremely positive,” says Jamie.

He’s equally enthusiastic about the broader significance of Soul Capital’s support. “Most people don’t realise that impact investing is not just about the impact of what you invest in – it’s also about the impact that your investment has,” he points out. “There’s a catalytic role with all our investments – others realise ‘Hey, that’s really investable’. If we hadn't played that role, they wouldn't see the opportunity. And that impact is awesome.”

This big picture perspective underpins Jamie’s involvement in many of the programmes delivered by CIE – particularly Kurutao, a new programme designed to expose Māori tauira (students) to the world of entrepreneurship. “Our current fund’s priority communities – Māori, Pasifika, Rainbow, Disability and migrant communities – need support to participate in that investment ecosystem,” he explains. “So if we give rangatahi Māori a brain-stretching experience at university, they go on a trajectory to become innovators, entrepreneurs, corporate leaders – and our economy starts to look a bit different.”

The support of Soul Capital’s cornerstone investor, Foundation North – which enabled the establishment of Soul Capital’s impact investment fund Te Pae ki te Rangi – is another key factor in Jamie’s commitment to Kurutao. “Foundation North have given us this awesome privilege with an opportunity to invest for these priority communities,” says Jamie. “So we need to get those communities into a position to receive that investment – that’s a long-term ecosystem play, hence my role in Kurutao.”

Unsurprisingly, there are busy times ahead for Soul Capital. “We have our hands full in terms of deploying our capital across a range of different asset classes, and growing the diversity of funds that we manage,” says Jamie. Most significantly, he wants the organisation to act as an exemplar of impact investment. “We’re trying to demonstrate what impact investment, at its best, can be,” he explains. “There’s a growing appetite for this kind of investing. And we can see an opportunity to provide the gold standard for how it’s done.”

It’s a busy time too for Jamie, who has taken a leave of absence from his academic position to devote his time fully to Soul Capital. He’s passionate about the impact his organisation has made – and continues to make – in the entrepreneurial space and beyond. “I’m excited that we have a model of investing and enterprise which is resonant with all of society, not just the ones for whom the economy has worked traditionally,” he enthuses. Most importantly, he’s excited that impact investment itself is no longer a novelty. “I’m excited that we’re not alone,” he laughs. “I’m not a lunatic anymore!”