Topic: Acumen Fund

Top 5 Venture Capital Firms: Funding Social Missions

In recent years, a new breed of venture capital firms has emerged to make an impact beyond just profitability. Social venture capital funds are adding a new mission in combination with positive financial returns: social and environmental impact. Highlighting social venture funds across the world, this week’s top five will focus on VC portfolios that range from organic beverages to water purification systems in Rajasthan to fiber optic enterprises making energy companies more efficient.READ»

Will the World's Cheapest Solar Lantern Pull in Profits While Igniting Economic Development?

When the sun goes down, much of the world goes dark. At-home productivity sinks--you can't read or learn without light--unless you can afford to buy kerosene, which emits noxious fumes. D.Light, a company that originated as a ...READ»

The Acumen Fund: Pulse

CEO: Jacqueline Novogratz, CIO: Brian TrelstadREAD»

• Edward Norton's $9,000,000,000 Housing Project (that's $9 Billion)
• A High Point
• Eureka!: Social Enterprises of the Year

The Acumen Fund: Pulse

CEO: Jacqueline Novogratz, CIO: Brian TrelstadREAD»

Fast 50 2008: IDEO

The standard by which all other design firms are measured, Palo Alto-based IDEO had a great year, even against its own high bar. Unlike past years, where design firm innovation was often about a creating a new laptop or other ...READ»

• Presenting the 2008 Fast 50
• The World's Most Innovative Companies
• The Faces and Voices of Google

The 10 Best Social Enterprises of 2009

We have found them: Nine bold and timely ideas that wow us -- and that have earned these organizations a place alongside Enterprise Community Partners on our honor roll of 2009 Social Enterprises of the Year. Will all of these ...READ»

• Edward Norton's $9,000,000,000 Housing Project (that's $9 Billion)
• A High Point
• Do Something: An IPO

Net Profit

What does it take to make a better bed net? It's no small matter: Bed nets are a critical defense against malaria, which each year kills 1 million people and makes another 300 million ill in developing regions. The solution, it turns out, is no small matter either.READ»

Remarkability and the Ten Faces of Innovation

During my week as guest host here at FC Now, I've tried to amplify, explain, or improvise on the Ten Faces of Innovation from my new book that appears in the current issue of Fast Company. Those posts were mixed in with the prolific ...READ»

The Masters of Design

If you're leading a team or mapping out a strategy -- if you're trying to solve a problem -- you're engaging in design. And the creative folks featured in our second annual celebration of design's best and brightest have a lot to teach you.READ»

The World's Most Innovative Companies

We canvassed the experts, analyzed the products, and crunched the numbers. From visionary upstarts to storied stalwarts, here are companies that dazzle with new ideas -- and prove beyond a doubt how business is a force for change. We call them the Fast 50.READ»

• Presenting the 2008 Fast 50
• The Faces and Voices of Google
• Slideshow: The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies