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Billion Dollar Market

Open Road Impact Fund

A Sustainable Model for Impact

As Open Road’s portfolio, market presence, and purpose were given top billing, Open Road prepared to scale its model in a new way. In March 2020, Open Road launched the Impact Fund. The Impact Fund remains the only impact investing fund focused on providing short-term bridge loans to impact-first companies. And it is the first Open Road fund that is open to outside investors, inviting impact investors from around the world to take part.

From installing solar mini-grids in DRC to increasing financial inclusion for the emerging middle class in Colombia, the Open Road Impact Fund’s loans accelerate the growth of companies addressing the world’s greatest challenges during crucial moments of incoming investment and scale. But the need for this type of financing is still growing.

 

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Open Road Impact Fund's Launch & Future

Managing Director Video

Open Road Impact Fund's Launch & Future

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Exponential Impact

Billion Dollar Market Gap

As of today, Open Road has disbursed $50+ million in bridge loans. Over the next three years, we expect to disburse an additional $50 million in loans. Collectively, this will keep $900+ million of impact on track.

January 2022

2023 - 2025

December 2025

Stories of Impact

Our Borrowers Speak

The Open Road Impact Fund’s understanding of impact is unique; it is shaped by urgency and growth rather than our own agenda. This distributed, system-wide approach means the impact we keep on track ranges from educating millions of children to raising millions of dollars for a Series A.

The world’s largest mini-grid company in Africa and Asia.

1As a fast-growing social enterprise, can you share a key condition that contributed to your growth and impact?

Solving energy poverty requires an ecosystem approach that involves many things. But if I had to pick one key element that has propelled Husk Power forward, it is our people. We're only as good as the people who make up Husk, and we are blessed with a team that has immense passion and dedication for the Husk mission -- catalyzing economic and social opportunity.

2Anything that impact investors can do better to support social ventures as they scale their growth and impact?

Take more risk. Addressing hard-to-solve development issues in regions that are inherently risky requires being comfortable with risk, including providing guarantees in case of failure. Yet we often see social impact investors shy away from risk. If we want to achieve SDG7, we need a new mindset of greater risk appetite.

3Piece of advice can you give for impact entrepreneurs scaling their businesses and creating impact?

Always question your assumptions and prepare to have at least one pivot. Also, make sure you start with a business model that can scale, even if it means reaching more marginal communities on a longer time horizon than you'd like.

4What do you wish for Open Road’s next 10 years?

I hope you can provide critical support to social enterprises like Husk on a greater scale and a faster timeline. The clock is ticking, and we can't wipe out poverty without the Open Roads of the world.

5Anything else you want to share?

So often, social impact starts and ends in one country or region, and lessons and knowledge from one location are not transferred to another. The wheel is reinvented, and the opportunity for speed and scale are lost. Husk started in the world's largest rural minigrid market in India, and we're now using our decade of experience to scale in the second-largest market, Nigeria. I'm very proud of the teamwork and partner support that has made that possible.

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The industry leader in cost-effective and reliable solar power providing solar farms to businesses in West and East Africa.

1As a fast-growing company, can you share a key condition that contributed to your growth and impact?

In our business, rapid change is the only constant, so access to agile sources of funding is a key condition for REDAVIA's growth and impact.

2What can impact investors do better to support ventures like yours as they scale their growth and impact?

With our customers and market context changing rapidly all the time, high-impact companies like REDAVIA need reliable, agile, and truly supportive funding partners.

3What piece of advice can you give for entrepreneurs that are scaling their businesses and creating impact?

Starting and scaling an impact venture in frontier markets is both very challenging and very rewarding! Remember that your purpose is your superpower: Your impact focus helps you transcend setbacks, dig a little deeper, and ultimately overcome the challenges you face.

4What do you wish for Open Road’s next 10 years?

Open Road has been a key partner enabling REDAVIA's growth and impact to date. I wish for Open Road to scale its support while staying true to its essential values of being agile, on the side of impact, and there when needed most.

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One of the fastest-growing quality-focused education companies in Africa.

1As a fast-growing social enterprise, can you share a key condition that contributed to your growth and impact?

Early on, we built our culture around the idea that "however well we do, we always try to do better." That's helped us a lot, on the bad days as well as the good.

2Is there anything that impact investors can do better to support social ventures as they scale their growth and impact?

Especially with earlier stage funders, there is still a tendency to emphasize whizzy ideas and novelty over the team, track record, and execution.

3What piece of advice can you give for impact entrepreneurs that are scaling their businesses and creating impact?

Get really good at hiring - both the who, obviously, but also the why and especially the when. The right time is later than you think because it's easy to think you know what you need when you don't.

4What do you wish for Open Road’s next 10 years?

We have found Open Road's processes to be really best-in-class. Without losing your distinctive niche, it would be great over the next 10 years to see how that same approach could be applied to other instruments and a bigger pool of beneficiaries.

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Our Impact in Action

BORROWER TESTIMONIALS

Loans: By the Numbers

Fast, Flexible, Funding

From installing mini-grids in frontier markets in West Africa to addressing the challenges of financial inclusion for the emerging middle class in Colombia, Open Road loans are designed to ensure that companies addressing the world’s greatest challenges like climate change and inequality continue to scale during crucial moments of growth.

$51M+

Loans

112

Organizations

$600M+

Impact Kept on Track

Loans: By the Numbers

Geographic Distribution

The Next 10 Years

OUR FUTURE

Big Problems
Require Big Solutions

Climate change. Increased global inequity.

Impact companies need fast, flexible, short-term debt to keep their growth and impact on track during critical “step-up” moments, whether it’s closing a Series A round or COVID-19 supply chain delays.

Open Road On Track for 100% Year-Over-Year Growth

As million and billion-dollar pledges for impact investing and climate finance increase, the gap between committed cash and cash on hand is growing.

 

Demand for our products is also growing.

The Next 10 Years

Press Release

The Leading Venture Debt Provider in Impact Investing

Today, Open Road is the only impact investing vehicle designed to eliminate funding delays and accelerate impact. It is now the global market leader in short-term bridge loans and poised to grow.

 

 

 

 

 

Caroline Bressan is Meeting Evolving Needs for Growth

Open Road’s international finance and development veteran Caroline Bressan will be promoted from Managing Director to CEO to drive the next phase to accelerate the growth of impact-first companies social ventures worldwide.

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Open Road Alliance

$70M+ Disbursed Keeping $800M+ of Impact on Track.

Impact Investing Veteran Caroline Bressan Promoted to CEO to Drive Next Phase of Growth

NEW YORK, NY – April 13, 2022 – Open Road Alliance (Open Road), the market leader in impact sector bridge financing, celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month by reflecting on the achievements of the past decade and announcing a vision for the next one, including a shift in leadership to help make that vision a reality.

Since its founding in 2012 by philanthropist Laurie Michaels, Ph.D., Open Road has disbursed more than $70 million in loans and grants to 300+ impact-first companies worldwide, keeping over $800 million of impact on track. It now aims to scale 10x in the next ten years. Towards that end, Caroline Bressan, currently Managing Director and a veteran of impact investing with a specialty in debt financing, is being promoted to CEO of Open Road, effective June 1st. Maya Winkelstein, who has been with the organization since its founding, will transition from her current role as CEO to Chair of the Open Road Impact Fund Advisory Board.

“I am proud of the support that Open Road has been able to provide over the past decade to impact-first companies around the world. From solar mini-grid providers in Sub-Saharan Africa, to human rights programs in the Middle East, and income equality efforts here in the U.S., Open Road has grown to become a critical provider of the fast, flexible capital too often needed by these companies to accelerate their growth and keep impact on track,” commented Dr. Michaels.

“Now, on our 10th anniversary, we aim to dramatically expand our loan portfolio in our second decade, and I can think of no one more qualified to help us achieve this than Caroline Bressan, given her valuable contributions to Open Road thus far, as well as her deep background in innovative finance and impact investment.”

Ms. Bressan has served with Open Road since 2015, most recently as Managing Director of the Open Road Impact Fund. Currently open to outside investors, Open Road Impact Fund is the only investment fund focused on providing short-term bridge loans to impact-first companies. Ms. Bressan was the architect of the Impact Fund’s model and currently leads Open Road’s investment team and loan portfolios.

“I could not be more honored or excited to shift Open Road’s portfolio into high gear in this new role,” said Ms. Bressan. “In the next 10 years, there will be no shortage of impact-first companies needing Open Road’s accelerating finance. In fact, the larger trends shaping climate finance and other efforts to address inequality suggest the need for our product will only grow. I am grateful to Maya for building an incredibly strong foundation for Open Road over the past decade and positioning the organization to make an even greater difference in the years ahead.”

Prior to Open Road, Ms. Bressan was an Investment Principal at Dalberg, where she built a pipeline of opportunities in energy and agriculture in Africa. Before that, she was an Investment Officer at Calvert Foundation, where she managed its $20 million Latin America-focused portfolio and helped launch the international component of its Women Investing in Women Initiative (WIN-WIN). Ms. Bressan serves on the boards of Accountability Counsel and Upaya Social Ventures. She holds a BBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth.

“Building and leading Open Road as CEO over the past decade has been a thrill, a passion, and an honor” said Ms. Winkelstein. “I am proud of what our team has created together and look forward to supporting Open Road’s future in my new role as Chair. The next decade presents an exciting opportunity to further scale our impact and growth at a time the world increasingly needs it. There is no doubt in mind that Caroline is the best leader for this next phase of Open Road’s growth.”

About Open Road Alliance

Open Road Alliance eliminates funding delays and accelerates growth for impact-first companies. Open Road offers fast, flexible, and affordable financing in the form of short-term bridge loans to companies across geographies and sectors facing discrete, unforeseen financing gaps that threaten to derail their work. From installing mini-grids in West Africa to addressing the challenges of financial inclusion in Colombia, Open Road’s loans are designed to ensure that companies addressing the world’s greatest challenges like climate change and inequality can continue to scale.

Since its founding in 2012, Open Road has provided more than $70 million in loans and grants to 300+ social impact organizations, keeping $800M+ of impact on track.

Contact Connect with Open Road at openroadalliance.org and via Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media:
Bill Douglass Gotham Communications
+1 (646) 504-0890
bill@gothamcomm.com

LETTER FROM OPEN ROAD CEO, Maya Winkelstein,

Open Road Alliance

Dear Community,

For the past month, we have been celebrating #10YearsofOpenRoad.

As we leave our first decade behind, we now turn our attention to the next ten years and what Open Road is poised to accomplish moving forward. In short, the best is yet to come.

As shared in my last letter to you, and as we look at the challenges of the next decade – from climate change to inequality – Open Road cannot simply keep impact on track; we must accelerate it.

Looking ahead, we will be leaning into our strengths to seize this opportunity for even greater impact. Over the next decade, Open Road will substantially grow its loan offerings aiming to grow its loan portfolio 10x in the next 10 years. By scaling our model, Open Road is poised to accelerate its impact across the ecosystem and double down on supporting the urgent needs of climate finance.

To make this vision a reality, I am excited to announce that our Managing Director, Caroline Bressan, will be stepping up to lead Open Road as CEO, effective June 1st.

As an expert in impact investing and debt finance, and a talented leader who is deeply committed to the mission of Open Road, there is no doubt in mind that Caroline is the best leader for this next phase of Open Road’s growth. For my part, I am excited to remain involved in supporting Caroline’s leadership as I transition into a part-time role as Chair of the Open Road Impact Fund Advisory Board.

Building Open Road with you over the past decade has been a thrill and an honor. While I won’t see you day-to-day in my new role as Chair, I could not be more proud of what we have built or more excited for the road ahead.

Thank you for everything,

Maya Winkelstein
CEO
Open Road Alliance

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