Center for Social Innovation

When an aspiring social entrepreneur from India made a pitch recently about a new project, he had all the usual reasons to be nervous about seeking start-up capital. But he couldn’t have asked for a more receptive audience than members of a small but potentially powerful network called Toniic. Within hours of attending the videoconference connecting seven cities around the globe, members of the network were on the phone to pool their information and move toward a deal with confidence.

Launched in 2010, Toniic caters to active social impact investors who have committed to doing at least two deals per year. The first 30 angels have collectively pledged to invest $100 million in for-profit enterprises that have a social mission. “We recognize that early-stage impact investing is an important nut to crack,” says Toniic CEO Morgan Simon, one of five co-founders of the network. “By banding together as a community, we can find ways to ... Read more