BetaLab

The complex issues facing our society require creative, informed solutions design by people who understand sometimes taking a risk is the best way to solve a problem.

Access Ventures partners with visionary individuals and organizations to find the best path to progress. We work to leverage our team and process to identify gaps and develop new approaches that require first-mover risk capital.

Many have a desire to affect change, yet lack the time, team, or developed processes to find and deploy solutions that quickly achieve the effect they desire to see.

These same people have heard of impact investing, social entrepreneurship, or community quarterbacking and would love to get into this industry, but need a guide. They need an organization that partners with them, listening to their desires, helping them develop a plan, and ultimately defining the path forward to achieve success.

BetaLab Programs

BetaLab is our way of testing internal ideas as well as our work with collaborative partners to surface new ideas; test them to learn what works and what doesn’t; and work to move them closer to market and real-world exposure. BetaLab is a first mover with the risk capital required for radical ideas to become reality.

 

Our Framework

  • Listen

    Discover hopes, needs, and goals - then define current state.

  • Learn

    Outline a range of options addressing return targets, risks and key constraints. Analyze intended outcomes (financial/social/environmental) and scope potential pathways.

  • Engage

    Engage partners and implement the plan.

  • Assess

    Evaluate outcomes and report on findings.

Our Process

  • Define Impact Outcomes

    Define impact and determine measurement process. Working to understand each unique goal - both as it relates to return and desired outcome.

  • Understand Liquidity

    Needs and sources across asset classes.

  • Assess Risk

    Portfolio volatility versus permanent loss of capital.

  • Structure of the Deal

    Impact objectives versus the needs of the project versus return expectation.

shelby park

Community First

Reconstruct Challenge

Stable Homes : Stable Futures

Many Americans are struggling with housing stability because of the affordable housing crisis and it’s only getting worse. We are facing a 18,000 unit shortage in affordable housing units, but affordable housing is more than bricks-n-mortar and the actual payment of rent or a mortgage. Your living situation influences how much you have to pay for transportation, utilities, and in some cases food, childcare, insurance, and emergency services. A persons already over-extended disposable income is taxed even further by exorbitant ancillary costs. By better controlling these additional costs, we can help make more equitable housing accessible for cash-strapped citizens.

It’s expensive to be poor.

Our Reconstruct Challenge is a national challenge identifying innovative approaches to solve some of these critical issues many people face. By better controlling these additional costs, we can help make more equitable housing accessible. By reconstructing the systems that cause high ancillary housing costs, stability is more attainable. If these concepts incubated in Louisville and Southern Indiana are proven successful, we will help them scale, alleviating housing insecurity across our region.

If you have a new idea related to decreasing the gap in affordable housing or want to learn more about the work we are doing with affordable housing, check back in February 2019 when we officially launch this BetaLab!

Coming February 2019

Employee Turnover

Supportive Employment

The average unemployment rate of 4% in the Louisville MSA drastically under-represents areas of concentrated poverty where the unemployment rate is as high as 24%. Our Supportive Employment programs will create a network of organizations that are hyper-intentional about who they employ and that offer services that meet the needs of those individuals. Whether their employees are recovering from addiction, incarceration, chronic financial instability, or abuse, we understand they deserve fair chance employment.

If you are currently operating a business and want to incorporate supportive employment into your operational model, you may be a great candidate for our program.

New ideas around supportive employment enterprises can apply for incubation. More information coming soon!

 

Coming Soon

virtuous portfolio

Blockchain

There were more than 63,600 drug overdose deaths in the United States in 2016, meaning the overdose death rate has tripled since 1999. That’s roughly 20 overdose deaths per 100,000 residents. Kentucky’s 23.6 deaths per 100,000 in 2010 is the 3rd highest starting death toll from which these rates were determined– behind only West Virginia and New Mexico.

As we explore investments in blockchain and believe in the power of a truly distributed ledger, we will ask see to determine ways in which blockchain technology can be deployed to work towards solutions for the Opioid Crisis in America. We are working with Consensys and other community partners to design a solution and inevitably work towards deployment within the United States. Stay tuned for more information.

 

Coming Soon

All Investments Have An Impact

Opportunity Zone

Indicators such as the all-time highs Dow Jones and the low unemployment rate would suggest that the economy is doing great. We hope these trends continue. Yet if we take a deeper look, the gap between who’s doing well, and who isn’t, has never been bigger. Entrepreneurial activity, surprisingly, is nearing a 40-year low, and 50 percent of the new firms created after the Great Recession have been in just five metro areas. Furthermore, fifty percent of Americans can’t access $500 in an emergency.

How can we invest in communities across America to create more wealth for more people? Fortunately, we have a rare opportunity to focus entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers towards solving this problem. In 2017, Congress passed the Investing in Opportunity Act (IIOA) in order to move capital to economically distressed places. Building on our expertise and track record at Access Ventures, we are now setting up a Qualified Opportunity Fund (or Funds) to provide a blueprint that can help solve this problem.

 

Coming Soon

Let's Connect

Our vision is to impact the world by providing capital to the best organizations. If you have a project or idea you’d like to discuss with us then please send us information about your business to review.

1155 S Shelby St. Louisvill, KY 40203

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