The industry is currently flooded with sustainable products: from green bonds, social ETFs to water funds.

Exclusion criteria in particular are applied to the majority of the plants designated as sustainable.

For example, controversial industries and companies such as promoters of fossil energies are strictly banned from the portfolios.

“Impact” investments, on the other hand, go one step further.

Such investments are those that achieve a social or ecological return in addition to a financial return.

This means that the investment should make a positive contribution to the climate or society.

They are therefore often referred to as dark green plants and are considered to be particularly sustainable

Antonia Mannweiler

Editor in business.

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But so far the impact market has remained closed to private investors.

The costs for these investments, also known as impact-oriented, are usually higher than for conventional funds or index funds such as ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).

And the minimum investment volume is also often too high for private investors.

Since the middle of the year there has been a new impact platform in Germany that aims to break with both.

The start-up Inyova, founded by Tillmann Lang, Erik Gloerfeld, Christoph Birkholz and Miro Zuzak in 2017, is a digital asset management company that is committed to impact investing.

Inyova is the abbreviation for: "Invest in your values" - so invest in your values.

The platform is intended to give private investors the opportunity to make impact investments at lower costs.

Less coal, more plant-based foods

The market for impact investments is exploding - albeit at a low level.

According to the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the world's assets under management in impact investments were approximately $ 715 billion in 2019.

In Germany alone, growth last year was 100 percent compared to 2019, according to the Forum Sustainable Investments (FNG).

In the first step, users create a so-called strategy plan on the Inyova platform.

There, preferences are simply asked about which social and ecological topics are particularly important to investors: for example, less coal, plant-based foods or gender equality.

At the same time, they can also completely exclude certain industries from the portfolio, such as the production of weapons.

In the next step, a risk profile is created based on a few questions.

An algorithm then puts together a portfolio that consists of 37 to 40 companies.

However, the list can be customized, so values ​​can be added or removed as you wish.

The algorithm then automatically adjusts the weighting of the entire portfolio so that the risk profile continues to be correct.

The minimum investment amount when the account is opened is 100 euros, but thereafter monthly savings rates of 100 euros are also possible.

Three quarters of customers would make use of it, says Inyova boss Tillmann Lang.

With other providers, the minimum investment is often much higher, with Triodos around 10,000 euros.