Gender Lens Investing

BESTSELLER Foundation is a Danish commercial foundation established in 2015. It is funded by BESTSELLER, the family-owned fashion company, but operates as a separate legal entity from both BESTSELLER A/S and HEARTLAND A/S. The foundation's current strategy focuses on expanding economic opportunity for women, particularly their ability to create, work, and own. Its work is organized around three areas: Creative industries, including fashion, craft, music, and the arts Future of work, including reskilling, childcare, and workforce participation Ownership, including assets, businesses, income, and financial decision-making BESTSELLER Foundation uses both donations and impact investments and describes itself as a long-term, evergreen investor. Over its first 10 years, it reports making more than 25 impact investments and 100 donations across 25 countries. Its geographic focus includes South Asia, especially Bangladesh, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Current and recent partnerships have supported women artisans, small businesses, workforce participation, water resilience, and recovery efforts following major disruptions. The foundation's legal purpose is broader than its current public strategy. Its statutory mandate includes humanitarian work, poverty reduction, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and nature conservation. Earlier investment strategies also placed significant emphasis on circular economy and climate technology. Financial Snapshot At the end of 2024, the foundation reported: - DKK 109.7 million in total assets - DKK 85.9 million in equity - DKK 88.4 million in long-term investments - Approximately DKK 20 million distributed during the year - Approximately DKK 18 million invested during the year BESTSELLER's board also approved a preliminary DKK 250 million commitment for the foundation's 2024 to 2029 strategy. This represents committed future support, not capital already deployed. The foundation does not publish a standard grant size, investment check range, or formal scored application process. Potential partners can contact the team through its website.

Camco Clean Energy is a specialist climate and impact fund manager with over 30 years of experience leading the transition to sustainable development in emerging markets. The firm manages $363 million in assets under management across 7 active impact funding vehicles, having completed over 200 transactions in 30+ countries. Camco focuses on delivering transformative impact to local communities while maintaining strong return profiles, combining the discipline of a development bank with the agility of a private company. The firm has achieved significant impact metrics including 17,710 direct jobs created, 342 MW of renewable energy capacity funded, and 229,629 tCO2e avoided through their managed funds.

Ford Foundation is one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations, focused on advancing social justice, reducing inequality, strengthening democratic values, and expanding human dignity globally. Founded in 1936, the foundation supports nonprofits, movements, institutions, artists, researchers, and community leaders working to address systemic social, political, and economic challenges. The Ford Foundation operates across multiple regions worldwide and funds initiatives spanning democracy, racial justice, economic inclusion, technology and society, gender equity, arts and culture, journalism, and human rights.

NorthX Climate Tech is an independent Canadian nonprofit investor and commercialization catalyst for climate hard tech. Founded in October 2021 as the BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), it launched with $105 million in commitments from the Government of British Columbia, Shell Canada, and the Government of Canada through Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program. NorthX is based at Suite 1210, 1066 West Hastings Street in Vancouver and is led by President and CEO Sarah Goodman. NorthX backs physical technologies that can reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions while producing economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada. Its focus includes energy storage and grid capacity, industrial decarbonization, clean fuels, wildfire prevention and response, carbon management, climate adaptation, and other hardware- and materials-led solutions. The organization targets the commercialization gap between technical promise and market deployment, especially projects at technology readiness levels 4–9. Funding is non-dilutive and tailored by opportunity: NorthX says investments may be repayable or non-repayable, with approved Open Intake projects receiving milestone-based reimbursement funding. Support extends beyond capital to technical validation, lifecycle assessment, investor and industry introductions, market readiness, and follow-on funding. NorthX reports that, by May 2026, it had backed more than 74 projects with over $57 million and helped catalyze more than $600 million in follow-on investment. Those figures are reported by NorthX and are not presented as independently audited outcomes. The Women in Climate Tech initiative adds a gender-lens pathway for capital-intensive climate ventures. In September 2026, NorthX reported that more than $36 million had been committed across 45 projects at companies with women in leadership—over 58% of its total capital commitments—and that those investments had unlocked more than $430 million in additional capital.