WNY Impact Investment Fund sets new high with five deals in 2024

The Western New York Impact Investment Fund continued to find strong investment opportunities in its hometown in 2024, closing a record five deals with innovative local companies.

The Fund’s unique social impact thesis involves backing companies with both a strong commercial promise and the potential to improve the lives of Western New Yorkers. Equal weight is placed on each of those goals through the Fund’s due diligence process and subsequent tracking of its portfolio companies.

While venture capital endured a significant slowdown in recent years, the Fund has played a decisive role in the durability and growth of the Western New York innovation economy. That involves a proactive approach to dealmaking where CEO Tom Quinn and his team find great businesses, and then work creatively to support them.

The Fund often leads rounds and has several times become the only private investor in a company.

“Difficult economic circumstances have tested the mettle of investors everywhere over the past few years,” Quinn said. “The Fund has turned this challenge into an opportunity by never wavering from the belief in the talent, skill and empathy of Western New York company leaders. We’ve helped our hometown sustain itself during lean times, and now we’re ready to soar together to new heights.”

Quinn moved up again on Buffalo Business First's annual list of influential business executives in 2024. (link)

An August 2024 analysis of the Fund's social impact found its investments are revitalizing neighborhoods, adding important jobs to the local economy, keeping cardboard out of local landfills, supporting women and minority founders and creating new opportunities for people from marginalized groups. (Read that analysis here)

Some of those projects include Viridi, CleanFiber and Buffalo FilmWorks, each of which are breathing new life in formerly distressed properties in low-income neighborhoods. The same analysis found the Fund’s investments have led to the creation of 299 full-time job equivalents in Western New York, with many portfolio companies planning significant upticks in hiring in the coming years.

Other unique social impact stories in the Fund’s portfolio include:

• CleanFiber, which makes building insulation out of recycled cardboard, has pulled more than 36 tons of recycled cardboard out of local landfills to make its products.
• CAHill Tech, which delivers workforce training that helps individuals get good jobs in the construction industry, has delivered training to more than 1,200 individuals totaling more than 5,000 learning hours. CAHill is led by female founder and CEO Carley Hill.
• EcoVerde Organics, a recycling and composting company, has diverted 11,284 cubic yards of food scraps from landfills from its new site in the town of Akron.

Only two of the five investments the Fund made in 2024 have been disclosed publicly thus far, with several new announcements in the coming weeks. The deals that have been publicized include:

Top Seedz

The Fund became the only private investor in Top Seedz early in 2024 when it wrote a $750,000 investment to the company.

Read the deal announcement here

Backed by founder and CEO Rebecca Brady, the company makes artisanal crackers and other nutritious products that are sold across the U.S. Top Seedz used the investment to support its move into a 35,000-square-foot factory in downtown Buffalo and to scale up its production as it ramped from 800 retail stores across the U.S. to more than 4,000.

Package Design & Supply

Headquartered on Buffalo’s East Side, Package Design & Supply is a growing manufacturer and distributor of packaging and shipping solutions. PDS is a portfolio company of Fairchild Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Buffalo.

Read our deal announcement here

In 2024, The Western New York Impact Investment Fund announced a $750,000 debt investment into PDS, The loan helped retain about 30 jobs in a low-income neighborhood and support the company as it embarks upon a new growth strategy.

2025 outlook

The Fund has now completed 25 investments totaling more than $14 million since it started making deals in mid-2018, with several more years of runway to continue deploying social impact capital in Western New York.

Those deals have included everything from seed investments into software companies to mezzanine debt deals supporting local manufacturing businesses. The Fund plans to maintain its opportunistic approach in 2025, with the expectations of another year of active dealmaking while its portfolio companies continue to mature.

“Strong businesses survived the last few years by focusing on their costs and driving revenue,” Quinn said. “Now those businesses are looking for meaningful capital partners that can help them start scaling more quickly into their target markets. We’ll continue to line up behind locally-based businesses who can make that vision a reality while making our hometown a better place.”