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SOCAP 20: What two SVZ Ventures Learned

November 2nd, 2020

Two SVZ-incubated ventures, OVO Solar and Savyn, attended the annual SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) conference (external link)  this year. SOCAP is a renowned conference in the social sector that promotes the increase of capital investment in social purpose companies. Impact investors and social entrepreneurs attend this annual event and this year, SOCAP 20 was held virtually due to COVID-19.  

The conference took place on October 19th-23rd and we asked our entrepreneurs to report back with their experiences. What is it like attending a virtual conference right now? How was the experience different or similar than an in-person conference? What sessions during SOCAP proved useful to their companies and where did they see room for improvement?

OVO Solar - Scott Martin & Will Tremblay, Co-Founders

OVO Solar (external link)  empowers smallholder farmers in developing countries by providing affordable, income-generating solar products that will help break the cycle of poverty. Here’s what their Founders Scott Martin and Will Tremblay had to say about SOCAP. 

OVO Solar Logo

While our overall experience was quite different from an in-person event, we were still able to find value in the sessions and continue to build our network. Attending virtually felt more like scheduling a lot of meetings throughout the week than attending a conference, but it was nice to be able to attend the sessions that were relevant to us and still have the rest of the day to focus on other priorities.

website screenshot of SOCAP session featuring four speakers

Sessions

It was important to prioritize the sessions that were most relevant to our business model, target market and impact focus. We attended sessions that focused on international development, agriculture, climate resilience and potential funding opportunities. A handful of sessions that we found interesting were:

  • The Future of Work for the Bottom Billion: Transforming Subsistence Farmers’ Role in Africa
    • This session featured an organization in West Africa that was focusing on improving access to mechanization as a way to improve yields among smallholder farmers. As with any technology-based intervention, training was a critical component in proving their theory of change. This is very similar to the challenges we are facing around ensuring early adopters can successfully use our product to generate more income, so it was great to hear that funding organizations are aware of the need to invest in proper training and extension services and are willing to support these types of initiatives. 
  • Development Innovation Ventures (DIV) – A Decade of Open Innovation in Review
    • DIV takes a multi-stage, VC based funding approach and is willing to fund higher risk projects that could have a higher impact if successful. They give organizations the opportunity to test and iterate on business models to achieve scale and impact.It was interesting to hear from organizations that have successfully progressed through the Stage 2 and Stage 3 application process to get an idea of how best we can position our project when we re-apply to DIV for scale-up funding.
  • Innovative Relief Funds to Save the SDGs: Energy Access Relief Fund
    • This session detailed types of funding support that are being made available to help support distributors and energy access providers to continue to service their customers through COVID constraints, but also evolved into a broader discussion on how funders and organizations are approaching sustainable growth to achieve SDG 7 – Energy Access. Some of the panelists were stakeholders we are focused on building relationships with, so it was a good opportunity to hear their perspectives and to reach out to them afterwards to talk about OVO and potential collaboration opportunities.
website screenshot of SOCAP session featuring five speakers

Networking 

There seemed to be less opportunities to network between sessions. In-person conferences allow you to network in between sessions since you are typically on-site for the entire duration of the day. For us, the opportunities to network are often more valuable than attending sessions (although tracking down panelists to talk with after can be a good strategy), so having higher attendee engagement would have made for a better experience. Although SOCAP tried to facilitate networking opportunities through the conference platform, it was not as successful as in-person networking. That being said, we found a lot of value attending SOCAP and were able to make a few good connections with new potential partners.

The overall experience attending virtual SOCAP was valuable and we would attend again. There were a few challenges from our perspective with regards to making the most of networking opportunities, but we're sure as people adapt to a more digital world, the way attendees interact and network at these virtual events will improve. A lot of the sessions we attended were able to reinforce what we are trying to do at OVO Solar, and we are looking forward to strengthening the connections we made as we work towards scaling our impact.

"We found a lot of value attending SOCAP and were able to make a few good connections with new potential partners."

Savyn - Sakeena Mihar, Founder

Savyn logo

This was Savyn’s (external link)  first time at SOCAP. It was quite the learning experience for me as an early stage social venture founder. I learned about raising capital, the investors mindset, the impact investing landscape and what impact investors look for from ventures. I also appreciated the topics on social justice and equity that were presented.

web screenshot of Sakeena Mihar with fellow SOCAP attendees

Sessions

  • Accountability in impact measurement and management
    • I enjoyed this session where Stephanie Nieman, Principal at SJF ventures, discussed racial injustice in the impact investing areas. She spoke about questioning the existing systems in place to answer the racial injustices in the communities being served, putting an equity lens on current processes and asking the question “who is not at this table?” This resonated well with me as it is one of the cornerstone principles we are building in our company culture at Savyn.
  • Portfolio Construction and Alternative Instruments
    • This was a great workshop and the presenters had some really good advice for startups on investing and raising capital. The workshop also explored other ways a venture can find investments without the traditional route, including equity crowdfunding, revenue-linked financing and buybacks. 
    • "Bootstrap as long as possible before fundraising, because with investments you are selling off bits of your company. Try looking for grants. That being said you will reach a point where you will need to raise capital " Lara Metcalf - Managing Director,  The Social Entrepreneurs Fund (TSEF)

A few resources to learn about impact investing: