Global Partnerships
VC Fund
Seattle, United States
Global Partnerships is an impact-first investor dedicated to expanding opportunity for people living in poverty. For 25 years GP has invested in sustainable solutions that help impoverished people increase their incomes and improve their lives, with core investments in livelihoods, education, health, energy, housing, and sanitation. Since inceptionGP has deployed $356.5 million in impact investments to 135 partners, bringing meaningful impact to over 14.7 million lives in 21 countries.What is Impact-First Investing?Impact-first investing means investing in a way that seeks the highest possible social impact, while seeking to preserve capital with a modest financial return for investors.Impact-first investing is distinctly different from return-first investing, which seeks the highest possible financial return (often without consideration of social or environmental consequences), and from philanthropy, which seeks the highest social impact without any preservation of capital.We believe that impact-first investing has an essential role to play in advancing sustainable solutions to poverty for millions of people worldwide.What Does Impact Mean to Global Partnerships?All of our impact-first investing is aimed at empowering poor and marginalized people to earn a living, provide the basic necessities of life for their families, and improve their lives. We seek social impact on four dimensions:Broadening Opportunity – We have a holistic understanding of poverty, so we invest across all facets of poverty: livelihoods, education, energy, health, housing, sanitation, and water.Deepening Inclusion – We invest at the edge of the market, emphasizing approaches that include people marginalized by depth of poverty, gender, and/or geography, including women and the rural poor.Serving Millions – We believe that every person matters, and want to expand opportunity for as many people as possible. We therefore focus on sustainable approaches that can, over time, scale to serve millions of people living in poverty.Improving Lives – We only invest where evidence convinces us that people living in poverty value the opportunity being delivered and are empowered by it – economically or otherwise – to improve their lives.
- Total investments:
- 6
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 17%
- Fund size:
- $5M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Global Partnerships invests in
Stages Global Partnerships invests in
Countries Global Partnerships invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Series A
- $1.7M–$10M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Clean Energy 3 (50%)
- Renewable Energy 2 (33%)
- Solar 1 (17%)
- FinTech 1 (17%)
- Consumer 1 (17%)
Stage
- Series A 3 (50%)
- Seed 1 (17%)
- Funding Round 1 (17%)
- Debt Financing 1 (17%)
Country
- Kenya 4 (67%)
- United States 1 (17%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jim Villanueva
Investment Director, Managing Director, Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund
|
Investment Director, Managing Director, Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund | Total investments: 6 | Find email | |
|
Bill Clapp
Co-Founder
|
Co-Founder | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Mike Galgon
Chief Executive Officer
|
Chief Executive Officer | Total investments: 13 | Find email | |
|
Paula Clapp
Co-Founder
|
Co-Founder | Total investments: 0 | Find email |
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turaco develops simplified insurance and credit solutions through mobile technology to solve the healthcare financing needs. Turaco has simplified insurance products and also provides on-demand health loans, allowing customers to get healthcare at affordable monthly premiums. | $10M / Series A / Aug 31, 2022 | ||
| Sun King is a solar company that designs, distributes, installs, and finances solar home energy products across Africa and Asia. Sun King produces solar home systems, inverter systems, and portable lanterns, providing a solution for communities that live without reliable energy access. Sun King also offers pay-as-you-go financing options, furtherallowing consumers to access energy without high up-front costs. Sun King works with their network of international distribution partners to expand the off-grid market. | $90M / Debt Financing / Sep 22, 2020 | ||
| Eneza Education, a.k.a. MPrep, was founded in 2011 by Kenyan teachers and educators serious about making technology useful for their students. From the rural areas of Nyanza to Wajir Town and the Mombasa Coast, Kenyan teachers united to create the content of our initial Class 7 and Class 8 study tool. We wanted a tool that combined the best ofgreat teaching practices: scaffolded assessments, direct feedback, and high engagement. And we wanted to make sure ALL kids had access to our system. What better way to start than with a simple SMS-based system? | $3M / Series A / Mar 01, 2018 | ||
| Globally, three billion people cook with biomass. The use of open fires and inefficient cookstoves with fuels such as wood, charcoal, and kerosene causes serious environmental and health impacts that disproportionately affect underserved communities. PayGo Energy is a revolutionary cookstove solution and distribution system that enables consumersto access clean and efficient fuel at a price point that is within their daily energy budget. | $1.4M / Seed / Apr 21, 2017 | ||
| Sanergy makes hygienic sanitation affordable and accessible in urban slums for everyone starting with Nairobi, Kenya. It promotes the fundamental human right to sanitation in the slums of Kenya by increasing access to and usage of hygienic sanitation facilities. Sanergy creates an efficient, equitable, and sustainable sanitation cycle by building adense network of small-scale sanitation centers across the slums, a low-cost containerized waste collection infrastructure, and converting this waste at their central processing facility into useful byproducts, such as organic fertilizer and renewable energy. | $1.7M / Series A / Feb 08, 2016 | ||
| See all 6 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Global Partnerships invest in?
Global Partnerships invests primarily in Clean Energy, Renewable Energy and Solar startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 6 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Kenya. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What round sizes does Global Partnerships invest in?
Global Partnerships typically joins rounds of $1.7M–$10M at Series A. These are whole funding-round sizes, not Global Partnerships's own check, which is rarely disclosed: the 10th–90th percentile of the confirmed public funding rounds Global Partnerships took part in.
How do I contact Global Partnerships?
Public channels for Global Partnerships include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at Global Partnerships?
The team at Global Partnerships includes Jim Villanueva (Investment Director, Managing Director, Global Partnerships Social Venture Fund), Bill Clapp (Co-Founder) and Mike Galgon (Chief Executive Officer). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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