The Meloy Fund I, LP, a first-of-its-kind impact investment fund dedicated to helping coastal fishers transition to more sustainable practices, today announced its launch with a first close of US $10 million.

The Fund targets US$20 million of debt and equity investment in support of the millions of small-scale fishers in Indonesia and the Philippines, who rely upon healthy coastal fisheries and marine ecosystems for their livelihoods. The ten-year Fund counts among its investors a diverse range of family offices, investment managers, and foundations. Rare, a global conservation organization, is the Managing Member of the General Partner.

Lukas Walton, who will have a significant interest in the Meloy Fund via the Lukas Walton Fund of the Walton Family Foundation, said “I’m thrilled to invest in the Meloy Fund, and support its innovative model for deploying investment capital to the critical problems that coastal fisheries face in moving towards sustainability.”

This first close was accelerated to respond to robust interest from investors and a pressing pipeline of investment opportunities. A second and final close, including US$6 million anticipated from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) as anchor investor, is projected for fall, 2017.

The Meloy Fund deploys private capital to enterprises that can create value for fishing communities by improving upstream margins through supply chain efficiencies, waste-reduction, aggregation, and value-added processing, or providing fishing-related employment alternatives, such as ocean-based sustainable aquaculture.

Dale Galvin, Managing Director of Rare’s Sustainable Markets group and Manager of the General Partner said, “The innovation of the Meloy Fund is to recognize the latent opportunity for value creation in the undervalued coastal fisheries sector, and link the resulting investments with the necessary community engagement and fisheries management provided by Rare, which ensures long-term sustainability.”

The Fund has a detailed impact monitoring strategy, projecting improvement in the lives of 100,000 fishers and their household members, while placing 1.2 million hectares of coastal habitats, including coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangroves, under improved management.

Note: This release does not constitute an offer of an investment security by The Meloy Fund I, GP, LLC or related entities.

ABOUT THE MELOY FUND

The Meloy Fund is a $20M impact investment fund that will incentivize the development and adoption of sustainable fisheries by making debt and equity investments in fishing-related enterprises that support the recovery of coastal fisheries in Indonesia and the Philippines. The General Partner of the Fund is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rare. To learn more about the Meloy Fund, please visit http://www.meloyfund.com.

ABOUT RARE

Ranked in the top 25 NGOs in the world by NGO ADVISORS, Rare is an innovative conservation organization that implements proven conservation solutions and trains local leaders in communities worldwide. Through its signature social marketing campaigns (called Pride campaigns), Rare inspires people to take pride in the species and habitats that make their community unique, while also introducing practical alternatives to environmentally destructive practices. Employees of local governments or non-profit organizations receive extensive training on fisheries management, campaign planning and social marketing to communities. They are equipped to deliver community-based solutions based on natural and social science, while leveraging policy and market forces to accelerate positive environmental change through programs in clean water, sustainable agriculture, and coastal fisheries. To learn more about Rare, please visit http://www.rare.org.

ABOUT GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY (GEF)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) was established on the eve of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, the GEF has provided over $17 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $88 billion in financing for more than 4000 projects in 170 countries. Today, the GEF is an international partnership of 183 countries, international institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector that addresses global environmental issues. http://www.thegef.org