Explore our case studies below
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FAI Farms: Hatching a Winning Plan with BirdBox
FAI Farms, a team of farmers, scientists, and consultants creates things to solve sustainable agriculture and animal welfare problems. One of FAI Farms’ creations is BirdBox, a sensor-based system designed to improve animal welfare and provide a management tool for free-range egg-producers to take eggs from, well, bird to box. Over a 10-year period, FAI Farms had trialed BirdBox with the UK’s leading free-range egg producer. The results were phenomenal. FAI Farms, however, was having trouble figuring out what’s next? Over a 12-week collaboration, using WhiteLabel’s growth diagnostic framework, we were able to rapidly assess, and align on, BirdBox’s commercial opportunities and path to market. Transitioning to implementation, WhiteLabel led a market sounding exercise to find potential partners and investors. Additionally, WhiteLabel brought in a co-conspirator to redesign the sensor technology. Since our collaboration, BirdBox has increased client trials exponentially. “The WhiteLabel teams’ breadth and depth of knowledge makes them a go-to partner for us,” said CEO Oisten Thorsen. “They often joke that they are our Special Projects Office, but the title fits well.”
ESG Finance Takes Root: Founding COO Drives 8x Growth for UN-backed Initiative
The United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) was just finding its feet. The nascent initiative lacked an operational foundation, a sustainable business model and a team to carry out its vital mission. A WhiteLabel partner was brought in as COO. Developing a scalable operational framework, a long-term strategic roadmap and a compelling go-to-market and global outreach campaign, which defined the value proposition around ESG and how the initiative was well-positioned to promote it, they were able to attract and engage potential members. The partner also identified and executed a transition to the initiative’s business model: moving it from voluntary donations to membership fees. Under his leadership, the firm tripled its membership, increased its revenues sevenfold and expanded staff by 12-fold. The UN PRI is one of the most powerful forces promoting responsible finance and ESG.
Finding the Signal in the Noise: Elevating UNEP-FI's Impact
Leadership at the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative's Positive Impact Initiative proposed a pioneering and holistic vision for impact finance, solving some of the field’s more complex issues for commercial actors. But it needed to gain traction in a crowded space of international organizations, financial institutions, and standard setters. Its message needed to break through the noise. A WhiteLabel partner developed and implemented a new communications strategy that shifted the focus away from the initiative itself and onto its unique value proposition. This content-driven approach emphasized the insights and tools offered by the Positive Impact Initiative. The partner also facilitated key partnerships, strategically positioning Positive Impact alongside international organizations and standard setters. This strategic pivot resonated strongly. UNEP FI's Positive Impact initiative gained visibility and solidified its positioning as a crucial and unique resource among the international impact investing standard-setter community.
From Standards to Success: Driving Program Growth for Impact Network
The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), the convening body for impact investing, was growing quickly. It needed to expand its membership base and fortify its operational capacity. Additionally, it aimed to become less reliant on grants by diversifying its funding model. A WhiteLabel partner stepped in to take charge of GIIN's membership programs. They supported staff in expanding programming and driving global membership growth. Further, the partner played a pivotal role in organizing GIIN's first global conference for impact investors. They also spearheaded a biannual update of the IRIS impact measurement standards. These efforts bolstered the GIIN's position, expanding its membership base and programs, thus diversifying its revenue streams, with non-grant resources delivering a third of the annual organizational budget.
Game Changer: Transformation, Growth, and Capital Raising for Social Purpose
One Earth Rising wants to change the way gaming works: It wants to turn the Metaverse into the Purposeverse. Given that gaming is the most popular activity on the planet, gaming and gamers should have a greater vision of how gaming engages with the planet. Looking to achieve that greater vision, One Earth Rising turned to WhiteLabel. Recognizing the potential, WhiteLabel proposed a pivot from developing games to becoming a platform for socially conscious game developers. Working with One Earth Rising, WhiteLabel helped the firm sharpen its long-term strategy, develop a streamlined operational structure, and create, and lead, a fundraising campaign, targeting socially responsible investors. To facilitate the structural changes, a WhiteLabel founding partner embedded in One Earth Rising, as COO. He liked the gig so much, he stayed.
Pivot to success: A Business and Product Strategy for a Digital Media Company
ImpactAlpha's commitment to covering the world of impact investing wasn't matched by a sustainable business model. It faced the challenge of achieving financial stability while staying true to its mission. A WhiteLabel partner joined forces with the ImpactAlpha team to spearhead a strategic pivot. This involved deep collaboration to clarify the company's vision and ensure all stakeholders shared a common purpose. Together, they developed a revised business model and product strategy designed to attract a paying audience. Additionally, the WhiteLabel partner played a key role in securing philanthropic seed funding, providing much-needed support during this transition period. This strategic shift, combined with the crucial funding, proved transformative for ImpactAlpha. They successfully became a commercially viable platform, securing its first revenue streams. ImpactAlpha recently celebrated its 10th anniversary and is the “platform of record,” a source for news, educational materials, convenings, and data essential for the impact economy.
Using Art to Initiate Activism: Combatting the Climate Crisis
We all – well, most of us – know that the climate crisis is real. A WhiteLabel co-conspirator is turning science into art, creating data visualizations, that make it tangible, and undeniable. That art has come to the aid of science: for the past five years, the WhiteLabel co-conspirator has been working with the International Arctic Buoy Programme, deploying instruments that provide vital weather and climate impact data for the Arctic Ocean and tagging 50 icebergs along the coast of Greenland to improve predictive modeling. Their custom-designed sensors have contributed over 22,000 lines of data to the primary weather and climate repository for the Arctic Ocean. They also participated with Public Sediment, a team of landscape architects, designers, civil and coastal engineers, on a project funded by the Rockefeller Foundation to transform river sediment, usually a source of environmental degradation, into a solution for sea-level rise adaptation in the San Francisco Bay area. The team collaborated with local government agencies and public stakeholders to connect Alameda Creek with the San Francisco Baylands, providing a sustainable supply of sediment to Baylands for sea-level rise adaptation, reconnecting migratory fish with their historic spawning grounds, and introducing a network of community spaces to reclaim the creek as a place for people.
Empowering Global Enterprise: Structuring a Financial Facility for Women Entrepreneurs
The Goldman Sachs Foundation's 10,000 Women Initiative needed a financial structure that would allow it to eventually recoup its investment in women entrepreneurs. Traditional financial returns were not a priority. A WhiteLabel partner proposed a then-novel "catalytic capital facility" using a layered investment structure. This structure placed the Goldman Sachs Foundation in the "first-loss" position, meaning they'd absorb initial losses, effectively subsidizing other investors with lower risk tolerances. The model allowed the Foundation to provide crucial funding for women entrepreneurs with the potential to recoup its investment while creating a compelling return stream to “crowd-in” more commercial investors. The success of this facility has become a benchmark within the world of innovative finance.
From Family Offices to Subscription Models: Launching, Commercializing and Managing Venture Investment Funds
Over our 30-years in the financial markets, WhiteLabel has had the opportunity to launch, transform, manage, and commercialize venture capital operations at about a dozen family offices, hedge funds and corporations. Indeed, WhiteLabel’s initial co-founders met while running investment operations for RoseTech Ventures during the halcyon days of “Silicon Alley.” Over five years, they evaluated thousands of investment opportunities, made 15 investments, sat on the Boards of more than a dozen companies, and helped portfolio companies raise more than $50 million in follow-on investment. The portfolio had multiple successful exits including one 30X return. A WhiteLabel partner was also part of the successful launch of Alumni Ventures Group’s Columbia-focused fund, developing the investment strategy, raising capital, vetting hundreds of investments, and, investing in, to date, two unicorns. Other clients have included setting up venture arms for a MedTech firm, and an extremely large hedge fund focused on global investments.