ImpactAlpha, September 20 – Verve Super launched in 2018 to offer Australian women a responsibly invested “superannuation,” or retirement, fund matched to women’s career paths. Like Ellevest in the U.S., Verve Super aims to bridge Australia’s retirement gender gap: women in Australia retire with 35% less savings than men on average.
Verve has more than A$180 million (US$130 million) in assets under management across 5,000 member accounts.
The company’s A$2.6 million equity round was backed by a number of individual entrepreneurs and investors, including the founders of Who Gives a Crap forest-friendly toilet paper company, which itself just raised $30 million.
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In its annual report, Verve Super notes that its fund out-performed the market in 2020. That’s in part because it removed “(as much as possible) the risks associated with fossil fuels,” the report states. “The fossil fuel industry was one of the worst performing sectors (again) last year.”
