I am pleased to introduce the 4th edition of Convergence’s flagship report, The State of Blended Finance. In four years, The State of Blended Finance has become an authoritative reference point on the global blended finance market, presenting data and analysis from the largest and most detailed database on historical blended finance transactions.
Since the first publication, we have written this report in-house, as a team, with the goal of using our unique position at the core of a growing ecosystem to reflect objectively on the field to help investors and funders strategically place their capital in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. We issue the report with humility, knowing that our data will never be complete, and we are always looking for ways to increase its value as a public good.
This year, for the first time, we supplement our analysis with perspectives from key stakeholders and a forecast of where the blended finance market is going. These additions were made possible because our own network of funders, investors and practitioners has grown, and become more representative of the field, and because the fundraising activity unfolding on our live transactions platform has reached significant scale.
2020 has been turbulent, with aid budgets in distress and investors retreating from countries and transactions most in need of development assistance and capital injection. Yet, it has also been a time of abrupt awakenings to the linkages between money, society, and nature, and a time of reimagined collaboration and dialogue among divergent sources of capital. This increased awareness and collaboration happen to be two prerequisites for composing blended transactions. We proceed with the hope that more, and better-designed, blended finance will come from this disruptive moment.
Our deepest thanks to the investors and funders putting their capital to work, and to those who contributed their expertise to the report. We look forward to the conversations and deals ahead.
JOAN M. LARREA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CONVERGENCE