Clear Skies has built a reputation for impactful thematic funds addressing global environmental challenges. But the team has also been quietly investing in innovative approaches to solving human problems such as health, inequality, financial inclusion and education. This framework is grounded in the “ABC” of the Impact Frontiers and Impact Management Project Investment Classifications. We focus on identifying companies that fall into the “C” category — those contributing to positive outcomes and impactful solutions.
More than 60% of the Clear Skies iWorld Equity Fund holdings are geared towards social impact such as Good Health and Well-Being. And as with all our strategies, the multiple impact levers are driven by large companies that can generate impact on a global scale. The example presented below is meant to illustrate how a Clear Skies portfolio holding can use operational excellence and efficiency to help billions of people live better lives and contribute to society in return. The outcomes are what spark our “impact mindset”.
Tuberculosis killed 1.25 million people in 2023 including 161,000 with HIV (WHO), making it the second-deadliest infectious disease that year after COVID-19. The key weakness in global health systems has long been the time lag between infection and diagnosis, often stretching into weeks. Molecular testing networks have started to close that gap and our Clear Skies sourcing methodology led us to an investee that has been able to deploy solutions on a global scale. Through its business model, more than 40,000 systems are now distributed across 150 countries, running over 10 million tuberculosis tests annually. Each instrument/system typically stays in service for more than a decade, embedding long-term diagnostic capacity into health systems that need it most. For countries with thin lab infrastructure and limited staff, the shift from weeks to hours in test turnaround is proving decisive in cutting transmission and lowering mortality rates.
Another frontier in medicine is biologics and gene therapies, but the sector is struggling to scale production fast enough to meet demand. Global oncology cases are rising, rare genetic disorders are increasingly treatable, and pandemic preparedness remains a standing concern. Bioprocessing platforms are becoming critical in closing the supply gap. It becomes a waterfall effect from here: Supplying the equipment and consumables needed for discovery, clinical trials, and commercial-scale manufacturing enable pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. At the core, upstream processes such as the growth and fermentation of cells and downstream purification systems are what turn living organisms into reliable drug factories. The real innovation lies in enabling high yields that make complex biologics commercially viable for pharma. Enabling biologics and gene therapy development and manufacturing by providing the critical tools, consumables, and analytical systems needed at every stage (from R&D through commercial production) is a major development in those fields.
After identifying the challenge, Clear Skies was able to identify those suppliers that are playing an active role implementing the innovations just described. This ability to engineer large molecules from living cells in tightly controlled environments is what unlocks targeted, personalized therapies such as monoclonal antibodies for cancer, autoimmune and infectious diseases. The same technologies that enabled mRNA vaccines for hundreds of millions of people during COVID-19 are now embedded in decade-long development programs for cell and gene therapies. What matters for the sector is not only capacity but speed: integrated systems cut through regulatory and supply-chain bottlenecks, allowing therapies to reach patients faster and giving health networks tools to respond more effectively to global threats.
Testing volumes in hospitals are climbing sharply as populations age and chronic conditions spread, even as staff shortages grow more acute. Laboratories are under pressure to deliver faster results with fewer hands-on deck. High-throughput automation has begun to reset the equation. Today, Clear Skies strategies have identified investments which have developed global platforms that process more than 1 million diagnostic tests every hour, touching 1.2 billion patients and 3 million clinicians every year. On a daily basis, these platforms analyze 800,000 blood samples, while cancer diagnostics account for 1.6 million tests a week. Instruments capable of up to 450 tests an hour, backed by real-time monitoring that reduces downtime, allow hospitals to keep pace with rising demand while making earlier treatment decisions. For health systems facing structural shortages, the payoff is higher productivity, lower costs, and resilience under a strained environment.
As these examples illustrate, the scale of impact of one single company in a portfolio can be wide and quantifiable. Then imagine a whole plethora of companies in a complete portfolio!
Disclaimer
The information contained in this article is provided for illustrative and educational purposes only and reflects Clear Skies Investment Management’s impact methodology and analysis of a company. It does not constitute, and should not be construed as, investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any security. Company data, sectoral developments, and impact outcomes are based on publicly available sources believed to be reliable at the time of writing, but may have changed since publication. Past examples are not indicative of future results. Investors should consult their own financial and professional advisors before making investment decisions.
