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was founded in 2014 by Medium CEO and Twitter co-founder , along with聽 and . Its mission? To invest in startups that make a on the world.

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It’s a bold idea, and in its marketing material, San Francisco-based Obvious specifically states that it 鈥渋nvests only in companies where every dollar of revenue is also delivering some environmental or social impact.鈥�

Despite that promotional language, the firm doesn’t want you to call it an impact investor. So to settle the confusion, we asked聽the firm directly to find out if we were getting caught up in semantics, or if this seemingly intentional differentiation stems from the fact that traditional impact investors have earned a reputation of being laissez-faire about returns.

We suspected the latter, and we were right鈥攆or the most part.

Founding The Obvious

When the firm came together five years ago, the partners鈥� intention was 鈥渢o invest in entrepreneurs we felt were purpose-driven and going after some of the world鈥檚 biggest challenges, or pieces of them at least,鈥� said , managing director at Obvious. At the same time, the firm was looking for 鈥渢op venture performance.鈥� It is by this reasoning the venture firm, also a B-corp, prefers to describe its investment strategy as “World Positive.” It’s a nuance that’s easy to miss, even for founders looking for cash.

“When the fund first started, we did get a lot of people coming to us thinking of us as a social impact fund,” Beebe told 附近上门 News. “We would get pitches for yoga mat cleaners, or people selling a lot of used clothing and putting it into a business model that just reeked of first world hubris,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not the kind of stuff we wanted to invest in.”

鈥淲e believe if you combine purpose-driven terrific entrepreneurs solving the world鈥檚 biggest problems, you should outperform your peers,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. 鈥淲e think those companies can adjust, grow and scale better as world-changers. Put simply, we believe purpose fuels profit.鈥�

Obvious has closed on two funds since its inception: a deliberate $123,456,789 million in 2015 and in 2017. It currently has more than 50 companies in its portfolio, including , a prefabricated home factory; , an online grocer and meal kit delivery service; and , which says it 鈥渃ultures diamonds in California with a zero carbon footprint.鈥�

(Note that our chart above shows fewer than 50 companies because, according to Obvious, some of its portfolio companies 鈥渕ight be in stealth mode鈥� or not disclosing their funding for another reason.)

Obvious claims it values diversity, noting that 20 percent of its current portfolio companies have female founders, according to Beebe.

鈥淚n our view, that represents where the world is going, as we think it鈥檚 becoming more diverse,鈥� he said.

However, the firm doesn鈥檛 “make” its portfolio companies measure their positive impact in the world, although many do so anyway 鈥渁s part of who they are.鈥� For example, on its website (in a section titled 鈥� no less) touts that its burgers use 鈥�99 percent less water, 93 percent less land, 90 percent fewer GHGE (greenhouse gas emissions), and 46 percent less energy.鈥�

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 tell them they had to measure those things or hit those milestones, but that鈥檚 what they were going after and wanted to prove to the world,鈥� Beebe said.

For his part, Diamond Foundry CEO said his company鈥檚 goal is to create real diamonds above ground in its San Francisco foundry using a proprietary solar technology.

鈥淲e use renewable energy and are the world鈥檚 first and only diamond producer certified to be carbon neutral,鈥� he said, adding the company is now producing more than 100,000 carats per year with the goal of expanding to 1 million carats per year.

Roscheisen said Obvious Ventures invested in his company 鈥渨hen they barely existed,鈥� so for his company, it was more about the people.

鈥淛ames Joaquin [an Obvious co-founder] is simply irresistible, and they鈥檝e now built a whole team that鈥檚 great,鈥� he said.

I asked him to confirm if his company鈥檚 mission matched Obvious鈥� stated desire to only invest in companies 鈥渨here every dollar of revenue was also delivering some environmental or social impact.鈥�

His answer?

鈥淵es, this is true for us,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e create diamonds without social and environmental harm鈥�. But we鈥檙e also growing as fast as the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley and have even been profitable.鈥�

Meanwhile, I thought it would be interesting to get the perspective of a traditional impact investor on whether he considers Obvious to be an impact venture firm.

, co-founder of Austin-based , has co-invested alongside Obvious Ventures. He believes there are two pillars of impact investors: those that want to improve the world through business but are looking for 鈥済reat returns鈥� at the same time, and those that are ok with lower returns and are almost viewed more as philanthropy.

Obvious Ventures, in his view, falls into the first category.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking for those home runs that will return very nicely for their investors but are also having a positive impact,鈥� he told 附近上门 News. Obvious might be hesitant to be lumped into the impact category because it doesn鈥檛 want to scare away capital that is looking for great returns, or portray itself as being willing to take a below market return, Graham said.

鈥淏ut if you look at their mission and all the companies in their portfolio, I鈥檇 definitely describe them as impact,鈥� he added.

So does it really matter how Obvious Ventures (or any other company) identifies itself? Marketing gurus certainly have opinions on that, but we aren鈥檛 here to make that call. What we do know for certain, because we report on it day in and day out, is that whether a company survives or dies ultimately comes down to sound business metrics, and that is something we can measure.