What we do
We engage the full spectrum of investors, capital providers, mobilisers, and influencers, and work together to advance intersectional investment agendas, level up gender-smart investments, and scale the field of gender finance.
Strategic pillars
2X Global has a strategic focus on three pillars that underpin all our activities and programming.
Build capacity
Knowledge, partnerships and tools that deepen investor commitment
Communities of Practice
Virtual convenings
Training and masterclasses
Tools and knowledge
2X Annual Member Meeting
Advance standards
Align and advance existing standards
Track capital mobilised, financial performance, and gender impact
2X Certification (co-creation process)
Shift markets
Strategic engagement and initiatives that drive investor commitment and unlock capital at scale in public and private markets.
Public speaking, communications and thought leadership
Communities of practice
These industry working groups mobilise peers with shared objectives and address collective needs and obstacles. While participation is member-only, findings and data are shared as a public good. In addition to these established Communities of Practice, we have launched several “Peer Action Groups”. These agile, member-led groups focus on thematic, sector, and market driven deep-dives, convened based on real-time member demand.
Climate and gender finance
This Community of Practice mobilises the collective influence of our community to unlock capital with a gender lens within mainstream climate finance, providing opportunities for shared learning, collaboration, shared deal flow, and examples, tools, frameworks.
Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI)
Enables integration of a deep, rigorous, and intersectional gender and diversity lens in investment strategy, process, and decision-making that supports the full spectrum of financial actors.
Care economy
This Community of Practice catalyses more gender-smart capital towards the care economy – across paid and unpaid care – as well as underlying infrastructure and the wider care economy value chain.
Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH)
In partnership with Criterion Institute, this deep capacity-building opportunity will enable investors to learn and shape best practices for incorporating a GBVH lens across the investment cycle.
Investment practitioners
The Investment Practitioners Community of Practice (IP COP) is a forum for IPs run by IPs. As frontline staff that are client facing and responsible for doing deals, they are the engine for catalysing gender-smart investments and delivering on the 2X Global objectives. The COP was set-up in 2018, to support IPs to mainstream gender-smart investing within their institutions.
2X Challenge
Launched at the 2018 G7 Summit, the 2X Challenge has significantly surpassed its original 2018-2020 target to mobilise $3bn in gender lens investments and raised more than US$27bn to date. It also launched the Invest2Impact program, created with the aim to support women entrepreneurs in East Africa and provide tailored business support by better understanding their business growth and financing journeys. In its first phase, the program provided tailored business support to 100 entrepreneurs in Africa.
At the G7 Summit 2021, 20 global DFIs and MDBs committed to a new and more ambitious target of $15 Billion for the period 2021-2022. This second round of the 2X Challenge has again exceeded its target and collectively raised gender lens investments totaling US$ 16.3 Billion, benefitting 473 businesses across all global emerging market regions. This brings the total investments under the 2X Challenge since 2018 to US$ 27.7 Billion.
As we move into 2023, the 2X Challenge aims to unlock billions of AuM across a range of impactful themes.
2X Ignite
Goal to accelerate
Our latest capacity building and investment innovation to address the greatest barriers to unlocking gender-smart capital at scale, this holistic market-building solution aims to accelerate 100 female-led gender lens fund managers reaching 1,000+ gender-smart businesses across five regions. The effort has three components: Capacity Building, Digital Academy, and Shared Services; Investment Facility for Working Capital and Warehousing Capital (in fundraising); and Connecting the Pipeline of Gender-Smart Funds with LP Investors.
100+
female-led gender-smart fund managers
This powerful gender-smart investment and impact assessment framework has quickly become the global industry standard for gender lens investing. To ensure broad adoption and synergy with existing frameworks, we collaborate with other standard-setting bodies and initiatives to develop and disseminate guidance on alignment and harmonisation of the Criteria and underlying indicators with GIIN’s IRIS+, HIPSO, OECD DAC Gender Equality Policy Marker, UN Women’s Empowerment Principles, and others.
2X Criteria
2X Certification
2X Global and the 2X Challenge have been at the forefront of building the field of gender lens investing (GLI). Today, hundreds of companies and investors around the world use 2X Criteria as an industry standard for GLI.
With the rise of investors using a gender lens, there has been a sustained increase in gender-smart funds, 2X-aligned companies, and instruments like 2X-aligned bonds and sustainability-linked loans. As such, there is significant demand among public and private sector investors, companies and financial institutions for an independent, universally available 2X Certification mechanism in order to move beyond self-assessments and be able to rely on third-party verification, assurance, and certification.
At the G7 Summit in 2022, under Germany’s presidency, the 2X Certification mechanism was publicly announced, marking the kick-off of a co-creation process to build the industry-endorsed certification scheme.
2X Certification is being developed for the following: Companies (differentiating for SMEs and corporates), Funds, Financial Institutions, Institutional Investors, and Instruments and Products like gender bonds and sustainability-linked loans.
An independent and universally available 2X Certification mechanism will take the previous standard setting work of the 2X Challenge and 2X Global to the next level.
ARISE
A three-year project that’s part of a $5m CAD Global Affairs Canada initiative, this effort is designed to accelerate the adoption of gender analysis and expertise within investments and ultimately improve gender equality outcomes for women, girls, and nonbinary individuals in emerging markets. In collaboration with Criterion Institute and The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), we are convening a working group of “first mover” investors to support the evolution of global gender-smart process standards, serve as a peer-learning community, and support the endorsement, socialisation, and adoption of these best practices.
As a field building organisation, we recognise the importance of knowing where the market is at and where it is going. The sizing of the gender finance activity is one of the key data points that helps to underpin and illustrate growth and momentum in the field.
We are the new home of Project Sage, and are excited to take this work forward under the new name of Project Catalyst. This is a collaborative initiative between 2X Global, the global entity focused on gender lens investing, and Sagana, a leading gender-lens consulting firm focused on diversity, equity and inclusion in financial services. The initiative is supported by the Visa Foundation.
Project Catalyst is a research initiative that spans a sector-wide survey, which will i) size the current market of gender lens investing in private markets (e.g., private equity, venture capital, and private debt funds) and ii) identify trends and opportunities in how investors are using a gender lens within investment decisions.
Project Catalyst
Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF)
Women and girls are powerful change agents in designing and leading climate solutions for their communities – women are innovators, leaders, entrepreneurs, workers, and customers in climate related fields. Yet, in the broader climate finance ecosystem, gender equity is often poorly integrated or not incorporated at all. While climate finance flows amounted to more than US$600Bn in 2021, only 2% integrated a gender lens -- revealing vast opportunity for change and growth.
CGEF is a public-private partnership led by USAID with founding members Amazon, Reckitt, The UPS Foundation, and Visa Foundation to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led, and women-benefiting organisations. CGEF aims to reach a goal of US$60Mn in capital from corporations, foundations, bi/multilaterals, and other funders.
Join us in building a movement to catalyse gender equity in climate finance!
CGEF is managed by 2X Global. Learn more.
Founding Members:
Flagship Funds
In partnership with 2X Challenge participants, we created and maintain a now-widely-recognised seal for gender-smart funds whose fund managers make ambitious commitments to gender targets at both the fund manager and the portfolio level. Flagship Funds are nominated and then awarded special recognition by an independent 2X committee of industry leaders.
2X Deal Making Platform
Co-investment, pipeline sharing, and deal-making sessions and tools have been at the core of our collective action since our inception. Taking proven solutions spearheaded by our Investment Practitioner Community of Practice to the next level, we partnered with Equilo to develop the scalable 2X Deal Making Platform, enabling our members exclusive access to intelligent matches with pipeline opportunities that meet their commercial and impact criteria. This will not only allow us to share potential investments and identify co-investment opportunities at a larger scale, but also to map the market of opportunities in thematic areas like gender and climate, the care economy, and racial justice.