Case Backs Brain Device as Wealthy Push Do-Good Investing

Source: BrainScope Co. via Bloomberg

Researchers in Bethesda, Maryland, have spent eight years developing a handheld device to quickly assess potential brain trauma in injured U.S. soldiers and athletes with concussions.

Jean Case and her husband Steve, who co-founded AOL Inc. (AOL), invested in BrainScope Co., the devices developer, through their family office in 2008. The billionaire couple say they are using some of their fortune to help ease some of societys ills while hopefully making a profit. They committed in June to spend $50 million in the coming years on mission-driven investments.

A new generation of investors is emerging that wants more than just a financial return, Jean Case, 54, said in an interview. Billions more will go into it.

With private wealth at a record, rich investors such as the Cases, members of the Pritzker family and Pierre Omidyar are increasingly looking for ways to put their money to work and do good. Its an investing niche previously limited to a sprinkling of mutual funds that avoided stocks such as tobacco and gun manufacturers. The number of money managers offering impact-investing products has surged 155 percent in the past five years.

Impact investing is still a fraction of the record $152 trillion that the worlds richest had at their disposal last year, according to the Boston Consulting Group. It represents less than 1 percent of that pool, or an estimated $46 billion, according to a May report by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Jean Case said billions of dollars will continue to move into a range of investments that focus on social issues, and expectations for profit will vary. Close

Jean Case said billions of dollars will continue to move into a range of investments... Read More

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Jean Case said billions of dollars will continue to move into a range of investments that focus on social issues, and expectations for profit will vary.

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Case Backs Brain Device as Wealthy Push Do-Good Investing