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In the rarefied world of private equity, one word has become almost obsessive: liquidity. After a decade of exuberance—sky-high valuations, a flood of capital, and an IPO conveyor belt that seemed unending—the sudden halt in exits since 2022 has shaken the industry’s certainties. In the US, Axios recently reported that nearly one-third of VC funds raised in 2017 had still returned zero dollars to investors by March 2024—a stark awakening for Limited Partners long used to predictable distributions. “DPI is the new IRR,” quipped Tristan Tully of Brookfield at a Paris conference—plain English for “cash return now matters more than lofty performance metrics.” Once the classic closed-end model was celebrated for discipline; today, it’s groaning under its inflexibility. Once celebrated as the perfect marriage of so-called patience and performance, it suddenly looks outdated in an age where exits have dried up and capital has become scarcer.

Founded by Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern while at Yale, Coral Vita pioneered the world’s first commercial, land-based coral reef restoration farm. Drawing on the breakthrough research of Dr. David Vaughan (microfragmentation) and the late Dr. Ruth Gates (assisted evolution), the company can grow climate-resilient corals up to 50 times faster than they grow in the wild. These corals are later out-planted onto degraded reefs with survival rates of up to 90%.

The ocean is not only our planet’s largest carbon sink – absorbing 30 times more CO2 than all forests combined – but also a vital resource feeding 3 billion people and generating $2.5 trillion in economic value annually. At 2050, we’ve developed a comprehensive approach to ocean investment that addresses both the challenges and opportunities presented by this critical system to our capacity to live on planet Earth.

In response to the climate emergency and the need for concerted action, 2050 has developed a unique approach combining knowledge and concrete action. This vision first materialised through a transdisciplinary course taught at Paris-Dauphine University since autumn 2020.

In the face of environmental and societal challenges, knowledge is our greatest lever. But to transform the world, we must first touch people’s consciousness. This transformation rests on three essential pillars: raising awareness, sharing relevant knowledge, and demonstrating that concrete solutions already exist.