Entangled value(s): Valuation as Critique in Impact Investing

Practices where economic value and environmental value entangle are becoming more prevalent. Impact investing is one emerging approach aimed at boosting long term sustainable solutions. This aim, however, is hampered by economized valuation practices in financial investments and the challenge of assessing impact. I explore how impact investors attribute value in novel ways. This is done through a qualitative study of early-stage private equity impact investors in the Nordic region, drawing on interviews and field observations. I analyse the emerging valuation process by looking at how impact investors select which objects should be paid attention and qualify values through their critique and criticisms. This highlights practices and assumptions the investors challenge and discard of, and attributes they value instead. The findings show how investors criticise simplified measures and shallow understandings of impact and value frames that can encompass complexity and uncertainty, valuing profound and intentional approaches. Overall, the study contributes insights into new and changing modes of valuation in a highly economized setting. By exploring how financial value and environmental value(s) entangle and shape novel forms of valuation I advocate for a better understanding of valuation processes that try to look beyond the financial imagination.