What The Next Generation of Capital Will Back

What if some of the opportunities investors overlook are the ones they should be examining most closely?

For years, impact and returns have been treated as opposing forces. That assumption has shaped where capital flows, and which sectors investors choose not to back.

But as wealth passes to a new generation, those assumptions are being questioned.

In our latest Majlis, Lady Eve Laws of Maison IG and Genia Xasis of Berkana join us to explore how the great wealth transfer could reshape investment priorities, and what happens when overlooked sectors come back into focus.

That belief that impact and returns are opposing forces has gone mostly unchallenged for years. And, when a whole category of investors writes a sector off, capital stays away. The companies that do work then grow with far less competition for their equity than they deserve. For an investor willing to look where others won't, that's exactly where the opportunity sits.

What makes this worth paying attention to now is who's about to be allocating the money. The $124 trillion wealth transfer moving between generations over the coming years puts capital in the hands of a different set of decision-makers, with different priorities. The sectors the last generation dismissed are getting a fresh look from the one inheriting the cheque book.

Genia made the point sharply. She'd heard investors assume you couldn't return capital in women's health. Then she met the family of a founder who had built and sold a women's health company for around $1.5 billion. Even with an exit that size on the table, the assumption held that the sector couldn't generate real returns.

We've backed two women's health businesses recently, partly for this reason. Over half the consumer base has been underserved for decades, and with AI and better health data, there's now a depth of longitudinal data on women's health that never existed before. A large, underserved market and a genuine technology shift can produce real returns, whatever label gets put on the sector.

When you find a sector most investors have written off as impact-only or unprofitable, don't take the label at face value. Ask what the market size actually is, who's underserved, and whether anything has changed that makes it newly investable. Sometimes the label is right and the returns aren't there. Often it's just a habit nobody has updated, and the mispricing it creates is yours to take. 

As capital passes to a generation that looks at these sectors differently, some of those old labels are going to fall away. The investors who see it first, while the assumption still holds and the price still reflects it, are the ones who benefit most.

I get into this with Lady Eve Laws of Maison IG and Genia Xasis of Berkana in this episode of Majlis.

The Next Frontier of Capital: The AI Opportunity

On Thursday 29 October, House of Arāya and Arāya Ventures are bringing together investors at The BoTree, London to explore the businesses being built at the frontier of AI.

We’ll be joined by three founders from the Arāya portfolio, alongside investors and operators, giving the room a closer look at how AI is creating new products, markets and business models across health and longevity, the future of work and the changing consumer landscape, and the questions that matter when assessing what comes next.

The afternoon will also include Reimagining The Great Wealth Transfer, a panel with Chelsea Toler, Nella-Noora Goodarzi and Triin Linamägi. The conversation will explore how the next generation of wealth is changing the way capital is allocated, and how shifting priorities could open up new opportunities for investors, building on the question at the heart of this week’s Signal.

Thursday 29 October | 15:00–18:00 | The BoTree, London | Invite Only

Your invitation to The Next Frontier of Capital →

Warmly,
Rupa

P.s. When you're ready, here are 3 ways I can help: