On 17 June 2022, IFT assembled a panel of experts in finance and technology to discuss how the landscape of investment must change to meet the challenges of the times. IFT PhD student Millie Deng recaps what we learned.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been a turning point for humanity, bringing world economies to a standstill and highlighted our vulnerabilities. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has further amplified uncertainty and instability. Venture capital and private equity are engines of change and growth in terms of the way we invest in businesses. But these investments, particularly of Venture Capital (VC), are vulnerable to volatility as they follow economic up and downturns.

The last three years have showcased this dynamic like perhaps no other period in history. And yet, despite the universal and potentially long-lasting economic, social, and political impacts of Covid-19, 2021 was actually a record-breaking year for VC. The International Monetary Fund was able to raise its projection for economic growth in 2021 from 5.5% to 6%, and project 4.4% growth in 2022. This was partly based on how well the pandemic continues to be controlled, and the effectiveness of global economic policies to cushion the damage to the markets. Now, we must ask how we continue to recover, while reconfiguring existing systems to be resilient to shocks.

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