Luminis Advisors, LLC (Luminis) brings clarity to the Impact Investment Ecosystem.
The Impact Investment market just crossed the USD 1 trillion* milestone. How much of this money is having a real impact? How are investments performing relative to benchmarks? How much risk are you taking and is this in-line with your own risk appetite and performance expectations? Which asset managers align with your values and impact goals?
At Luminis, we help our clients answer these hard questions by providing relevant and timely risk analysis, and evaluating the social performance of their investment portfolios. We created a robust and highly adaptable methodology to suit the widest range of impact investors, from financial performance-first to impact-only. This methodology evaluates impact funds by their four most fundamental tenets – namely, Performance, Risk, Social and Management / governance (PRSM™). Constantly adapted over the last decade to match emerging trends and the evolving landscape of the Impact Investment sector, our trademarked PRSM™ methodology can be easily tailored to your specific goals and objectives, with the breadth and depth of coverage to guide all types of investors.
* The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) estimates the size of the worldwide impact investing market to be USD 1.16 trillion 
ABOUT Us
Luminis is an independent advisory firm that provides a range of solutions to the impact investment marketplace using deep industry knowledge, expert risk analysis, and comprehensive suite of data for benchmarking and comparative analysis.
Luminis has been serving the impact investment marketplace since 2010, originally as a division of MicroRate, Inc. (MicroRate) - the world’s pioneer, microfinance rating agency. In 2014, as the impact investment space continued to grow and expand, the Impact Fund Rating division of MicroRate spun-off to form Luminis as a fully independent stand-alone company.
At Luminis we believe that all investments could be Impact Investments. From our inception, our vision is to become the pathfinder for our clients and turn this belief into reality.
SERVICES
Our approach is to offer customized services.
We believe every client is unique and hence, every solution needs to be tailored to meet their needs.
Our systems view approach allows us to leverage the vast data analytics we compile at the ecosystem, sector, fund, and project levels to forecast opportunities and challenges that inform our clients.
Our highest in-demand services are Fund Ratings, Social Performance Assessments and Asset Manager Research.
In this increasingly complex and rapidly changing world, we help our clients cut through the chaos of the rapidly growing and changing Impact Investment Ecosystem, so they can make better decisions faster.
Luminis has conducted 350+ Impact Fund ratings of
140+ Impact Funds collectively representing over US$ 20 billion in AUM
CLIENTS
Luminis takes a systems view approach. We support the growth, evolution, and interaction of different stakeholders of the Impact Investment Ecosystem. We have ample experience working in all regions of the world with:
Asset managers
Development Finance Institutions (DFI’s)
Private (single- and multi-) family offices
Financial services intermediaries
Public charities, private foundations, NGOs, and endowments
Private and institutional investors
Our clients receive highly sophisticated tailor-made solutions that meet them where they are on their impact investment journey and personalized guidance to help them get to where they want to be. Whether our clients are seasoned institutional investors, ready to scale and expand their portfolio into additional sectors, industries, or regions of the world, or a new asset manager who is assembling an impact portfolio from scratch, we offer state-of-the-art analytics, expert up-to-date insight that give them the clarity they need every step of the way.
representative Clients and Partners
Team
Our core team is led by Sebastian von Stauffenberg, a seasoned entrepreneur and executive with expertise in microfinance and impact investments and Stephen Brown, a fund ratings expert and our lead financial analyst.
Our core team is complemented by our vast network of highly specialized subject matter experts, whom we engage for their respective industry, sector, geographic or technical expertise in accordance with the unique needs of our clients.
SEBASTIAN VON STAUFFENBERG
Chief Executive Officer
Sebastian is the Founder and CEO of Luminis. He has been a leader and expert in impact fund evaluation and social performance management. His impact fund and MFI evaluation expertise give him hands-on, practical experience in the entire impact investment process.
Sebastian’s impact investing experience began in 2003 when he joined and eventually led MicroRate, the first rating agency specializing in evaluating microfinance institutions. As MicroRate’s CEO he was responsible for building an effective multinational team with offices in three countries and overseeing over 500 financial, social and performance ratings. In 2014, he spun-off Luminis from MicroRate to establish Luminis Advisors, LLC which provides investment advisory services to impact investors.
STEPHEN BROWN
Director of Investor Services
Steve is the Director of Investor Services at Luminis Advisors, LLC and specializes in performance, risk, and social evaluations of impact investment vehicles. Since 2008, Stephen has led over 300 ratings of more than 125 impact investment vehicles, first at MicroRate Inc. , the first rating agency specializing in evaluating microfinance organizations, and subsequently at Luminis Advisors, LLC, which he helped launch in 2014.
Previously, Stephen worked in private wealth management for Ameriprise Financial (formerly, American Express Financial Advisors).
