Inside ‘hippy’ company working with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle worth £1bn

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are now working with an investment company whose founders describe themselves as "hippies".

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were appointed as "impact partners" and investors for New York-based asset manager Ethic yesterday.

It's the first sign of Prince Harry and Meghan looking to get into investing with Ethic’s ethos seemingly shared with their own values.

Ethic, which has $1.3 billion (£0.95m) under management, says they want "hippies" to invest in them and the founders themselves say: "We are probably hippies."

The company only invests in projects that align with its own social responsibility themes.

Ethic regularly hold "gratitude sessions" where staff thank each other and also "employs" a number of dogs in roles such as security and Chief Smile Officer.

The company boasts a diverse team with staff coming from countries all over the world. The Ethic website show staff striking poses with each member's personal thoughts on what sustainability means to them.

Ethic was set up by Brit Jay Lipman, who was branded as a Prince Harry lookalike.

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Mr Lipman, who was a Deutsche Bank executive before he set up Ethic in 2015, is reportedly a former schoolboy at the prestigious Epsom College and was brought up in a luxury £1.25million home in Surrey, according to the Daily Mail.

He is also a University of Edinburgh graduate and spent time living in Tanzania, working at an orphanage.

The company was co-founded by Mr Lipman along with Australians Doug Scott and Johny Mair, who previously worked for banks investing in gas, oil and other sectors.

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Mr Lipman claims his clients make just as much money through sustainable investing as you can accomplish with more traditional investments such as fossil fuels and tobacco companies.

Meghan mentioned they were introduced to Ethic by friends.

She told New York Times DealBook, in a joint interview with Harry: "My husband has been saying for years, 'Gosh, don’t you wish there was a place where if your values were aligned like this, you could put your money to that same sort of thing?'"

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have already taken on many roles and deals since leaving Royal working life.

They have major deals with Netflix and Spotify, believed to be in the region of £100 million, according to the Daily Mail.

Prince Harry also has numerous roles including 'chief impact officer' at a California-based mental health company BetterUp, whose value is said to be £3 billion.

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The partnership with Ethic was confirmed on the couple’s Archwell website.

"When we invest in each other we change the world," the post read.

"Be it through the investment of time (as with mentoring), investment in community (as with volunteering), or the investment of funds (for those who have the means to), our choices – of how and where we put our energy – define us as a global community.

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"We believe it’s time for more people to have a seat at the table when decisions are made that impact everyone. We want to rethink the nature of investing to help solve the global issues we all face.

"Our impact partnership with Ethic is one of the ways we put our values in action."

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