A lot of those opportunities have been overlooked," she said. So far about $80 million of the fund has been deployed to investments like the development of fitness franchises in poorer communities, and to back a Black-owned real estate firm's 292-unit rental community to be built in Farmingville, New York, BlackRock said. Initial investors include the investment arms or foundations of companies such as Costco Wholesale Corp and PayPal Holdings Inc, BlackRock said. U.S. impact funds held $234 billion at the end of 2021, according to research firm Morningstar Inc, up from $127 billion a year earlier and $88 billion at the end of 2019.