Impact deals in September
Each week we follow the investments in the impact space and once a month we publish the most interesting developments here. There is a bias towards European investments, although US-based developments are included if they are particularly interesting.
Kinder has raised €525,000 from angel investors. The name of the Amsterdam-based Kinder is a word play on Tinder and it wants to transform how donors chose charities. In total, they have raised €2.1 million to date.
Alenvi has raised €2 million in a recent funding round led by PhiTrust. Paris-based Alenvi is innovating in the elderly care segment. It aims to build an organizational model built on autonomy and human bonds.
SkinVision has raised an investment from Rubio Impact Ventures (formerly known as Social Impact Ventures). The Amsterdam-based company is providing an AI-based smartphone app for skin-related cancer detection.
Mamamade has raised €340,000 from angel investors. London-based Mamamade delivers healthy baby meals to parents. In a subscription model a bundle with 12 meals costs GBP 33.
True Gum produces plastic-free and plant-based chewing gum and has just raised €1 million from venture capital fund Oyster Bay. We’ve been thinking about these investments for some time now as it shows how impact-based business models are reaching the mainstream. The product is “sustainable first” and it also keeps the local communities and farmer cooperatives in mind.
US-based ShoppingGives has raised a $5.5 million Series Seed led by Caffeinated Capital. They are basically offering retailers a service so that they can integrate donations in the customer journey. Customers can chose a cause and the retailer donates on behalf of the customer. It is supposed to build trust and loyalty.
It was surprising to see the level of investments around urban or vertical farming and plant-based meat.
Green Monday Holdings has raised $70 million in a financing round led by TGP’s The Rise Fund and Swire Pacific. The Hong Kong-based company is producing plant-based products. Mosa Meat has raised $55 million in first closing of the Series B. The Maastricht-based company is part of the new generation of alternative meat companies. They are producing meat by growing cow cells. Both companies are following the lead of Beyond Meat which has a market capitalization of $10.4 billion as of this week.
Infarm has raised €144 million in the first close of its current funding round. Berlin-based Infarm is an urban farming company. They are developing highly efficient indoor herbal farms and sell them to supermarkets. In the same week, Brazilian BeGreen has raised $3 million for a broadly comparable concept.
Uncapped has raised $26 million in debt and equity funding. The London-based company offers revenue-based funding to companies which have at least €10,000 in monthly sales. There is a flat fee which starts at 6%. It is not really impact-related but an interesting example of a new funding model based on revenues.
Something interesting happened earlier this month. Bridges Fund Management partnered with AEA investors to form a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company). You can take a look at the SEC documents here. What does it mean? They are effectively raising $400–460 million in a public offering to buy one company they still need to identify in due course. Their investment strategy will be focused on these companies:
- Businesses that contribute scalable solutions to the UN SDGs, which have positive fundamental growth drivers that deliver attractive financial returns and measurable impact.
- Best-in-class businesses that benefit all stakeholders, where we can leverage our impact management expertise to maximize the companies’ positive impacts, build a stronger brand and value proposition, and drive financial return
- Businesses which do not currently have best in class impact management practices but where there is an opportunity to re-orient and transform currently negative aspects of business operations to generate positive outcomes; and in doing so, build a more sustainable and resilient business model with a more attractive, less risky and more future-proofed financial return.
Endeavor Global has closed its third fund (Endeavor Catalyst Fund III) at $134 million. The first fund was launched in 2012 and they have so far invested in more than 150 companies in 30 markets. 60 entrepreneurs from portfolio companies have participated in this financing round which was initially targeted at $120 million.
The Banque des Territoires contributed €20 million to the second fundraising campaign for France 2i. France 2i is an impact fund managed by RAISE Impact.
