The Munich and London-based Ananda Impact Ventures team today announced they have secured €50 million in fresh capital for its third fund. In particular, positive exits and milestones achieved by the first two funds convinced investors that the approach is spot-on: Portfolio company Kinderzentren Kunterbunt was sold to German publisher Klett, Auticon successfully scaled internationally and IESO Digital Health raised €20 million follow-on financing for its US market entry. This shows that the European impact investing market is picking up speed.
Ananda Co-founder Florian Erber explains: “We consciously focus on pressing social issues such as health, education, sustainable consumption and ageing population. This is where we can create great social value with innovative solutions that have impact baked into their business models: the higher the revenues, the more social impact.”
With an office in London in addition to headquarters in Munich, Ananda was able to include already several outstanding UK impact investments in its portfolio. According to the Ananda team, their pan-European focus is a big plus, as they get a crystal clear perspective on where the best impact models are in the market and receive the opportunity to co-invest with leading technology VCs.
On top of Ananda’s long-standing relations with entrepreneurs, family offices and institutional investors such as the European Investment Fund (EIF), the UK impact giant Big Society Capital (BSC), set up to build the social investment market in the UK, became an Ananda fund investor for the first time.
“This is a compelling opportunity for Big Society Capital to expand its portfolio and work with a fund that has proven it can be an excellent partner for UK-based impact businesses. Ananda fund’s ability to help scale social innovations into the UK from Continental Europe was particularly important to us”, said Alex Stephens, Investment Manager at BSC.
The new fund will invest in around 20 European impact enterprises in Ananda’s proven sectors. The first five investments are already lined upw with Careship, Talea, HomeTouch, MobileJob and Raremark.
Careship and Talea, based in Berlin, as well as HomeTouch, headquartered in London, target the inefficient and problematic care market with innovative, technology-based solutions. MobileJob, also based in Berlin, breathes fresh life into the commercial job market, in which temporary positions are prevalent and often lead to discrimination. Raremark, based in London, offers better information, treatments and quality of life for patients with rare medical conditions.
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