Fundamentals of Funding Impact Ventures

Finding funding for your impact venture can be difficult, so with some help from our friends (researchers and experts), we have written an eBook that covers and presents the main sources of funding impact ventures (including grant funding). With many downloaded, we are overwhelmed with the positive feedback so far.

“The Venturenomix e-book is a MUST READ for anyone seeking high quality advice for venture funding. I’ve worked in financial service industry for over 30 years as an advisor and investor. I’ve known Alex as an experienced professional. Read this and you’ll want to talk to them too.”The Venturenomix e-book is a MUST READ for anyone seeking high quality advice for venture funding. I’ve worked in financial service industry for over 30 years as an advisor and investor. I’ve known Alex as an experienced professional. Read this and you’ll want to talk to them too.”

Clive Bonny, MD, Strategic Management Partner

The eBook is available free to download here.

Foreword

Welcome to this first edition of our eBook all about funding for impact ventures. We live in interesting times – politically, socially, economically. Some claim the old capitalist system is failing most of humanity. Others maintain that its idea of an ever-growing economy that eventually eradicates poverty is still going strong. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking when it comes to addressing the very serious challenge of keeping our planet a habitable and thriving place for everyone. We need solutions. Lots of them. Fast.

Recently, I came across the idea of “stakeholder capitalism”. Here, business success is measured not by financial profits creating shareholder value. Instead, a venture is deemed successful when it delivers on creating value for all its stakeholders. This includes employees and shareholders of the company in question, yes, but it goes much further and looks closely at the impact its activities and products have on wider society – customers, suppliers, local communities, healthcare – and on the natural environment.

A nice example of this value-driven approach to business is the Zebras Unite movement that originates in the USA and now has over 45 chapters worldwide (and counting). Here, like-minded start-up and scale-up leaders enjoy a community that is beyond “unicorn” exponential financial growth. It is about creating lasting, sustainable, ethical businesses that serve society and planet well.

If you are reading this eBook you probably have an idea, a project or a thriving business that offers a solution to one of the many challenges we face in decarbonising the economy and finding new ways of ensuring welfare for all. May I congratulate you on your courage and I hope you find the information in this book useful on your way to getting your venture to the next level.

What are the Fundamentals of Funding Impact Ventures?

This book is written for the leaders and architects of impact ventures with the aim of providing an overview of the many ways of getting funding in the ‘20s. This is not a list of funders, but rather an introduction to the types of funding available, with the key facts relating to each funding option. The types of funding are split into separate chapters that follow the same structure to make it easy to assess which funding options are best suited to your impact venture. Once you have read the following pages, you will be able to talk about the various types of funding available with some authority, including a good understanding of the Pros, Cons and requirements of the funders.

We define Impact Ventures as businesses, public sector organisations, not-for-profits and consortiums seeking to develop new products, services or processes that are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). These ventures will leave a positive, measurable impact.

This eBook was written collaboratively by Alex Chalkley, co-founder of Venturenomix, Max Richmond, currently a degree student at Exeter University (UK) studying Renewable Energy Engineering and Sophie Glaser, an experienced proposal writer and project manager. The book was edited by Mareike Chalkley, MSc Candidate in Sustainability, Society & the Environment at Kiel University (Germany), and co-founder at Venturenomix.