Impact venture 2022
We are supporting the development of an ecosystem that nurtures and scales innovative ways of tackling social problems – through mission-driven enterprises that embed societal impact in their approaches. Tech-enabled business models can have a transformative impact on social issues, if they are deployed in the right context, with the right intent, and with a business model aligned to impact, particularly for subsets of social issues including health, mental health, education and financial inclusion.
To achieve this, we invest our capital with venture managers who are values-aligned to Big Society Capital and looking to enhance their impact practice, and with impact-dedicated managers who are pioneering innovative approaches. We seek to develop leadership in this area by pioneering new tools, systems and processes to enhance impact practice. We do this through engaging the ecosystem and building the movement around impact in venture.
- £17.5m Invested across 5 funds
- £250 start-ups receiving investment
- 10m people reached through digital products
Connecting Fund Managers
In 2022 we launched ImpactVC, a community for fund managers seeking to accelerate impact within venture capital. The ImpactVC community already includes c200 individuals representing c120 firms, and we have released our first impact resource, the VC Impact Playbook, to help venture capital firms improve how they source, select and support high-impact companies.
Investing in technology for better lives
We committed £17.5 million in five venture funds in 2022 – resulting in current commitments to more than 15 live venture funds in our wider portfolio. Through them the organisation has reached nearly 250 startups, and they in turn are reaching more than 10 million people with digital products.
| 2022 investments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Connect Ventures IV | £6m | Fund 4 from established seed-stage venture manager with focus on backing purpose-led, product-led founders of tech-enabled ventures. |
| Kindred Capital III | £5.1m | Kindred is a pre-seed and seed-stage venture investor with a focus on tech companies across sectors. |
| Zinc 2 VB LP | £3m | Zinc 2 is a fund vehicle to invest in seven venture building programmes and selected graduates at pre-seed and seed stage. It builds on Zinc’s work in mission-driven venture building since 2018, by scaling investment activity and continuing to develop a mission-led innovation ecosystem for impact in the developed world. |
| Ada Soc II | £3m | Ada Ventures makes pre-seed and seed investments in overlooked founders and companies serving overlooked customers. Ada intends to invest in 30 pre-seed and ten seed companies, following on with seven high-growth companies to Series A. BSC invested £3m in Ada Ventures I in 2020. |
| BGV Social Innovation Camp Loan | £0.5m | £0.5m loan to Social Innovation Camp to be repaid through distributions of Social Innovation Camp’s share of BGV LLP. |
Technology for better lives
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Learn moreUrban Jungle
Tech-enabled insurance provider on a mission to transform the UK home insurance market.
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Learn moreDrDoctor
DrDoctor is a digital platform that helps hospitals communicate more effectively with their patients.
