Pre-Seed

Ashoka is one of the world’s leading organizations supporting social entrepreneurs. Founded in 1980, Ashoka pioneered the concept of social entrepreneurship and has built a global network of changemakers working to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Through its flagship Ashoka Fellows program, the organization identifies and supports high-impact entrepreneurs with funding, mentorship, and a powerful global network. Ashoka’s broader mission is to create a world where everyone is a changemaker, embedding social innovation across education, business, and civil society.

Avaana Capital is an India-based venture capital firm investing in climate and sustainability solutions across sectors such as energy, mobility, agriculture, and industrial systems. The firm backs early-stage founders building scalable technologies that address climate change while driving economic growth. Co-founded by Anjali Bansal, Avaana combines deep operational expertise with a strong network across government, corporates, and global investors. The firm focuses on enabling the transition to a low-carbon economy through innovation and technology.

Azolla Ventures is a climate-focused venture capital firm that invests in breakthrough technologies designed to avert catastrophic climate change. They partner with visionary founders at the earliest stages of venture development, where both risk and reward are at their highest levels. The fund operates with an impact-first approach, prioritizing investments that hold potential for large-scale greenhouse gas reductions while promoting a more just climate for all. Founded by Prime Coalition and enabled by catalytic capital, Azolla Ventures seeks out bold entrepreneurs from all corners and embraces opportunities that fall outside of traditional venture capital norms. Azolla Ventures plays a crucial role in the climate investment ecosystem by focusing specifically on ventures with the potential for gigaton-scale CO2 equivalent reductions. Their mission-aligned approach and willingness to take on high-risk, high-reward opportunities at the earliest stages helps bridge the gap between innovative climate solutions and the capital needed to scale them globally.

Better Ventures is an early-stage impact venture capital firm investing in founders building solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. The firm backs companies across climate, health, circular economy, PropTech, and sustainable consumer sectors, with a focus on scalable technologies that deliver measurable impact. Operating with an “impact + return” philosophy, Better Ventures supports entrepreneurs not just with capital, but with access to a curated network of operators, angels, and advisors. The firm positions founders as the drivers of change, helping them scale companies that generate both financial returns and meaningful environmental and social outcomes.

Beyond Impact is an impact investment firm focused on accelerating the transition to a more sustainable, animal-free economy. Founded in 2017, the firm backs companies developing alternatives to animal-based products across food, materials, pharmaceuticals, and consumer goods. The firm’s mission centers on building a “kinder, cleaner, healthier world” by investing in scalable businesses that reduce environmental damage, eliminate animal suffering, and improve human health. Its portfolio targets high-growth sectors such as plant-based foods, alternative proteins, and next-generation biomaterials.

The Catalyst Fund is a pre-seed VC fund and accelerator that invests $200K in early-stage startups and follows on at Seed and Series A rounds. As a thesis-driven investor, they focus exclusively on backing founders building climate adaptation and resilience solutions across Africa. The fund operates as both an investor and venture builder, with ex-founders and operators providing hands-on support spending 400+ hours with each startup to accelerate growth. Since 2015, they have accelerated 81 companies across 19 markets, connecting startups to their global network of 250+ investors and ecosystem partners. Their comprehensive approach includes tailored venture building support across key business areas including data, tech, sales, talent, product, fundraising, and growth.

Cerulean Ventures is a $10 million pre-seed venture capital firm that backs founders building asset-light, rapid scaling software companies focused on climate solutions. They specifically target companies applying AI to build exponential solutions for nature and climate change. Their mission is to bring climate solutions to market quickly while fighting greenwashing and moving the climate economy beyond the green premium. Unlike traditional climate investors who focus on niche markets with green premiums or first-of-a-kind moonshots with decades-long timelines, Cerulean takes a different approach by identifying systemic leverage points where proprietary data, compute, AI scaling, and fintech solutions can rapidly scale. Cerulean matters in the ecosystem because they focus on transforming large economic sectors that have been resistant to digital transformation, including mining, niche manufacturing, soft tropical commodities, pharma supply chains, and emerging markets of natural capital and biodiversity. They position themselves as addressing the gap in climate investing by targeting systemic change rather than status quo business model disruptions.

Climate Collective is a leading innovation network that specializes in putting digital technologies to work for climate and nature at scale. They focus on connecting AI and digital tools with environmental impact, running innovation programs and building AI fluency across climate and nature nonprofits. The organization operates by connecting innovators, nonprofits, and global leaders to turn technology into lasting climate and nature impact. They accomplish this through running innovation programs, building AI fluency across climate and nature organizations, and convening sustainability leaders and technologists to foster collaboration and knowledge sharing. Climate Collective plays a crucial role in the ecosystem by bridging the gap between technology innovation and environmental impact. Their flagship AI Explorers Summit brings together 100 leaders annually and is co-hosted by major organizations like Conservation International, UNDP, and TechChange, demonstrating their significant influence in shaping how AI is responsibly deployed for climate and nature solutions.

era92 Fund is a Uganda-based impact investment and microfinance platform focused on expanding economic opportunity across Africa. The organization provides capital and financial services to startups, SMEs, and micro-entrepreneurs building businesses that improve livelihoods and strengthen local economies. Operating through two core divisions, era92 Finance and era92 Ventures, the fund combines inclusive lending with patient impact capital to support entrepreneurs solving critical social and economic challenges. Its mission centers on reversing poverty and creating long-term prosperity through financial inclusion and social enterprise development.

gBETA Social Impact is a free, seven-week accelerator program that works specifically with startups and emerging nonprofits committed to making positive community and global impact. The program focuses on supporting companies building products or services that address equity in education and criminal justice reform. gBETA Social Impact operates as a comprehensive accelerator offering mentorship, office hours, sponsor connections, and learning opportunities culminating in a pitch night. As a free program, it removes financial barriers for social impact entrepreneurs and provides structured support through a seven-week intensive format that includes access to mentors, educational sessions, and networking opportunities. The program serves as an important gateway for social impact startups in underserved sectors like education equity and criminal justice reform. By offering free access to accelerator resources typically available only to traditional startups, gBETA Social Impact fills a critical gap in the ecosystem for mission-driven entrepreneurs. The program is sponsored by multiple organizations and operates as part of the gener8tor network, providing credibility and resources to emerging social ventures.

The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment operates through both philanthropic grants and strategic investments to address climate change and environmental degradation. They focus on protecting and improving the health of the global environment through a dual approach of funding environmental advocacy, applied research into climate solutions, and investing in entrepreneurs building green industries and technologies. Their mission is to protect and conserve the natural environment, with communication and collaboration as top priorities to build widespread public support for preventing catastrophic climate change. The Foundation operates as a 501(c)(3) private foundation with five Grantham family trustees, while also working through The Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust, a public charity with independent trustees from major environmental organizations including Rare, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund US, and Rocky Mountain Institute. Established by Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham, the Foundation plays a significant role in the environmental ecosystem by addressing what they identify as humanity's greatest challenge - climate change and the race against time to avoid existential threats. Their impact matters because they recognize that environmental philanthropic resources are immense compared to available funding, making strategic alliances and targeted investments in both advocacy and technological innovation crucial for preventing catastrophic environmental change.

Human Ventures is a next-generation venture capital firm and business creation platform that takes a human-first approach to investing. They partner with founders at the earliest stages of development and back them until their vision becomes reality, focusing on companies that meet essential human needs across health and wellness, workplace innovations, community connection, and transformational lifestyle changes. The firm operates through a collaborative three-component platform designed to support entrepreneurs in the earliest stages of growth. This includes Build Studio for turning early-stage ideas into launch-ready companies, their Fund for investing in the future of human needs, and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Program that brings the entrepreneur community together to build innovative solutions. Based in New York, Human Ventures embodies and promotes the diversity, resilience, and ambition characteristic of the city's entrepreneurial ecosystem. Their impact extends beyond traditional venture capital through their comprehensive support system that focuses on building better entrepreneurs as much as better companies, guided by core values of growth, courage, resilience, openness, collaboration, and gratitude.

Hustle Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in hustlers at the pre-seed and seed stages, focusing on hilariously early startups. They position themselves as investors who back entrepreneurs with strong hustle and drive, regardless of traditional pedigree or background. The fund operates with a mission to democratize entrepreneurship and investing, offering extensive resources including blogs, books, newsletters, and educational content for both founders and investors. They provide practical, non-BS advice through multiple channels and maintain an active community of entrepreneurs and investors. Hustle Fund has created significant impact in the startup ecosystem by making angel investing accessible to people from all walks of life through their Angel Squad program, which includes over 2000+ angel investors. They matter because they're breaking down barriers in venture capital, teaching investment strategies to a broader audience, and fostering a community where aspiring entrepreneurs can learn, connect, and access capital regardless of their background or network.

Impact Engine is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests in companies driving positive impact across three core areas: economic empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, and health. As a registered investment advisor, they build and manage diversified portfolios that seek to optimize both financial and social returns through their dual approach of fund investments and direct co-investments. Their mission centers on bringing more capital to markets where financial returns drive positive social and environmental impacts. They operate through multiple strategies including private equity fund investments balanced across growth equity and buyout stages, co-investments in select portfolio companies, and bespoke partnership vehicles tailored to meet specific investor objectives in collaboration with partners like Bernstein Private Wealth Management. Impact Engine has established itself as a recognized leader in the impact investing ecosystem, earning recognition as a Top Impact Company 2025 and inclusion in the ImpactAssets 50 as an Emeritus Impact Manager. Their portfolio companies have demonstrated significant real-world impact, with measurable outcomes like preventing millions of pounds of food waste, improving patient quality of life, and saving millions for student loan borrowers, positioning them as a meaningful force in scaling impact-driven businesses.

Katapult is a Norwegian impact investor that accelerates and invests in technology companies solving the world's greatest challenges. They focus on highly scalable impact tech startups, with specific investment programs including Katapult Ocean for startups with positive ocean impact and Katapult Africa for climate-tech startups addressing Africa's pressing challenges. The organization operates through a comprehensive platform approach, combining investment with accelerator programs to strengthen their support for promising impact tech startups. Since 2017, they have conducted 10 flagship accelerator programs and 3 corporate accelerators, while also establishing the Katapult Foundation in 2020 to focus on building the impact community and education around impact investment. Katapult has established significant influence in the global impact investment ecosystem, having invested in 169 companies across 47 different countries. Their platform approach enables domain experts to launch lean and efficient investment vehicles, while initiatives like Katapult Future Fest, Katapult X, and the Nordic Investment Network help build the broader impact investing community and demonstrate their commitment to scaling both profit and impact.

LowCarbon.Earth is a climate-tech accelerator that supports early-stage startups developing innovative solutions to tackle climate change and environmental challenges across the Asia-Pacific region. The program focuses on sustainable goods and services addressing climate change, nature loss, and pollution across core sectors including renewable energy, mobility, air quality, and sustainable agriculture. Launched in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by Massive Earth Foundation, the accelerator operates through intensive bootcamps, workshops, mentorship programs, networking sessions, and investor pitch opportunities. Their mission centers on catalyzing climate action by empowering passionate founders and creating scalable, impactful solutions for a sustainable future. Since inception, LowCarbon.Earth has established itself as a significant force in the Asia-Pacific climate innovation landscape, having evaluated over 3,000 startups and supported more than 180 through their programs. The accelerator has gained recognition through national media coverage including CNBC Awaaz and has built a vibrant community of founders, industry leaders, investors, and VCs who collectively shape climate-tech innovation across the region.

New Climate Ventures (NCV) is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in innovative startups building the future of how we produce, power and consume. They focus on companies developing technologies for carbon reduction or avoidance, taking an active and diversified investment approach that leverages their expertise in energy, commodities, climate, technology, finance, and regulatory analysis. NCV's mission centers on the belief that a new industrial renaissance is underway where emerging technologies can transform our environmental impact without requiring lifestyle changes. They partner with entrepreneurs to navigate early stages of company development by providing operational guidance, investment expertise, team-building support, and mentoring, while connecting founders to their global network of investors, startups, and corporations. The firm plays a crucial role in the climate technology ecosystem by empowering entrepreneurs to turn visions into commercially successful companies that drive a cleaner, greener future. NCV is committed to sustainable best practices and integrates sustainability as the baseline for their investment thesis, positioning themselves as leaders in supporting technologies that achieve both commercial success and environmental impact.

Reach Capital is a leading early-stage venture capital firm that has been backing visionary founders since 2015 across learning, health, and work sectors. The firm invests in entrepreneurs building technologies that expand access to opportunity and care, with a belief that when people can grow their skills, nurture relationships, maintain health, and find meaning in work, communities thrive. Reach Capital brings a distinctly 'liberal arts' approach to supporting founders, with team members having diverse backgrounds as former founders, operators, educators, designers, and writers. Impact is at the heart of their work, measuring success across three dimensions: access, scale, and quality to ensure solutions reduce barriers and deliver meaningful outcomes.

Regeneration.VC is a venture capital firm that invests in early-stage Consumer ClimateTech startups focused on driving the circular economy through sustainable innovation in materials, consumer products, and carbon solutions. The firm specifically targets climate-focused companies that are working to transform unsustainable consumption models and create regenerative value chains. Their mission is to regenerate consumer industry value chains to meet planetary boundaries, recognizing that humanity currently consumes nearly twice what Earth can replenish and that 7 of the 9 planetary boundaries have been transgressed. They operate with a theory of change centered on transforming the "take-make-waste" consumption model that drives climate change and biodiversity loss by investing in solutions that enable circular and regenerative approaches. Regeneration.VC matters in the impact ecosystem because they take a rigorous, data-driven approach to measuring circularity and regenerative impact through their CRISP protocol, developed in partnership with Circle Economy Foundation. The fund brings together a multi-disciplined team of investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, and corporate leaders, with strategic advisor Leonardo DiCaprio, positioning them as a significant player in scaling breakthrough technologies that can deliver outsized net environmental benefits.

Responsibly Ventures is a PreSeed VC Impact Fund focused on backing remarkable teams building startups in sustainability and social good sectors. They support founders in realizing what they call 'Venture Scale Positive Impacts' by investing in companies that create measurable environmental and social benefits alongside financial returns. Their mission centers on understanding not just what teams are building, but why they're building it and who they're building it for at a fundamental level. They operate by seeking startups with an 'impact moat' - where the company's mission-driven focus provides a unique strategic advantage in the market. The fund actively promotes all forms of positive impact as core value drivers, including diversity, inclusion, empathy, social responsibility, ethics, and actions focused on both people and planet. Responsibly Ventures has created meaningful impact in the venture ecosystem through their portfolio companies and broader community initiatives. Their partner community 'posi2ive' includes over 10,000 impact-aligned investors and founders, creating a network effect for sustainable innovation. They've demonstrated concrete results through portfolio companies like Kidsy (diverted over 1 million pounds of products from landfill) and it's electric (expanding EV charging access across 9 cities), proving that impact and venture-scale returns can coexist effectively.

SEED SPOT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that educates, accelerates, and invests in diverse entrepreneurs who are creating solutions to social problems. They focus on supporting underrepresented entrepreneurs through comprehensive programs including accelerators, mentorship, and capital access across key areas like health and wellness, environmental sustainability, equality and economic opportunity, civic engagement, and education. The organization operates with a mission to make entrepreneurship accessible to all by surrounding entrepreneurs with resources, mentors, business fundamentals, community partners, and capital sources. Their unique approach centers entrepreneurs' needs and lived experiences, with particular emphasis on serving those underserved by traditional systems and programs. They offer multiple specialized programs including Impact Accelerator, Retail Brand Accelerator, Mental & Behavioral Health Impact Accelerator, and Youth Entrepreneurship initiatives. SEED SPOT has demonstrated significant impact in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, having served over 3,000 entrepreneurs and facilitated $122 million in capital raised. Their work has created over 5,300 jobs and generated $306 million in revenue, with 76% of their supported entrepreneurs being traditionally underrepresented and 56% being women founders. The organization addresses 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, making them a crucial player in scaling social impact ventures globally.

Shell Foundation is a philanthropic foundation that enables millions of people in Africa and Asia to increase their incomes with clean energy solutions. The foundation focuses on three core people: smallholder farmers, transporters, and micro-entrepreneurs, working to impact their livelihoods through innovative partnerships and catalytic finance. The organization partners with public and private organizations to foster early-stage innovation and scale commercial clean energy solutions. Shell Foundation emphasizes its independence as key to delivering its mission and maintains strategic partnerships, including a unique partnership with the FCDO, to maximize impact across their target regions.

Stray Dog Capital is a venture capital fund investing in innovative, early-stage companies across the food, beverage, and biotechnology sectors that are driving a healthier, humane, and more sustainable future. The fund focuses on plant-based food and beverage products, cellular agriculture companies using tissue engineering and fermentation, food technology innovations, and other ventures aligned with their mission of creating healthier and more sustainable outcomes. The Stray Dog Capital team brings broad experience as entrepreneurs, operators, advisors, and investors, with a deep passion for partnering with game-changing companies to realize both significant social impact and commercial success.

SustainVC is an impact-focused venture capital firm that backs innovative entrepreneurs working toward a sustainable, more equitable, and healthier world. The firm focuses on two primary impact areas: Climate & Sustainability, and Access & Opportunity, targeting companies that can deliver both positive impact and positive returns. Their mission centers on supporting entrepreneurs who share their vision of creating systemic change through market-driven solutions. SustainVC operates with the philosophy that profitable investments and meaningful impact can go hand in hand, seeking to accelerate positive change through strategic capital deployment. The firm plays an important role in the impact investing ecosystem by bridging the gap between traditional venture capital and social impact. With offices in Boston, Durham, and Philadelphia, SustainVC positions itself as a key player in supporting the growth of companies that can address critical societal and environmental challenges while generating strong financial returns.

Techstars is the original mentorship-driven accelerator that operates a global network of 3-month accelerator programs focused on early-stage startups across various tech verticals. They invest in startups led by founders building solutions for the future, providing capital investment, intensive mentorship, and access to their worldwide network of over 1,100 mentors. Techstars operates under a "Give First" philosophy, helping entrepreneurs without expecting immediate returns by combining capital, mentorship, partnerships, and community-building initiatives. Their accelerator model features small class sizes and focuses on helping founders find product-market fit, gain traction, and access ongoing capital and mentorship throughout the program and beyond. Since 2006, Techstars has established itself as a major force in the startup ecosystem, having helped launch thousands of companies including dozens of unicorns like Chainalysis, Zipline, and DataRobot. Their impact extends across more than 150 countries, with 125 of their portfolio companies achieving market caps greater than $100 million, demonstrating their significant influence in scaling startups into world-changing businesses.

Village Capital is an impact investment organization that unlocks social and financial capital for startups solving the world's biggest problems. They focus on three key thematic areas: Climate Innovation & Adaptation, Economic Mobility, and Equitable Access to Essential Services, supporting entrepreneurs through accelerator programs and comprehensive resources. Their mission centers on creating real impact by ensuring that startups and ecosystems grow together symbiotically. Village Capital operates by partnering with locally-led Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) to co-deliver programs, while also equipping these partners with tools, methodologies, and curriculum to strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems. Village Capital matters because they reimagine the entire entrepreneurship support system and build tools that benefit the broader community. They unlock capital through various financing structures including equity, debt, and revenue-share arrangements, connecting impact-creating startups with the appropriate type of capital for their specific needs. Their approach of working with local partners and supporting featured founders like QuinTerra and Tierra de Monte demonstrates their commitment to driving measurable environmental and social impact.