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Seed

77 impact funders on Causeartist invest at the seed stage. Use this archive to find aligned capital for seed rounds, compare check sizes, and review sector and geography focus across active investors.

Related funder lists

BESTSELLER Foundation logo
BESTSELLER Foundation
Foundation, Corporate, Impact Fund, Grantmaker
BESTSELLER Foundation is a Danish commercial foundation established in 2015. It is funded by BESTSELLER, the family-owned fashion company, but operates as a separate legal entity from both BESTSELLER A/S and HEARTLAND A/S. The foundation's current strategy focuses on expanding economic opportunity for women, particularly their ability to create, work, and own. Its work is organized around three areas: Creative industries, including fashion, craft, music, and the arts Future of work, including reskilling, childcare, and workforce participation Ownership, including assets, businesses, income, and financial decision-making BESTSELLER Foundation uses both donations and impact investments and describes itself as a long-term, evergreen investor. Over its first 10 years, it reports making more than 25 impact investments and 100 donations across 25 countries. Its geographic focus includes South Asia, especially Bangladesh, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Current and recent partnerships have supported women artisans, small businesses, workforce participation, water resilience, and recovery efforts following major disruptions. The foundation's legal purpose is broader than its current public strategy. Its statutory mandate includes humanitarian work, poverty reduction, entrepreneurship, agriculture, and nature conservation. Earlier investment strategies also placed significant emphasis on circular economy and climate technology. Financial Snapshot At the end of 2024, the foundation reported: - DKK 109.7 million in total assets - DKK 85.9 million in equity - DKK 88.4 million in long-term investments - Approximately DKK 20 million distributed during the year - Approximately DKK 18 million invested during the year BESTSELLER's board also approved a preliminary DKK 250 million commitment for the foundation's 2024 to 2029 strategy. This represents committed future support, not capital already deployed. The foundation does not publish a standard grant size, investment check range, or formal scored application process. Potential partners can contact the team through its website.
Community DevelopmentEducationImpact Finance
Grantham Foundation logo
Grantham Foundation
Foundation
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.
Clean EnergyClimate TechEnvironment & Conservation
Green Accelerator logo
Green Accelerator
Accelerator
The Green Accelerator (GA) is a Hong Kong–hosted, philanthropy-funded nonprofit platform that prepares scalable, bankable green projects in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). It launched in 2026 at the Hong Kong Green Finance Association Annual Forum, with backing referenced in the Hong Kong SAR Government’s 2026–27 Budget. GA is built around the climate-finance “bankability gap”: many technically viable green projects in the Global South never reach financial close because they lack project preparation, proven operating models, and documentation that meet the investment criteria of multilateral development banks, sovereign wealth funds, and international commercial banks. The platform uses philanthropic capital for design, preparation, technical assistance, and capacity building so proven technologies can be assembled into investable portfolios. Work is organized across energy transition, sustainable food systems, circular economy, and water and climate resilience. A Steering Committee of founding members sets strategy; a secretariat and regional teams run day-to-day operations. Founding members named at launch include the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, the HKSAR Environmental Protection Department, GenZero, the Institute of Finance and Sustainability, the Silk Road Fund, and HSBC. The initiative is hosted by Sprinkles (HK) Charity Foundation, a Section 88 tax-exempt charity registered in Hong Kong, with listed office locations in Hong Kong, London, and Singapore.
Circular EconomyClean EnergyImpact Finance
Icehouse Ventures logo
Icehouse Ventures
Venture Capital
Icehouse Ventures is a New Zealand venture capital firm backing Kiwi founded companies with the potential to scale into global markets. The platform traces its roots to Ice Angels, launched in 2003 as New Zealand’s first angel investment network. It raised its first fund in 2013 and formally became Icehouse Ventures in 2019, when Simplicity KiwiSaver, Jarden, and Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 joined as shareholders. Today, Icehouse Ventures manages a range of investment vehicles spanning pre seed through pre IPO, supported by a co investor network of more than 3,000 investors. The firm says it has invested more than $800 million across more than 390 Kiwi founded companies. Its portfolio includes some of New Zealand’s better known technology companies, including Halter, Crimson Education, Sharesies, Partly, Hnry, Dawn Aerospace, Tracksuit, Tradify, Ethique, Basis, Fuel50, and Spalk, alongside international investments such as Wayve, Substack, and Nuro. Growth Fund III is currently being marketed as an open investment vehicle. Icehouse Ventures is a generalist technology investor rather than a dedicated climate fund, but sustainability is part of its broader investment framework. The firm publishes a Responsible Investment Policy aligned with the UN Principles for Responsible Investment, and Principal Bex Gidall leads both the Arc Fund and Sustainable Technologies Fund. Its climate and impact related portfolio includes companies such as Neocrete, which develops additives designed to reduce cement use in concrete, and Ethique, a solid personal care brand focused on reducing packaging waste.
Built EnvironmentEnvironment & ConservationImpact Finance
Interledger Foundation logo
Interledger FoundationNew
Foundation, Grantmaker, Accelerator, Fellowship
The Interledger Foundation is a U.S. nonprofit working to make digital payments more open, affordable, and accessible. It supports open payment technology and funds the developers, researchers, educators, and organizations building on it. Its work began with the Interledger Protocol, created in 2015 by Stefan Thomas and Evan Schwartz. The goal was to help money move between different banks, wallets, currencies, and payment networks as easily as information moves across the internet. The foundation became a nonprofit in 2019 and began operating publicly in 2021. Briana Marbury serves as president and CEO. Stefan Thomas chairs the board, and Evan Schwartz remains a director. The organization is based in San Francisco but has a distributed international team. The foundation supports three main technologies. The Interledger Protocol moves value between different financial systems. Open Payments gives developers a standard way to add payment features to their products. Rafiki provides open-source software that banks, wallets, and other regulated financial institutions can use to connect. The foundation does not charge a fee for using the protocol and has no investors. Grantmaking is also a major part of its work. The foundation reports awarding more than $21 million to over 300 projects across more than 45 countries. Its programs support payment infrastructure, education, research, leadership, public policy, and creative work exploring how financial systems are built. Grants range from small campus awards of up to $5,000 to larger fellowships and accelerator programs offering between $50,000 and $92,000. The foundation reported $96.4 million in net assets and $10.6 million in charitable distributions for the year ending December 2024. This financial base allows it to fund open payment technology and expand access to financial services without relying on protocol fees or outside investors.
AI & TechnologyArts, Culture & MediaCommunity Development
Masawa Fund logo
Masawa Fund
Impact Fund
Masawa Fund is a European venture capital fund that invests in seed-stage startups focused on mental health and wellness solutions. They target companies working on mental illness cures, mental wellness improvement, and addressing social determinants of mental health including sleep, nutrition, and loneliness. The fund operates in a $400 billion market, recognizing that 1 in 5 people will develop a mental health condition and that mental ill-health costs the EU €630 billion annually. Masawa operates through their "Nurture Capital" approach, which puts humans at the center of their investment strategy and focuses on organizational health and founder wellbeing to minimize risk. Their mission is to advance human flourishing by weaving people, purpose, and prosperity together, creating a compassionate world where people can thrive and reach their potential. The fund was sparked by their founder's personal experience with mental illness and their vision of making wellness accessible to all. Masawa matters in the ecosystem because they are addressing a critical gap where 65% of startups fail from people problems, and founders face 2-3 times higher rates of depression and substance abuse than the general population. They are working to humanize finance and evolve venture capital by supporting purpose-driven founders who are solving real human needs. Their approach recognizes that inner transformation enables outer change, positioning mental health as a catalyst for broader social and environmental solutions.
EducationHealth & Wellness
NorthX Climate Tech logo
NorthX Climate Tech
Accelerator, Impact Fund
NorthX Climate Tech is an independent Canadian nonprofit investor and commercialization catalyst for climate hard tech. Founded in October 2021 as the BC Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy (CICE), it launched with $105 million in commitments from the Government of British Columbia, Shell Canada, and the Government of Canada through Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program. NorthX is based at Suite 1210, 1066 West Hastings Street in Vancouver and is led by President and CEO Sarah Goodman. NorthX backs physical technologies that can reduce or remove greenhouse gas emissions while producing economic benefits for British Columbia and Canada. Its focus includes energy storage and grid capacity, industrial decarbonization, clean fuels, wildfire prevention and response, carbon management, climate adaptation, and other hardware- and materials-led solutions. The organization targets the commercialization gap between technical promise and market deployment, especially projects at technology readiness levels 4–9. Funding is non-dilutive and tailored by opportunity: NorthX says investments may be repayable or non-repayable, with approved Open Intake projects receiving milestone-based reimbursement funding. Support extends beyond capital to technical validation, lifecycle assessment, investor and industry introductions, market readiness, and follow-on funding. NorthX reports that, by May 2026, it had backed more than 74 projects with over $57 million and helped catalyze more than $600 million in follow-on investment. Those figures are reported by NorthX and are not presented as independently audited outcomes. The Women in Climate Tech initiative adds a gender-lens pathway for capital-intensive climate ventures. In September 2026, NorthX reported that more than $36 million had been committed across 45 projects at companies with women in leadership—over 58% of its total capital commitments—and that those investments had unlocked more than $430 million in additional capital.
Built EnvironmentCircular EconomyClean Energy
Prosper Global Ventures logo
Prosper Global Ventures
Venture Capital, Impact Fund, Accelerator
Prosper Global Ventures is the early-stage impact investing and venture-building platform of Prosper Global, the global development organization formerly known as Mercy Corps. The platform was founded in 2015 as Mercy Corps Ventures and now operates as a family of funds backing founders whose technologies help people and markets withstand climate and economic disruption. Its Resilient Future Thesis is organized around three connected areas: adaptive agriculture and food systems, inclusive climate fintech, and climate-smart technologies. The team invests primarily across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, prioritizing founders who understand the communities they serve and businesses that can scale across a region or globally. Earlier Fund I activity also included Southeast Asia. Prosper Global’s current Ventures page reports 61 early-stage companies supported, $753 million in follow-on capital catalyzed, and 46.3 million customers reached across 90 countries. Its 2025 impact report says 83% of portfolio companies had raised follow-on capital and 46% had at least one woman co-founder. These are Prosper Global Ventures’ reported portfolio figures, not independent impact measurements. The platform combines equity investment with pilots, technical assistance, impact measurement, partnerships, and post-investment support. Representative investments made under the Mercy Corps Ventures name include Pula, which provides agricultural insurance and advisory products for smallholder farmers; Floodbase, which develops flood-risk data and analysis; Wasoko, a last-mile commerce and financing platform for small retailers; AgriAku, an agricultural input marketplace; Ejara, an inclusive savings and investment platform; and Verqor, an agri-fintech platform serving farmers in Mexico. Prosper Global Ventures is embedded within Prosper Global’s humanitarian and development network, giving portfolio companies potential pathways to test products with communities affected by climate volatility, financial exclusion, fragile food systems, and infrastructure gaps. The venture platform is associated with Scott Onder, its co-founder and senior investment leader, while Tjada D’Oyen McKenna leads the parent organization as CEO.
Clean EnergyClimate TechImpact Finance
SEED SPOT logo
SEED SPOT
Accelerator
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.
Community DevelopmentSocial Enterprise