Accelerator Investors in Impact Finance

100x Impact Accelerator is a venture accelerator that backs impact ventures capable of improving hundreds of millions of lives through systemic change. They provide catalytic capital, world-class expertise, and access to a community of mentors, advisors, and funders, all focused on deep systems-change support. Their ventures deliver impact across education, climate, healthcare, and other global challenges. 100x Impact operates with the mission to scale social innovations that can achieve systemic change, recognizing that while the world has many social innovations, very few scale effectively. They are powered by LSE (London School of Economics) and leverage evidence-based research, expert guidance, and global convening reach. Their approach combines funding with LSE's academic rigor and venture insights shared across the ecosystem to drive impact at scale. The organization has established itself as a significant player in the impact investing ecosystem by backing 35 ventures that have collectively impacted 144 million lives across 45 countries. They have demonstrated their effectiveness by helping ventures secure substantially more capital after completing their program, with participants raising 15 times more funding. Their focus on creating 'impact unicorns' and sharing proven insights globally positions them as a catalyst for scaling impactful solutions worldwide.

Accelerating Asia Ventures is the leading early-stage venture capital accelerator in Southeast Asia and South Asia, focusing specifically on pre-Series A startups. They operate as both an accelerator and VC fund, targeting high-potential founders with real traction and grit who may not have traditional backgrounds but demonstrate strong business fundamentals. Their mission centers on investing in the region's best pre-Series A startups by providing capital, credibility, and hands-on partnership to help founders reach the next level. Licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, they fill a crucial gap in the funding ecosystem by focusing on startups that are 6-18 months away from institutional funding - companies with robust products at early stages of customer traction that are often overlooked by other investors. Accelerating Asia serves as a catalyst for positive change by backing undiscovered entrepreneurs and providing investor partners with systematic access to innovation in Asia's most dynamic markets. They focus not just on financial returns but on profitability, growth, and impact, operating with the guiding belief that entrepreneurs are one of humanity's greatest catalysts for positive change.

Acumen is a venture philanthropy organization that invests in visionary entrepreneurs building transformational companies from seed to scale. They focus on funding bold entrepreneurs who are creating inclusive solutions across sectors like sustainable agriculture, quality education, renewable energy, healthy communities, dignified jobs, and gender equality. Their mission is to break the cycle of poverty through patient capital investments in high-innovation, high-impact enterprises. They operate by deploying philanthropic capital to shape markets and support entrepreneurs who are addressing the world's toughest poverty-related challenges, investing where traditional funders won't. Acumen Ventures has established itself as a significant force in the impact investing ecosystem since 2001, with an A to Z directory of portfolio companies spanning over two decades. They matter because they've reinvented the rules of return, prioritizing impact alongside financial sustainability and helping to demonstrate that venture philanthropy can drive meaningful systemic change in underserved communities globally.

The Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (AFCIA) is a programme of the Adaptation Fund, implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP) Innovation Accelerator in Munich. It identifies, supports and scales locally rooted climate-adaptation solutions that protect food systems and livelihoods in communities hit by droughts, floods, storms and rising temperatures. AFCIA runs four regional cohorts from 2024 to 2029. Each year focuses on a different region. The first cohort (2024) supported ventures implementing in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. The Asia-Pacific sprint (2026) includes ventures in Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines. The third cohort targets Latin America and the Caribbean, with a live call for solutions tailored to climate-adaptation challenges in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Peru. The programme contributes to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 13 (Climate Action). It seeks both low- and high-tech innovations from established legal entities (for-profit, nonprofit, social business, NGO or INGO) that already have a presence in the country of implementation and are at least seed stage. Selected teams join a bootcamp, then can enter a nine-month Sprint with WFP support and equity-free funding. Applications for the LAC cohort close 13 September 2026, 23:59 UTC; only English submissions are accepted.

Antler is a global early-stage venture firm and company builder that invests at day zero, often before founders have a cofounder, product, or fully formed idea. Founded in Singapore in 2017 by Magnus Grimeland and Fridtjof Berge, Antler runs founder residencies across dozens of cities, matching teams, validating ideas, and writing the first check so ambitious operators can start companies that might not otherwise exist.

Entrepreneurs First (EF) is a global talent investor and accelerator that builds companies from exceptional individuals, often before they have a cofounder or idea. Founded in 2011 in London by Matt Clifford and Alice Bentinck, EF pioneered talent investing: matching high-potential founders, supporting them from ideation to first revenue, and backing them into Silicon Valley's top venture ecosystem across offices including London, San Francisco, and Bangalore.

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.

MassChallenge is a global accelerator network that backs entrepreneurs with the determination to solve the world's toughest challenges. Born in Massachusetts and built for the world, MassChallenge operates as a founder-focused organization that turns bold ideas into meaningful outcomes. The organization supports startups across multiple critical challenge areas without taking equity. MassChallenge focuses on accelerating solutions in five key challenge areas: Healthcare & Life Sciences, Security & Resiliency, Sustainable Food Systems, Climate, and Global Financial Systems. Through their accelerator programs, they connect founders with technical experts, industry leaders, and corporate partners who are committed to driving innovation and impact in these critical sectors.

MIT Solve is an initiative of MIT that provides social impact and entrepreneurship services, connecting startups with funding and resources to address global challenges. The organization launches open calls for exceptional and diverse solutions to pressing global problems from innovators anywhere in the world, focusing on areas including climate, economic prosperity, health, learning, indigenous communities, youth innovation, and innovative financing. MIT Solve operates on the belief that building a better future requires new voices and ideas from diverse sources. They run challenges to identify groundbreaking solutions, then provide selected innovators with the backing of MIT and their community of supporters to scale their impact and drive lasting change. The organization has established itself as a platform that bridges the gap between innovative solutions and the resources needed to implement them at scale. Over its ten-year history, MIT Solve has become a significant force in the global innovation ecosystem, having run over 100 challenges and received more than 26,800 applications from 185 countries. Their community of innovators and solutions have reached over 370 million lives worldwide, demonstrating tangible impact from refugee education in Lebanon to agricultural improvements in Ethiopia. The organization has mobilized over $80 million and forged over 1,000 partnerships, establishing itself as a crucial connector between social entrepreneurs and the resources they need to create meaningful change.

Norrsken is a non-profit impact ecosystem that connects entrepreneurs with the capital, knowledge, and network they need to build businesses focused on solving global challenges. They operate as a foundation that believes entrepreneurship and technology can be powerful forces for positive change, supporting founders who are making "saving the world their business." Their mission centers on the belief that if impact-driven entrepreneurs succeed, everyone benefits. Norrsken operates through a comprehensive ecosystem approach, providing not just funding but also knowledge sharing and networking opportunities to help founders scale their solutions. They position themselves as enablers of entrepreneurial solutions to global problems. Norrsken has established a significant presence in the impact investing ecosystem with physical locations across multiple continents including Amsterdam, Brussels, Barcelona, Kigali, and Stockholm. Their Houses serve as hubs for impact entrepreneurs, and they're expanding with new locations planned. They matter because they're creating infrastructure and community for impact entrepreneurship, bridging the gap between good intentions and scalable business solutions.

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.