ImpactSeed
ImpactSeed aims to unlock the potential of social enterprises in Central and Eastern Europe by bridging the gap between visionary changemakers and the capital they need to grow. Co-funded by the European Union, the project empowers early-stage social ventures through hands-on mentoring, tailored investment readiness tools, and the creation of a new cross-border impact investment fund. By working closely with local partners, ImpactSeed cultivates a stronger, more connected social finance ecosystem—one that ensures promising ideas in underserved regions can flourish, scale, and drive meaningful change across Europe.
Title: Cultivating Cross-Border Social Impact Investing in the CEE and Beyond
Grant Agreement No.: 101189507
Duration: January 2025 – December 2026 (24 months)
EU Contribution: €399,524.26
Total Budget: €470,028.53
Project Coordinator: Magda Krakowiak (EVPA)
Funding Programme: ESF-2023-SUPPLY-DEMAND
PROJECT MAIN ACTIVITIES
One key activity is the establishment of a new impact investment fund by FeelsGood Capital called “Feels Better”, which will have a total size of €60 million, with €10 million dedicated to supporting early-stage companies. This fund will only provide financing to companies based in EU countries. The project will provide the necessary funding and support to structure this impact investing vehicle.
To plant the seeds for similar instruments in the other participating countries, the project will invest efforts in developing an online investment readiness platform, which two partner organizations will use: the ACT Group from Croatia and Fund 2470 from Slovenia. This platform will support a pilot program with 14 companies. If this pilot is evaluated positively, the project will roll out the platform on a broader basis. It will be based on the existing platform used by FeelsGood Capital and is scheduled to be available in English by June 2025.
The project also includes organising a pitching event in October 2025 in Budapest, where 10 entrepreneurs from Croatia and Slovenia will have the opportunity to present their businesses to investors. Additionally, a market research and mapping study of the investment landscape in 8 countries (in the Balkans, Slovenia, and Croatia) will be completed by the end of 2025.
The project’s communication activities will include three webinars: the first will focus on the launch of the investment readiness platform, the second on the results of the pilot program, and the third on the launch of the “Feels Better” fund in 2026. Impact Europe will be responsible for coordinating the communication and dissemination efforts in collaboration with the project partners.
PROJECT MAIN ACTIVITIES
One key activity is the establishment of a new impact investment fund by FeelsGood Capital called “Feels Better”, which will have a total size of €60 million, with €10 million dedicated to supporting early-stage companies. This fund will only provide financing to companies based in EU countries. The project will provide the necessary funding and support to structure this impact investing vehicle.
To plant the seeds for similar instruments in the other participating countries, the project will invest efforts in developing an online investment readiness platform, which two partner organizations will use: the ACT Group from Croatia and Fund 2470 from Slovenia. This platform will support a pilot program with 14 companies. If this pilot is evaluated positively, the project will roll out the platform on a broader basis. It will be based on the existing platform used by FeelsGood Capital and is scheduled to be available in English by June 2025.
The project also includes organising a pitching event in October 2025 in Budapest, where 10 entrepreneurs from Croatia and Slovenia will have the opportunity to present their businesses to investors. Additionally, a market research and mapping study of the investment landscape in 8 countries (in the Balkans, Slovenia, and Croatia) will be completed by the end of 2025.
The project’s communication activities will include three webinars: the first will focus on the launch of the investment readiness platform, the second on the results of the pilot program, and the third on the launch of the “Feels Better” fund in 2026. Impact Europe will be responsible for coordinating the communication and dissemination efforts in collaboration with the project partners.
Program ImpactSeed – vabilo impact in socialnim podjetjem ter organizacijam k vključitvi
ImpactSeed je program, ki ga sofinancira EU in ga v letih 2025 in 2026 izvaja konzorcij pod okriljem Impact Europe.
Program je namenjen sprostitvi potenciala impact in socialnih podjetij ter organizacij v srednji in vzhodni Evropi, ki potrebujejo kapital v zgodnji fazi razvoja. Program ponuja praktično mentorstvo impact designa za maksimizacijo družbenih učinkov podjemov, uporabo digitalne platforme Feelsgood za pripravljenost na naložbe, brezplačna udeležba na predstavitvah impact in socialnih podjemov financerjem (prvi takšen dogodek bo investicijska konferenca v Budimpešti dne 9.10.2025), ustanovitev novega čezmejnega investicijskega sklada Feels Better ter pripravo impact in socialnih podjemov za financiranje iz sklada.
Partner programa v Sloveniji je FUND2740 – High Impact Foundation (www.fund2740).
Vključitev v program je mogoča BREZPLAČNO za impact podjetja in organizacije, ki izpolnjujejo vsaj en pogoj:
- imajo status socialnega podjetja
- so upravičeni do brezplačnega mentorstva Slovenskega podjetniškega sklada – SPS (P2, SK75, SI-SK ipd.) ali mentorstva SPIRIT (vključenost v program SIO – subjekti inovativnega okolja ipd.) in nas izberejo za mentorstvo
- so vključena v podporna okolja (inkubatorji, pospeševalniki itd.) s katerimi ima FUND2740 sklenjeno pogodbo o sodelovanju in brezplačni podpori
- so člani AIAI mreže (12 mesečna članarina IMPACT FAN, 299,00 EUR)
- so v letu 2024 ali 2025 donirali preko 1.000 EUR Skladu 05 – ustanovi za družbene naložbe
Vabimo slovenska impact in socialna podjetja in organizacije, ki bi želela sodelovati v ImpactSeed programu, da nam javijo interes na info@fund2740.com.
Za dodatne informacije smo dosegljivi na +386 41 684 182 (mag. Primož Šporar), na www.fund2740.com se lahko naročite tudi na video klic.
Več informacij o programu najdete na www.fund2740.com in na spletni podstrani ImpactSeed https://fund2740.com/category/impactseed/.
