Sound Funding

Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Tim Schumacher, co-founder of World Fund, in Cologne.

World Fund is a €350 million climate fund that supports startups with the potential to remove 100 million tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. It funds tickets of €1-10 million around the world, with a sweet spot in the under-funded European climate ventures arena. We spoke about coding as a teenager, alternative proteins, and where to find the best view of Cologne.

Find World Fund at https://www.worldfund.vc/ and Tim Schumacher at https://www.linkedin.com/in/timschumacher/

 Never miss an episode of Sound Funding by following Ryan at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryangrantlittle/

Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Patrice Schneider, Chief Strategy Officer of the Media Development Investment Fund. Patrice is a war correspondent-turned-fund manager (how many people can say that?) and has been a leading voice in media independence in his role at MDIF for 18 years. They spoke about topics ranging from blended capital through to how to rebuild the media landscape in Ukraine. Find out more about MDIF at https://www.mdif.org/

Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Zeineb Fakhfakh, Managing Director of Impact Partner in Tunisia.

Impact Partner runs Tunisia’s only impact fund, the aptly named Social Business Fund. It works with early-stage startups to support employment, gender equality, and the environment. They talked about how corporates and startups can partner to innovate, Tunisia’s next generation, and how to think about a trip to the country’s capital.

You can find Impact Partner on the web here https://www.impactpartner.co/

Host Ryan Grant Little spoke with Elena Casolari, CEO and Co-Founder of Opes Italia in Milan.

Opes Italia is a €36 million impact fund active across Italy addressing topics like youth unemployment, the marginalization of migrants, and gender inequity. It was spun out of the Opes-LCEF foundation, where Elena is Chair and co-founder. The foundation is also an active impact investor, with a global remit.

Here is the little church Elena mentions at the end of the episode: https://goo.gl/maps/gsmuhEHyXTn19Lvv8

This episode was created in collaboration with Medwaves.

Host Ryan Grant Little spoke to Myrna Atalla, Executive Director of Alfanar. Myrna has been working in the social investment space for almost 20 years. Now her team is putting together a 50 Million Dollar impact fund which will be the largest of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Learn more: https://www.alfanar.org/

This episode was created in collaboration with Medwaves.

Innpact provides specialised advisory services in the establishment and management support of impact finance initiatives. Since 2007, Innpact has supported the establishment of 30 impact finance vehicles in excess of €7 billion. I spoke with founder Arnaud Gillin about the power of blended finance, why Luxembourg has to be careful not to lose its primacy as a location for impact fund domiciling, and where to find the best Belgian breweries. 

The European Investment Fund is a pillar of Europe’s impact investing construct, backing and matching funds across the European Union. Elodie Donjon is Investment Manager at the EIF and has been there for an impressive 17 years. We talked about what the EIF is looking for in funds and teams, how it has evolved over her tenure there, and where to catch live music in Luxembourg. Elodie is happy to hear from fund managers directly by email at e.donjon -at - eif.org and you can visit them online at http://www.eif.org

TIlia Impact Ventures is the first social impact fund in the Czech Republic, focused on building social enterprises with sustainable and replicable/scalable business models, aligned with significant and measurable societal impact. More at http://tiliaimpactventures.cz/

Impact Days are June 2-3 in Vienna: https://impactdays.at/

EVPA Central Eastern Europe info at https://evpa.eu.com/membership/central-eastern-europe-cee

The surely beautiful but very hard to pronounce parks in Prague Silke mentions are:

Valdštejnská zahrada - Wallenstein Garden
Vrtbovská zahrada - Vrtba garden
Vojanovy Sady – Vojan Garden

SI2 Fund identifies impact ventures offering breakthrough innovations to tackle societal challenges, and helps them scale with tailored capital, active in-kind support and access to networks. SI² Fund is an active investor, partnering with businesses within Benelux and neighbouring countries for social impact and financial success. Find out more at https://shapingimpact.group/en/funds/si2-fund/