Impact — market maps and research
By: Saira Gill
Tags: Entrepreneurship, Impact Investing, Tech For Good, Venture Capital

Co-written with Anouk Banlier

In this article, we have collated the best of the high-quality, freely accessible market research and company maps we found in the space for founders, investors and the broader ecosystem.

Whilst researching most impact verticals, one of the most striking things is the number of high-quality market maps and research in ClimateTech. Equally apparent, however, is the fact that due to lack of cooperation, funds frequently replicate research and content already produced by other impact actors, instead of joining forces to build upon existing research and extract deeper insights. This is what we referred to as the collaboration gap in this previous article.

If we have missed any, do please comment on this article or contact me and we will update this article to include them.

Impact investing accounts for over 15% of total European VC investment, 3x more than in 2010. (Dealroom Impact and Innovation Platform Launch Report)

Impact, Generalists

A short introduction to impact VC in Europe published ahead of the launch of their impact innovation database last year.

ClimateTech:

A crowdsourced list of over 1000 climate tech companies across Europe. A market map will be published later this month — one can add companies to the list until then.

European Climate Tech Startup List (Speedinvest & Creandum)

A list of early-stage climate-tech companies nominated by climate VCs, angels, accelerators and family offices, published once per year.

Energy

Highlights early winners in the space, and breaks down the renewable energy startup landscape.

Renewable Energy Tech Startup Landscape (Energy Impact Partners)

Food and AgriTech

A complete overview of trends in the foodtech space, the evolution of VC funding and market maps by sub-sector including unicorns and rising stars.

The State of European Foodtech 2021 (Dealroom and Five Seasons Ventures)

Inspired by the Fortune 500 lists, this yearly ranking selects the 500 most promising startups and scaleups in food and agritech globally, based on business size, digital footprint, and sustainability practices.

While access to the full database is paid, the lite version will already give you access to an overview of thousands of startups and scaleups.

A complete overview of trends and opportunities in foodtech including VC allocation and market maps by sub-sector.

This Foodtech-focused edition of SeedTable gives a great overview of the ecosystem including top angels, funds, accelerators and companies. You can sign up for the Seedtable newsletter here.

Manufacturing and Circular economy

A short summary of the opportunities for innovation, VC investment trends and the most promising venture-backed companies working on each of the main building materials.

Although not VC-specific, this report outlines a lot of the opportunities in the circular economy, as well as ways to analyse the impact of companies in this space.

(Ellen MacArthur Foundation)

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation publishes other high-quality reports regularly on other verticals as they relate to the circular economy; fashion, materials or artificial intelligence, for example.

Transport and mobility

A complete overview of trends and opportunities in transport and mobility including VC allocation and market maps by sub-sector.

This is not the most recent article (2019), but it does include a comprehensive market map.

The European Mobility Startup Landscape (UVC Partners, Alex Kiltz)

Equal opportunities:

Health and femtech

A complete overview of trends and opportunities in health tech including VC allocation and market maps by sub-sector. Another White Star Capital report deep dives into the Wellbeing sector, including mental health.

Note that health tech will also cover a lot of non-impact companies in these reports.

This Femtech-focused edition of SeedTable gives a good overview of the ecosystem including top angels, funds, accelerators and companies. You can sign up for the Seedtable newsletter here.

Published last month, this article highlights a few of Citizen Capital’s top picks: 170 companies in eleven areas of women’s health.

(Citizen Capital, Diane de Boubée)

Financial inclusion

Inclusive Fintech — The 2020 inclusive fintech 50

The fintech for good landscape is not as extensively researched as others, but this list highlights 50 of the most promising early-stage companies in financial inclusion.

Education

A complete, data-rich report of opportunities and promising ventures in EdTech globally. Of course, this is another space where not all companies necessarily qualify as impact.

The Global EdTech landscape (Navitas Ventures)

Inclusion and diversity

Although we did not find market maps or reports on venture opportunities in this space, some great sources on inclusion and diversity in VC itself include

Getting involved

If you have input on any of the topics above, if you would like to be involved in our impact initiative supporting founders in the ecosystem, or if you are a founder working on an early-stage company, please fill in this form or comment below.