Venture capital

The investment is in Sistafund, a French venture capital fund backing early-stage tech companies led by women and where women hold at least 30% of the founder shares.

The Invest in Women Taskforce aims to tackle the vast gender gap in equity finance in the UK. Funding will go towards supporting firms founded by women, or into a specialist ‘Women backing Women’ fund.

Five venture capital funds have worked together to develop a handbook for implementing the European Investment Fund’s approach for linking impact to carried interest.

The company’s software, which improves the accuracy and efficiency of breast cancer detection, is used widely in Germany and is also being trialled in India. Vara is backed by European family offices and other investors.

Jinko offers personalised supportive care to people affected by cancer. The company aims to use the funds to grow its partnerships, boost its visibility among patients and healthcare professionals, and enhance its digital application.

Impact investors are making allocations to Redcliffe Labs, the Indian diagnostics service provider. The country’s diagnostics market is estimated to be worth about $15bn this year, with expected growth of 15% annually until 2030.

Impact market players say more work needs to be done in terms of education and provision of attractive investment opportunities if a wider group of investors is to be tempted to the impact sphere.

A yeast oil developed by a Dutch biotech firm may transform the food and personal care industries by slashing the carbon footprint of conventional palm oil, which can be found in 60% of supermarket products. 

The Swedish impact investor’s inaugural venture fund was backed by European institutional investors and will back companies developing solutions to address future health and environmental challenges.

Seaya’s founder Beatriz González is optimistic about prospects for the sector, despite the current tough investment environment and political uncertainties surrounding the pace of the energy transition.