Any early or growth stage for-profit company registered in Europe (including the UK), that has a social and/or ecological impact with at least one underrepresented founder**.

The startups should ideally be ready for an investment round by January 2024. We are raising a pre-seed/seed impact investment fund that we hope to have live by then. We aim to invest in companies coming from our impact ecosystem, which you can join by applying. We have screened over 5000 impact startups so far and are honored to dive into yours..

**An underrepresented founder has a broad definition to reflect and acknowledge the many dimensions in which our founders have had to beat the odds. This includes differently-abled people, people from a migration background, people of all (non-)gender identities, people of colour, neurodivergent minds, trauma survivors, etc.

Preferably yes, but it could also be registered by March 2025.

The cost of participation comes out of our €150.000 investment and constitutes of €40.000 (excl VAT). This excludes travel costs to the Retreat.

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We will accept 7 companies in this cohort.

In this programme, we're focusing on businesses that have or will take a for-profit legal form. If yours is non-profit, please drop us a line, we're looking to do a cohort with non-profits and will keep you posted!

We will invest €150.000 via Impact Shakers Ventures I in a SAFE type convertible loan or equity. The Impact Shakers Ventures Fund I is a separate legal entity. (Note: It is not the Microfund, which is our first cooperative fund.)

The selection is done through a well-researched and detailed Due Diligence process.

The choice of projects is made through a rigorous selection and validation process, involving cooperators as well as external experts. A triple-checking system ensures a selection with the utmost care. This process of analysis of projects and its criteria is detailed in the Rules of Procedure available on the Impact Shakers Ventures Fund website.

If you pass to the next round, we will get in touch with you for an interview. If you submit early, this could be before the closing of applications. We want to get to know you better before we agree to work together for a pretty long time. Submitting early is a good idea!

We will notify all applicants before the start of the accelerator.

All countries on the continent Europe (including the UK).

The support is mostly provided online.

We host an in person retreat yearly (which we expect you to attend) and events across Europe (which are when it works for you).

If you believe the new information is crucial, feel free to email us at hello@impactshakers.com.

First of all, we fuel your growth with our money. And as money is still a blunt instrument, we accelerate your growth by challenging as well as supercharging your priorities.

Many accelerators are full of shiny distractions: random tips and tricks that may or may not be applied in the future. We don’t make you waste time you don’t have.

We set up a personal and company development plan to review your priorities together. We set milestones which we’ll track and work towards in progress coaching.

The programme runs for 6 months. You will have to dedicate time to attending the programme and executing the gained knowledge. Any time spent in the accelerator is aimed at having a 2-6x return on investment by saving you time through shortcuts.

Depending on the companies' maturity and the founders' experience level, you will need to allocate 1-3 days per week.

Most founders have estimated they spent about one day a week, which is generally lower than other accelerators. If your company is in its earlier stages, and you are a first-time founder, 2-3 days per week are to be expected.

We need one founder to participate consistently in the accelerator, and your co-founders are welcome to participate throughout.

Note: Through our fund’s investment, we’ll have a much longer (6-10 years until exit) ongoing relationship.

That’s your call, and it is of course allowed, but definitely not recommended. Founders who do two acceleration programs at once tend to get confused by too many opinions. They also get spread too thin by managing two agendas.

To them, our advice is to choose the accelerator that feels like it aligns with your values most. That will make it easier to leverage the experience of that accelerator to develop your own intuition and perspectives, instead of making continuous trade-offs on which opinion to follow.

Note: You'll spend between 1 and 3 days per week in our accelerator. Many accelerators take up more time (though aren't transparent about it upfront). Participating in both will likely leave no time to work in your business.

You will get notified before the start of the accelerator.

We will have your application on file, and if it’s complete and relevant it will be added to our deal flow database.

We will use your data in accordance to our privacy and data policies.

First and foremost, we will use your data for the purpose of selection into our accelerator.

Secondly, we will share your data with associated Impact Shakers Investors for the purpose to help you raise investment.

If you have any other questions you need answered before applying: email us at hello@impactshakers.com.

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