The impact VC fund arm of UK social innovation agency Nesta today announced a new £50 million funding pot to back early-stage impact startups.
Founded in 2011, Nesta Impact Investments typically backs startups in the UK as well as deals across Europe, investing at seed and series-A stage. The fund structure derives capital from Nesta's permanent endowment fund.
With this latest funding pot, Nesta aims to drive progress toward its 2030 global impact goals in three key areas: ensuring every child has a fair start, helping people live healthy lives and creating a sustainable economy.
The new funds are expected to underwrite 5 to 10 investments per year. Typically Nesta's cheque sizes range from £500,000 to £1 million, and the fund can invest to £4 million per startup across multiple rounds.
According to figures from Beauhurst, Nesta Impact Investments has been the most active impact fund in the UK market for the past decade. It's taken shares in a number of renowned UK startups, notably in the digital academic textbook portal BibliU, a University of Oxford incubator alum that now serves 112 leading universities.
Around half of the £50 million in new funds will go to making direct investments from Nesta Impact Investments over the next five years.
As for the remaining £25 million, Nesta says this will be re-invested in its impact founders partnership with the pan-European early-stage VC Founders Factory, the accelerator called Nesta x Founders Factory Venture Studio.
In its announcement, Nesta also revealed its latest impact budget's initial deals: in online childcare agency Koru Kids, type 2 diabetes treatment startup Habitual Health, and appetite control pill developer Oxford Medical Products.
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