Munich-based venture capital firm Ananda Impact Ventures has secured €73 million in the first close of its fifth Core Impact Fund, exceeding its €50 million target and marking the largest first close in the firm’s 16-year history. The new fund is designed to back early-stage, tech-driven European startups tackling urgent social and environmental challenges.
The first close attracted a mix of returning and new institutional investors, including the European Investment Fund, NRW.BANK, Investcorp-Tages, and the Mercator Foundation, alongside more than 40 family offices from across Europe. The strong response highlights continued appetite for impact-led venture strategies, even as parts of the wider market remain cautious.
Doubling down on impact as others pull back
According to Ananda’s leadership, the firm’s ability to exceed its target reflects a clear differentiation in a shifting venture landscape.
“We went out with the thesis that we should reflect the values of our founders, anti consensus and anti group think,” said Johannes Weber, Co-founder of Ananda Impact Ventures. “By staying true to our core values, we become outliers in the market. This is impact investing 3.0, when impact stops being a word of convenience and becomes a word of conviction.”
While defence and geopolitics have drawn increasing attention from European investors over the past year, Ananda says it is deliberately focusing on founders building technologies that are indispensable for the long-term health of people and the planet.
A strong signal in a busy European impact market
Ananda’s €73 million first close lands amid a wave of sizeable fundraises across Europe’s impact, climate, and frontier technology sectors in 2025 and early 2026.
In the Netherlands, Rubio Impact Ventures closed €70 million for its third fund focused on climate and social inequality, while PureTerra Ventures launched a second fund targeting €150 million for water-related technologies. In adjacent DeepTech and energy segments, Armilar raised €120 million for its fourth fund, and Germany-based Future Energy Ventures closed a €205 million second fund to scale energy transition startups.
Taken together, these announcements represent around €548 million in capital committed or targeted for impact-led and technically specialised venture strategies, underlining sustained investor confidence in purpose-driven European innovation.
Backing technically complex, system-level change
Founded in 2009, Ananda Impact Ventures has built its investment approach around identifying technically complex solutions with the potential to drive system-level change. The firm’s team combines backgrounds in biology, engineering, chemistry, and entrepreneurship, allowing it to go deep on science and technology from the earliest stages.
“To change systems, you need a team that thinks in systems,” said Florian Erber, Founding Partner at Ananda. “We are full of builders. That is why we can tell founders to skip the problem slide and focus on how the technology works.”
Ananda typically backs early-stage companies across climate, healthcare, biodiversity, and social inclusion, acting as catalytic capital in sectors that are often overlooked before they become established categories.
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Portfolio momentum supports the thesis
Several of Ananda’s portfolio companies have seen significant progress over the past year, reinforcing the firm’s long-term strategy.
OroraTech, which develops global wildfire intelligence technology, recently extended its Series B to more than €37 million. NatureMetrics, a leader in biodiversity data, raised a $25 million Series B, with growing recognition that nature risk is becoming financial risk for companies and governments alike.
“When we first backed NatureMetrics, biodiversity was barely a venture category,” said Zoe Peden, Partner at Ananda. “Three years later, the company has become the world leader in biodiversity data. That is what research-driven investing looks like.”
Other portfolio companies include IESO, which applies AI to mental health support, reflecting Ananda’s focus on scalable technologies with measurable impact.
A growing platform for European impact founders
With the latest first close, Ananda Impact Ventures now manages around €270 million across five funds. The firm plans to continue backing early-stage European founders building solutions in areas where commercial success and positive impact are closely aligned.
Christian Mueller, a board member at the Mercator Foundation Switzerland, said the foundation was drawn to Ananda’s ability to combine rigorous analysis with a deep commitment to founders and long-term change.
“We were looking for established impact funds that are deeply committed to driving systemic change while delivering financial returns,” Mueller said. “Ananda stood out for its ability to spot emerging trends early and support the people behind the companies.”
As Ananda moves towards further closes for its fifth fund, the firm is positioning itself as a long-term partner for Europe’s next generation of impact-driven technology companies, at a time when conviction-led capital is increasingly shaping the future of the continent’s innovation ecosystem.