Impact Shakers Research
Investment Thesis
Impact Shakers is a Europe-focused impact ecosystem investor that combines capital, community, and founder support. Its core thesis is that entrepreneurship is the best vehicle for change, but the system needs more diverse founders, more diverse investors, and more patient support across the full lifecycle of a company. The firm explicitly frames its work as a systemic intervention: use capital innovation, ecosystem building, and hands-on support to level the playing field for founders who have historically been underrepresented. The public material repeatedly emphasizes "inclusive entrepreneurship," "Collaboration is Systems Change," and a desire to back businesses that target root causes of societal and environmental problems rather than only treating symptoms.
The most recent material on its Medium and website also shows an increasingly explicit interest in AI and infrastructure as an impact lever. In October 2025, Alina Klarner wrote about sustainable AI datacentres and argued that the AI buildout is a chance to shape energy, water, and hardware systems in a more circular and locally beneficial direction. That widens the thesis from pure social impact into infrastructure-heavy climate and technology opportunities where systems design matters.
Stage Focus
Impact Shakers Ventures publicly focuses on pre-seed and seed companies. The website says it invests in pre-seed/seed impact startups and looks for teams that are ready for the next step rather than idea-only concepts. The company also says it wants founders who are ready for a pre-seed or seed investment round and that it selects around eight startups per year. The broader ecosystem around the fund includes education, acceleration, and community building, so the support stack begins before and continues after the investment.
- Early validation matters.
- The firm prefers companies that already have a legal entity, a defined impact model, and some evidence of problem-market fit.
- It is comfortable with climate-tech, inclusion-tech, and impact infrastructure opportunities as long as the founding team is diverse and committed.
Check Size
The public pages contain two slightly different ticket references: one page mentions investing €150k in equity and support, while the Ventures page says the fund will invest €250k in capital and support and may follow on with up to €1.5M. The most conservative reading is that the initial check sits in the €150k to €250k range, with meaningful reserve capital for follow-on support. I would treat the exact first-ticket size as somewhat fluid until confirmed directly with the team.
Lead Tendency
Impact Shakers behaves like a lead or anchor investor in its core programmatic investments. It markets itself as a capital-and-support partner rather than a passive participant, and the language on the site implies a high degree of ownership in the relationship with the founder team. It also emphasizes diligence, selection, and a structured application process, which is consistent with a lead-style investment posture. That said, the firm is also very ecosystem-oriented, so co-investment and partner capital appear to be important parts of the model.
Geographic Focus
The firm is focused on Europe, including the UK. The site repeatedly says it invests in Europe (including the UK) and works with founders who are based in Europe or building into the region. The ecosystem-building layer is also Europe-centric, with events and programming across Brussels, London, Lisbon, Ghent, Hamburg, and other cities. The geographic filter appears to be practical rather than ideological: the team wants proximity to a specific ecosystem where it can provide hands-on support and leverage its network.
Decision Process
Impact Shakers describes a rigorous selection and validation process involving the core team plus external experts. The website also emphasizes feedback within four weeks for applicants, which suggests a fairly structured and bounded decision path. The best characterization is a partnership-driven process with a strong screening layer and active founder interaction, rather than a purely committee-driven or purely opportunistic process.
Founder Preferences
The firm is explicit about what it wants: diverse founders with significant shareholdership, strong problem-market fit, and a clear mission rooted in social or environmental impact. It likes teams that are resilient, values-driven, and willing to work through the specifics of impact measurement, user focus, and long-term system change. The manifesto says the bias is diversity and that the team bets on founders who beat the odds. The best fit is a team that can combine lived experience with execution discipline.
Recent Activity
Impact Shakers has been active across fund, thesis, and portfolio updates.
- In September 2022, EU-Startups reported the firm’s first microfund investments into purpose-driven ventures led by underrepresented founders.
- In April 2024, Silicon Canals covered the launch of Impact Shakers Ventures I, a €20M fund backed by Victrix and focused on climate tech, impact infrastructure, and inclusion tech.
- In October 2025, Alina Klarner published "Concrete, compute & superintelligence" on Medium, which laid out the firm’s view that AI infrastructure is a major impact investing frontier.
- In May 2026, the firm highlighted Humara’s €1.2M Seed round on its Ventures page, showing that the portfolio is still producing visible follow-on momentum.
Portfolio Highlights
The official site shows a broad portfolio across climate, inclusion, and impact infrastructure. Publicly named companies include BitaGreen, Humara, Vested Impact, Solence, Curiouz, BZero, Bel, Motics, Feniria, Nana, The Joy Club, Vyld, Sensegrass, Sila Health, and COMPOCITY. The portfolio composition reinforces the firm’s thesis: companies tend to be mission-driven, often Europe-based, and frequently led by underrepresented founders. In the microfund context, the first six investments included The Joy Club, Vyld, Sensegrass, Sila Health, Vested Impact, and COMPOCITY.
Team
- Yonca Braeckman, Founder & CEO
- Diana Pati, Co-Founder & COO
- Alina Klarner, Founding Partner
- Suzanne Jenkins, Head of Impact and Systems Change
- Renan Compagnoli, Head of Platform
- Maria Pousa, Operating Partner
Summary Judgment
Impact Shakers looks like a hands-on European impact fund with a strong thesis on inclusive entrepreneurship and an unusually broad ecosystem layer. Its most defensible categories are climate_clean_energy, enterprise_software, and developer_tools_infra, with AI infrastructure increasingly visible in the thesis. The combination of capital, coaching, community, and founder-centric support is the clearest differentiator in the public material.