Impact Baltic Reach for Change

About the project

Impact Baltic is a 30-month project aimed at laying the foundations for a new impact fund, specifically targeted at and enabling increased access to tailored finance for social enterprises across the three Baltic states. The project also seeks to foster increased demand for such financial instruments through the piloting of a new upskilling programme to increase SEs' investment readiness. The project is co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund + (ESF) and implemented by Baltic Innovation Agency, Reach for Change, Reach for Change Latvia, and supported by associated partner Lithuanian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. The project will run from January 2025 to June 2027.

Project Highlights

Why

Social entrepreneurship in the Baltic States is still emerging, with entrepreneurs and NGOs beginning to recognise that many of society’s most pressing issues can be addressed through business solutions. However, many social entrepreneurs in the region lack the financial support necessary to sustain operations and scale their impact over the long term.

Project Highlights

What

The social finance markets in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are in their early development stages. Currently, the availability of impact funds is limited, and social enterprises struggle to access private finance for growing and scaling their impact. Moreover, the available accelerator and training programmes for SEs tend to focus more on ideation, impact goals and business models, and less on investor readiness.

Impact Baltic project partners aim to establish a new impact fund while also increasing the maturity of 20 SEs to take on investments and connecting them with potential investors through the piloting of a transnational capacity building programme.

Project Highlights

How

After the mapping and analysis of the Baltic social finance landscape, partners will take a series of strategic decisions as per the likely objectives, size, legal structure and other key aspects of the new impact fund. A detailed strategy and MOU with potential impact fund partners will be finalized by the project’s midpoint, with fundraising and eventual launch then becoming the main focus.

In parallel, partners will recruit 20 Baltic social enterprises to participate in a five-month pilot of the Investment Readiness programme, providing online training in topics such as business modelling, market strategies, and financial literacy. The programme will connect enterprises with regional investors through virtual panels, with those demonstrating the highest potential also being invited to pitch for funding at an in-person Demo Day event. The ultimate goal is to enable Baltic SEs to access finance for developing and scaling their business model and impact.

If you’re interested in the project or would like more information, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Contact us at: [email protected]

News

Impact Baltic: Building a new impact fund for social enterprises

Impact Baltic, a newly launched European Social Fund + (ESF) project, aims to fill the gap in social finance for Baltic social enterprises by establishing a new impact fund and increasing the investment readiness of these social enterprises.

Co-funded by the European Union through the European Social Fund + (ESF). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.